CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Win or lose, Virginia linebacker Jon Copper wasn't going to feel too badly Saturday.

Since Thursday, Copper has been engaged to fellow UVa student Holly Dixon, a standout volleyball and softball player when she was at Glenvar High School.

Copper played football and wrestled at another Roanoke County high school, Northside, but they didn't know each other until they met at UVa, where Dixon works in the football office.

By the time Copper proposed Thursday night on Charlottesville's downtown mall, his intentions were a poorly kept secret.

"We practiced Thursday afternoon like normal," Copper said. "I told a few guys and it quickly spread around the team.

"On Friday, the secretary brought [Dixon] into Coach [Al] Groh's office and he told her, 'I hope you said yes because we don't need him in a bad mood Saturday.' "

The answer was 'yes,' but no date has been set.

Fortunately for Copper, he had a 14-7 Virginia victory over N.C. State to savor Saturday night and not a loss that would have dampened his spirits.

"Coach Groh congratulated me outside and said, 'It's been a weekend to remember,' " said Copper, who had a team-high seven tackles and his fourth sack of the season.

After meeting with the media Saturday, Copper joined his family and his fiance's family for their regular postgame dinner at Anna's Pizza close to the stadium.

He didn't know if he would return to the football office to watch film Saturday, as he had on earlier occasions.

"I've got a paper due tomorrow," he said.

He didn't seem too stressed about it.

Making it count

UVa senior Fontel Mines had to wait until the last 5 minutes of the game to get his first reception, giving him 20 consecutive games with at least one reception, but no one was minimizing his contribution.

On a second-and-10 from the UVa 20, Mines hauled in a Jameel Sewell pass at the 27 and bulled ahead to the 33 for the first of five Cavalier first downs on their final drive.

"It might turn out to be his most memorable play here in terms of helping his team win," Groh said.

By the numbers

Until he missed a 33-yard field-goal attempt to end the first half, N.C. State senior John Deraney had not missed inside 40 yards all season. Virginia opponents have missed their last four field-goal attempts after starting the season 6-for-6.

n Chris Gould's only field-goal attempt, a third-quarter 52-yarder with a tailwind, fell short of the end zone. Gould also punted three times, all in Wolfpack territory, on a day when there were 17 punts, including nine by Deraney and five by UVa's Ryan Weigand.

n Weigand's first punt went 58 yards, a season long for the Cavaliers, although it rolled close to 20 yards on a wind-swept afternoon with gusts in the 25-mph range. His previous longest was a 52-yarder against North Carolina.

Odds and ends

N.C. State had not scored as few as seven points since a 23-6 loss to East Carolina in 1999, the year before Chuck Amato's arrival as head coach. State has scored 16 points in its last two trips to Scott Stadium, including a 14-9 loss in 2002.

n Nate Collins became the fourth different player to start at nose tackle for Virginia in the past four games. Collins is the only member of Virginia's 16-member 2006 recruiting class to have played in a game.

Post mortem

Virginia might not have needed a comeback Saturday if it had not given up a 24-yard reception by Darrell Blackman on fourth-and-5 from the UVa 32 with 5:53 left. The Wolfpack scored three plays later.

"I was sick about it," UVa cornerback Marcus Hamilton said. "I'm still sick about it. I got my hand on it and deflected it right into his hands. Next time, I'll go for the interception."

Virginia next week

The Cavaliers (4-5, 3-2 ACC) travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for a noon game Saturday with Florida State, which is 4-4 and 2-4 after falling 27-24 at Maryland. UVa defeated then-No. 4 Florida State last year in Charlottesville 26-21, but is 0-7 at FSU.