For the fourth time in five seasons, Mike London’s Virginia team is mired in a losing streak.
The Cavaliers lost their third straight game Saturday, falling 35-10 to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. In 2010, the the Hoos lost three straight games and four straight games sandwiched around back-to-back wins. In 2012, UVa lost six straight games after a 2-0 start. In 2013, the Wahoos closed the season on a nine-game tailspin.
The latest skid has dropped the Hoos from 4-2 and a perch atop the Coastal Division standings before a bye week to below .500 on the season.
“We didn’t play a good enough football game to keep us in this thing. A couple of things I talked about early on with this Georgia Tech team that is tops in the country in terms of time of possession, is when you get your possessions you’ve got to make sure your opportunities to score count as well. They got up on us early, and they made big plays on us. You can’t come from behind and surpass a team that has such a prolific ground attack, and at the same time you’re dropping passes or having penalties and being non-productive. with the ball yourself,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “They’re a very good football team. They have their formula for success. We have to do better. … This was an assignment-oriented football game, and there were more than a couple where we didn’t do our jobs.”
The most recent setback ran off the rails quickly. After UVa fumbled its opening snap and punted after a three-and-out, Georgia Tech pounced quickly with a short field. The hosts drove 42 yards in 2:43 to take the 7-0 lead out of the gates. The Cavaliers followed with another three-and-out and Tech marched again. This time, the Yellow Jackets went 78 yards in 4:00 for the touchdown as DeAndre Smelter beat Maurice Canady for an 18-yard touchdown on third down.
Trailing 14-0, Virginia mustered what turned out to be a temporary response. Greyson Lambert, who made his second straight start after missing a month with an ankle injury, engineered an eight-play drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Swanson.
Smelter and Georgia Tech snuffed out the rally immediately. On the first play of its third drive, GT called Smelter’s number as he again beat Canady on a pattern, this time gaining 65 yards on a post route. That set up an 11-yard touchdown catch for Darren Waller, also with Canady in coverage, that made it 21-7. At that point, the Yellow Jackets had more passing yards than rushing yards as quarterback Justin Thomas had connected on all four of his attempts. He finished with 141 yards and three touchdowns on seven-of-13 passing.
Tech also got a big game from Synjyn Days at B-Back. After posting his first career 100-yard rushing game last week at Pitt, he set a new career mark in this one. Days finished with 24 carries for 147 yards and one touchdown.
“We were just really doing what Coach Johnson tells us to do and covering our assignments. There wasn’t anything magical that happened out there. Our offensive line did a great job blocking. The A-Backs did a great job blocking the perimeter. Justin made the right reads and we were successful with it,” Days said.
Virginia, meanwhile, didn’t get much offense from anywhere. Lambert completed 19 of 32 passes for 230 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He had the team in the red zone three times, but missed open receiver Keeon Johnson on a first-half drive that resulted in a field goal and threw an interception on fourth down from the 10-yard line in the second half. He gave way to Matt Johns with a lopsided scoreboard in the second half, but Johns struggled too. He completed four of nine passes for 32 yards and nearly threw an interception as well.
Of course, neither quarterback had the support of a running game to balance the offense. On a windy day in Atlanta, the Cavaliers posted just 16 runs and ended up with a paltry 22 yards. Kevin Parks got just five carries for 13 yards, while Khalek Shepherd notched four for 15 yards. That all came against a Georgia Tech defense that allowed 189.13 rushing yards per game entering the contest (94th nationally).
The Cavaliers sputtered as a result and failed to score any points in the second half, leaving the four-game second-half total at a meager six points.
“A little bit [falling behind early] had something to do with [the lack of a running game], but again, you want to try and move the ball. They average a lot of time of possession, and in the third quarter they started with a seven-minute drive. When you have your possessions, you have to make sure that you have opportunities to move and get yourself in scoring position. We just didn’t do that today,” London said.
The defense, meanwhile, corrected some of its issues from the first three touchdown drives. The Cavaliers slowed Georgia Tech for the rest of the first half before giving up another touchdown to start the third quarter. That drive featured a fourth-and-one conversion that barely moved the chains with a spot that the TV announcers debated.
In the end, Quin Blanding led the defense with 13 tackles, while fellow safety Anthony Harris added 10 tackles and an interception that set up UVa’s field goal. Max Valles posted nine tackles as well.
