Hoo Preview 2014: Can Defense Carry The Hoos?

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Jon Tenuta’s defense features a lot of familiar faces as the 2014 season opens. ~ Kris Wright

As the Hoos put a cap on their final preparations for UCLA, Saturday’s opener begins the process of answering a lot of questions. How will the offensive line perform? Can Greyson Lambert be something the Hoos haven’t had in a very long time – a consistent, productive quarterback? Can UVa’s special teams actually make a difference?

And finally, there is the defense.

There is little doubt entering the fall campaign that the Cavalier defense is the strongest unit on the team. The defense returns nine starters. The players have now had a full season, two spring and two fall camps in UVa Defensive Coordinators Jon Tenuta’s system. There is solid depth. The question for the defense is a big one: are they up to the task of carrying the team; possibly all season? Can Virginia’s defense keep the team competitive and maybe help pull out some surprises?

The 2013 season didn’t unfold that way after a promising start. In 2013 the defense surrendered a higher yards per game average in the final six games of the season and the second half Sabre.com grade fell from 81.3 in the first six games to 73.8 in the final six. The unit allowed 11.9 more points per game in the second half of the year than the first. On the surface, it’s easy to conclude that the defense was less effective in the second half of the year, and statistically that is clearly true. But I think an argument can be made the reasons for that decline were not as much an issue of a team not playing better, but more about injuries, a learning curve as teams picked up film on the defense, trying to overcompensate for the offense and special teams by being more aggressive than was prudent, and being required to overcome mistakes and inconsistency by those other two phases.

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