Virginia battled toe to toe with No. 7 UCLA on Saturday before the Bruins escaped with a 28-20 win. The strong effort did little to clarify things for UVa fans, though. Looking for signs of improvement? There was evidence of that. Looking for signs of concern? There was plenty of that too.

So should Cavalier fans be encouraged or frustrated? There is enough ammunition to go around.

The defense must be the starting point. Those guys were everything fans hoped they would be. The Cavaliers played aggressively and effectively. They held UCLA to just 358 total yards and 4.9 yards per play, both well below the 2013 averages of 448.1 yards and 6.08 yards per play. They slowed down one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in Brett Hundley, who passed for 3,071 yards and 24 touchdowns last season in addition to 748 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Against UVa, he tallied 242 yards on 20-of-33 passing with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. He rushed for 38 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, while being sacked five times.

The defense gave up a few big plays still, but took away explosive scoring plays after struggling with that in a mighty way last season. Overall, the Hoos allowed just one touchdown on defense.

...