Bowens finished with 11 catches for 202 yards for the Wolfpack (3-5, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who snapped a nine-game conference losing streak that dated to the middle of last season. Koyal George added a touchdown on the first catch of his career, while Jamelle Eugene ran for 112 yards.

Jameel Sewell threw for 260 yards and two scores for the Cavaliers (7-2, 4-1) before leaving the game with an apparent right leg injury with about 7 minutes left. Mikell Simpson also scored a pair of touchdowns, but it wasn't enough to allow Virginia to set a school record with its eighth straight win.

The game marked the second straight strong performance from Evans, who had set a career-high last week with 335 yards and three touchdowns in a win at East Carolina. Bowens, a 6-foot-3 sophomore with 15 catches for 252 yards all season, proved to be a tough-to-cover deep threat for the Wolfpack.

Bowens scored on a 40-yard pass from Evans on their first possession, then came up with the go-ahead score by beating a defender to Evans' high 30-yard pass in the back corner of the end zone to make it 29-24 with 7:37 to play.

Bowens also came up with a big catch with the Wolfpack trying to work on the clock with the lead, outjumping Ras-I Dowling for a 28-yard gain on third down with about 2› minutes left.

Virginia had a final chance, but Willie Young sacked backup quarterback Peter Lalich on fourth down to seal it with 17 seconds left.

The Cavaliers hadn't lost since tallying just 110 yards in a one-sided loss at Wyoming in the season opener. Along the way, Virginia had developed a knack for repeatedly finding a way to win games in the final minutes.

The Cavs beat Middle Tennessee on a field goal with 8 seconds left, then beat Connecticut on a field goal with about 3 minutes to play. Last week, they beat Maryland when Simpson — despite having just six offensive touches all season — ran for the winning score with 16 seconds left to cap a dazzling all-around performance that made him the league's offensive back of the week.

Four of the Cavaliers' seven wins had come by a combined 6 points, with three on the road. And with Boston College's comeback win against Virginia Tech on Thursday, Virginia sat alone atop the ACC's Coastal Division.