Explosive scorers wanted: Division 1, FBS school in search of explosive offensive players to provide scoring punch. Candidates should have speed, wiggle, creativity, or nose for the end zone. Proven track record preferred. Inquiries and DVD resumes should be directed to McCue Center, Charlottesville. Immediate positions available.

Watching Virginia’s football game Saturday, a 17-13 loss at Boston College, once again made clear that while things have improved tremendously on offense in 2010, there still are big play, game breakers missing from the puzzle. The Cavaliers have found a way to move the football more effectively under first year coach Mike London and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, climbing out of the multi-year stay in the 100’s in the national rankings for total offense into the top 50. In fact, the Hoos did that in this contest against BC with 421 yards of total offense.

Yet, the Cavaliers could not make the Eagles pay with either sustained drives or big scoring plays. Ill-timed penalties and turnovers certainly did not help, but the biggest issue appears to be a dearth of explosive scorers available. Every time the offense produces a score this season, it generally requires a piece-by-piece drive to get to the end zone. There aren’t many explosive scoring plays to help provide an offensive spark. That puts a lot of pressure on a team to string together plays drive after drive in order to score points.

...