A long trip to California resulted in a long afternoon for the Virginia football team. The Cavaliers took an early 3-0 lead, but UCLA responded and took care of business the rest of the way in a 34-16 win. The Bruins outscored the Hoos 34-6 after the early field goal before a late touchdown minimized the final margin.
UVa has not won a road game since a 33-6 victory at NC State on Nov 3, 2012.
“Obviously UCLA is a really good football team,” Cavalier coach Mike London said. “We didn’t help by not being able to convert on some red zone opportunities to score touchdowns to get points. Field goals are fine, but in a game like this playing a good team you’ve got to come away with points. We couldn’t stop them defensively. … They did a great job protecting the quarterback and getting the ball out quickly for him. We didn’t do enough to affect his throws. He responded with the type of caliber player that he is and the type of players surrounding him. … We have to look at some things we did here and take care of some things until another opportunity presents itself. We’ve just begun.”
Indeed, Virginia’s troubles hinged on two key factors. Both have been touted as part of the team’s expected identity for 2015. The Cavaliers couldn’t create pressure on defense, which is the key to Jon Tenuta’s philosophy and the goal of creating turnovers. They couldn’t establish the run on offense where they hoped to use the ground game to set up play-action and misdirection opportunities. They also struggled in the red zone, one of the major factors in last season’s 5-7 finish as well.
Defensively, it took UCLA one possession to crack the Cavaliers with a touchdown drive. That followed a three-and-out first possession where a first-play deep pass nearly landed complete. On the second drive, the Bruins predicted UVa pressure on third down and gashed the defense with a 30-yard screen play. Moments later, Devin Fuller easily caught a wide open touchdown pass from four yards out to give the hosts a lead they never relinquished.
That scoring drive provided a snapshot for how much of the day unfolded. True freshman quarterback Josh Rosen went 5-of-5 passing on the drive, including the four-yard touchdown that capped it. He got the ball out quickly and the screen pass and swing passes kept Virginia’s pressure at bay all day long. Rosen eventually ended up with 351 yards passing with three touchdowns. He completed 28 of 35 passes, a startling 80% completion rate, and was only sacked once. Eleven different players caught a pass led by Fuller’s six catches (44 yards, one touchdown).
After he got going, UCLA backed up the pass with a strong second-half running attack. The Bruins tallied 152 rushing yards, led by Soso Jamabo with 79. They posted 503 total yards and gained 7.1 yards per play.
“They did a great job from the shotgun touch to get the ball out of his hands, whether it was screens or quick passes to the perimeter,” London said. “He did a great job of just using the scheme of the system they have.”
“We need to understand we’re going to be seeing a lot of that in the future because with Coach Tenuta’s defense, we’re going to be pressuring a lot and the ball’s going to be coming out fast so we just have to keep working on it,” Virginia defensive tackle David Dean said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. He later added: “We were trying a lot of different stuff. A lot wasn’t working at certain times. It’s very frustrating. Some things were working and then all of a sudden a big play would happen.”
The Hoos started the day on a good note with a scoring drive on their first possession. That’s something the team only accomplished three times in 12 games last season. The field goal drive covered 10 plays and 60 yards as the offense put together some nice moments.
Taquan Mizzell gained 40 yards on the drive on a mix of runs and receptions; he gained 11 yards on three carries and 29 yards on two catches (including one on a receiver screen when he motioned out to receiver). Matt Johns also found Canaan Severin for 17 yards on a drive-extending third down conversion. Ian Frye finished off the drive with a 42-yard field goal, part of a rock solid three-for-three afternoon for the senior kicker.
Mizzell finished with 45 rushing yards on 16 carries and career highs of 100 receiving yards and eight catches. Severin added five catches for 58 yards. Johns completed 21 of 35 passes (60%) for 238 yards. He had one touchdown pass – a wheel route to Mizzell late in the fourth quarter that trimmed the final margin of defeat – and one interception.
The positives of that first drive provided some frustrating foreshadowing too, though. When UVa reached the UCLA 30-yard line, the drive stalled. Later in the half, the Cavaliers squandered two red zone chances and ended up with six points instead of two potential touchdowns.
On the first drive, UVa had a first down on the Bruin 22-yard line and then ran the ball three straight times for eight yards. That led to a 31-yarder for Frye. On the second drive, Virginia had first-and-goal at the 10-yard line where it sandwiched two passes outside of the end zone around a weak-side run. Frye made a 19-yarder after the drive ended at the two-yard line.
Virginia struggled in the red zone throughout the 2014 season and finished 116th out of 128 FBS teams in red zone touchdown percentage (46.9%).
“We drove down the field multiple drives … but we’ve got to turn those field goals into touchdowns,” Johns said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We’ve got to take positives away. We moved the ball against a very good football team. Hats off to UCLA, a very good football team. We’ve got take away the positives and build off of it.”
The Cavaliers don’t get a break in the schedule next week. After the trip and loss to No. 13 UCLA, Virginia opens its home slate against No. 11 Notre Dame next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
