While many college football teams have become increasingly pass happy, teams that can establish the run and stop the run remain successful. Only four of the top 25 rushing offenses in the nation have a losing record currently and 19 of the top 25 run defenses in the nation have winning records.

That’s bad news right now if you’re a Virginia fan. The Cavaliers haven’t found their footing on either side of the ball when it comes to the running game. They rank 123rd out of 128 teams in rushing offense and 69th in rushing defense. Not surprisingly, the Hoos are 1-3.

UVa spent much of its bye week working on those two facets of the team. On offense, that included mixing up the offensive line a little bit. The Hoos average just 93.75 yards per game and 2.98 yards per carry.

“We just have to keep making sure what we do and how we do it are evaluated,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “Our offensive line is what it is. We’ll have to find the best five that can go in and play. I think if you noticed Jay Whitmire now is one of the starters coming out of the Boise game, being an inside guy. So continue to keep trying to find the right ‘who’ in order to give us opportunities to be successful in running the ball. But that’s something that’s ongoing and it will continue to keep trying to make us a better football team in terms of being able to run the ball.”

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