Virginia suffered its sixth straight loss to North Carolina on Saturday as the Tar Heels prevailed 26-13. The Cavaliers were tied at halftime, but couldn’t get it done in the second half. The Sampler takes a look at the latest setback, starting with some film study …

Bootleg!

One of Matt Johns’ strengths as a quarterback is his ability to move the pocket and to throw on the run. I’ve been begging for a quarterback bootleg with a tight end drag route all season long, in part because it always seems to work and in part because it plays to Johns’ skill set. The Cavaliers took advantage of this concept on a pair of plays in the first half.

The first time came on the Hoos’ first drive of the game. On a second down play, Virginia had just used a power eye formation with uncovered tight end Charlie Hopkins blocking from the right side of the line to the interior. The handoff to Taquan Mizzell gained 4 yards and a first down. Hopkins’ role on the play also set up the next snap.

UVa motioned from a three-receiver bunch set to a balanced formation. It featured two receivers on the left with the inner receiver being motion man Vincent Croce and two receivers on the right with the inner receiver being Hopkins. Both sets of two receivers were tight to the formation. On the right side, Hopkins is uncovered with receiver Keeon Johnson off his right hip. At the snap, Johnson ran a vertical route to clear the right side for Hopkins, who chip blocked the defensive end and then peeled off into his drag route. Johns took the snap, faked a power toss to the left side, and then rolled back to his right on the play action. The flow of the play demonstrated hard to the left and Johnson ran straight up the field so Hopkins was open for an easy catch that gained 14 yards.

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