Oh, what could have been? In almost every facet of the game Saturday the Cavaliers outplayed No. 7 UCLA. Unfortunately, they didn’t win the turnover margin and that proved to be the equalizer for the Bruins in Virginia’s 28-20 loss. As the grades and trend report will discuss however, there are a lot of positive things to take away and carry forward into the Richmond game this weekend.

Before diving in, an author’s note: In an attempt to focus more on analysis, I am going away from my traditional stat- and opinion-based grading system and moving more to a subjective grading system for 2014. This means that there is no tiered grading system like the past several years and that are no numbers assigned to various components. The idea is to give readers a better gauge on how the team and individual units are performing.

Greg’s Grades

Offense

• Overall Grade: C+
• Quarterback: C-
• Running Back: B-
• Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B+
• Offensive Line: C+

Quick Takes

• In a pleasant departure from last season, Virginia receivers made plenty of clutch catches with far fewer dropped passes. They demonstrated an ability to help their quarterbacks turn potential incompletions into connections.
• Very impressed with pass protection up front, but the ability of UVa linemen to block in space needs significant work. While noting the pass pro, it needs to be tempered with the fact that offensively Virginia ran a very conservative game plan which included a lot of three-man routes and max protection. Hopefully that was to ease a new quarterback and offensive line into their roles but it won’t take long for defenses to adjust and bottle that game plan up.
• Don’t put a lot into a C+ for the offensive line. I think playing slightly above average considering the UCLA front seven and the relative inexperience of Virginia’s line should be considered a pretty positive mark.

Defense

• Overall Grade: A-
• Defensive Line: A+
• Linebackers: A-
• Secondary: B

Quick Takes

• In my article “Can the Defense Carry the Hoos?” in the preseason, linebacker Henry Coley noted the dramatic improvement in tackling. Against UCLA, UVa was clearly a better tackling team than 2013, especially in the open field.
• There were lots of pressure packages but the defensive front also got pressure with four for five consistently, leaving the extra man for coverage. This is an impressive pass rush front.
• The defensive front was very impressive but the linebackers had an excellent day as well, especially in coverage.
• Sacks were all “pure” pressure sacks, no flush sacks.

Special Teams

• Overall Grade: B-
• Placement: A+
• Kickoff coverage: A+
• Kickoff return: C-
• Punt coverage: C-
• Punt return: F

Quick Takes

• The improved tackling theme applies to the coverage unit as well – much better tackling.
• This marked the first time since 11/24/12 (Virginia Tech game) and only the second time in the last 55 games the Wahoo kickoff coverage operation held a team to less than 13 yards per return on kickoffs.

Trend Report & Richmond Prep

Stat Note

In 2013, Virginia allowed 5.75 rushes of 10 yards or more per game and 8.75 passes of 10 yards or more per game. In 2013, UCLA’s offense produced 6.8 10+ runs and 10.8 10+ passes per contest. On Saturday, the Bruins were below their 2013 averages with five 10+ runs and nine 10+ passes.

Containment and discipline

Two areas that I harped on constantly last season as UVa played without discipline. The defense constantly allowed big yardage when it lost containment on misdirection or read plays or when a quarterback was flushed from the pocket. Saturday, I saw dramatic improvement in both areas.

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