A pinch of this. A dash of that. A few spices here and there. Virginia’s offense mixed up the perfect recipe on Saturday as the Cavaliers crushed Connecticut.
The Hoos posted 626 yards of total offense, the sixth most in school history and the most since 2010. Entering the game, they had scored 20 points or less in six of the last eight games but they snapped that trend with 35 points for the first time since the Central Michigan game last season and only the second time in the Bronco Mendenhall era. The offense also posted the longest scoring drive by time in program history to start the game, an 18-play march that ate up 9:46 of the first quarter.
Throw in 171 rushing yards to balance the attack after just 147 in the first two games combined and all in all, that’s a good day.
“Offensive front played their most complete game in terms of protection and targeting that allowed a more successful ground game and probably the most complete game offensively, at least in our short time here at UVA,” Mendenhall said.
The quarterback and receivers stole the show with a huge day at Scot Stadium. QB Kurt Benkert broke his own school record for passing yards with 455 that topped the 421 yards in the CMU game last September. Marc Verica is the only other player in Cavalier history to post more than 400 yards passing. Benkert had a much more accurate day than a week earlier against Indiana and finished 30-of-40 passing with three touchdowns and one interception, the first and only turnover of the season so far for Virginia.
A long list of players found themselves on the receiving end of those throws as nine different players notched a reception in the win. The headliners, though, were three upperclassmen that daydreamed about days like this.
Seniors Doni Dowling and Andre Levrone, who both missed big pieces of previous seasons with injuries, and junior Olamide Zaccheaus all put up more than 100 receiving yards in the win, which included a touchdown catch of 30 yards or more for each. It is the only time in program history that three players have eclipsed 100 yards receiving in the same game.
The big day also pushed both Dowling and Zaccheaus into the 1,000-yard receiving club. They are the 37th and 38th Cavaliers to reach that mark.
When asked which long touchdown ranked as his favorite, Benkert settled on the first of the day. Sort of. That 42-yard throw over the top required him to stand in the pocket and take a hit just as he released the ball to get the completion. He smiled as he said he knew it was going to be a good day.
”The one to Doni probably just because I had to take a hit to deliver it. I mean they all had their good stuff. They were all good,” Benkert said smiling.
Dowling said that Benkert joked with him on the sidelines after the play since he took that hit to get his receiver a touchdown catch.
”First thing he told me, he said ‘You owe me because I took a hit.’ I said ‘yeah’ but I got him back because I recovered his fumble [on the sideline]. So call it even,” Dowling said smiling.
The easiest of the day probably was the fourth quarter bomb to Levrone. The Huskies lost track of him along the home sidelines so the hard part for both quarterback and receiver may simply have been not to blow the throw and catch. They didn’t and he sprinted 73 yards.
The 30-yarder to Zaccheaus took a lot more aggressive touch. After an adjustment at the line of scrimmage, Zaccheaus sprinted past his man to the left side of the end zone and Benkert lofted a high-arching shot into the end zone. The ball came in at nearly a 90-degree angle, a true drop it in the bucket throw.
”That’s what Kurt does,” Zaccheaus said. ”That’s his specialty. His placement is elite. You just know where the ball is going to be and he’s going to put it on the money every time. You’ve just to go and catch it. That’s what we did.”
O-Line Shuffle
A shuffle on the offensive line played a role in the rejuvenated day of offense. The Cavaliers started redshirt freshman Dillon Reinkensmeyer at center and moved junior Jake Fieler to guard. Reinkensmeyer started the opener against William & Mary in place of suspended senior Jack English, but closed out the Indiana game at center.
The coaches liked what they saw late against the Hoosiers and decided to go with the change. The move shifted former starter R.J. Proctor into more of a reserve role.
“They just seemed to be a little bit more consistent, a little bit more cohesive and a little bit more productive,” Mendenhall said. “And so we started to see that at the end of last week and I think it just continued on this week. So, I think it’s been a good step forward so far.”
Benkert has been impressed with Reinkensmeyer at center. The Colorado native worked there throughout the spring and some during fall camp as well.
”I think Jake is more of a guard than he is a center,” Benkert said. ”Not that he was doing a bad job, but I think Dillon is good. He’s calm and he’s able to work with the guys around him. Having that guy like Jake [around him], I think having those two guys together is pretty good. … [Dillon] is confident. He’s got an edge to him for a young guy. I’m excited to see how his career grows.”
Hamm At It Again
An interesting note in the game came from Daniel Hamm, the fifth-year senior that’s playing in his fifth straight season courtesy of a medical hardship waiver from the 2013 season. That year he played two games, but missed the final eight games with an injury.
The twist, however, is that Hamm got into the end zone during his brief 2013 season. He made his collegiate debut against VMI, set a UVA record for most rushing yards in a collegiate debut with 136, and scored a pair of touchdowns in that game. He followed that up with touchdowns in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
And now 2017. On Saturday against UConn, Hamm opened the scoring with a three-yard touchdown run. That made him the first player in school history to record at least one rushing touchdown in five straight seasons.
”It’s pretty cool,” Mendenhall said. ”Daniel Hamm is – when you think about having key players in the program that you can rely on, that you would like to have examples that drive the culture, cultures are passed on through telling stories and there’s a lot of Daniel Hamm stories. Just the quality person he is and he’s unselfish and productive”
