For the first time all season it felt liked the Virginia football team took a step back in its progression under new coach Bronco Mendenhall. The grades show that fact. While special teams fixed some problem areas Saturday, the play on offense and defense against Carolina was weak. Let’s be clear, the level of competition has improved over the last two weeks and will rise higher this Saturday against Louisville.

As I hinted in my game prediction, I went into the game with limited expectations. What UVA’s defense struggles with, the Heels do well and it is 80% of their offense. On the other hand, what Virginia does well offensively, the Heels defend well. Lastly, where Carolina struggles, the Hoos may not be able to take advantage. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much how it played out.

Despite the 35 points allowed, the defense probably played well enough to be competitive with some help from the offense. With some help from the offense, the D may not have given up 35 points. Two of UNC’s touchdowns came on 41- and 29-yard drives, one off a shanked punt and the second off a poorly executed handoff that resulted in a fumble and turnover. A third short drive of 57 yards followed a poorly executed and poorly covered pooch kickoff following UVA’s second touchdown. Carolina had only two, multiple-play sustained drives for scores.

Not that the defense was suffocating by any means, but the offense proved putrid. The last time a Virginia offense averaged less than 3.2 yards per pass and 3.2 yards per carry in a game came on November 7, 2009 in a 52-17 loss to the Miami Hurricanes. That’s one sentence I didn’t anticipate writing three weeks ago. To be fair, the last time the defense gave up 4.9 yards per carry and more than 10 yards per pass came against Oregon.

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