The Virginia football team looks to win two straight games for the first time since September when Miami comes to town Saturday. The Hoos opened the season with back-to-back wins against Richmond and Penn State before a six-game losing streak hit the books. The Cavaliers bounced back after the bye week with a convincing victory against NC State last weekend and they hope to add another one this time around. The Watch List takes a look at a few wrinkles that could appear in the UVa-Miami matchup.

Running Backs Underneath

Miami’s receivers are big-play scoring options because the Hurricanes like to send players like Phillip Dorsett and Rashawn Scott on vertical routes up the field. This challenges the corners and safeties to drop back in coverage in order to take away throws over the top.

The threat of the deep ball also clears a lot of space underneath the vertical routes at times for the Canes’ talented running backs to get involved in the passing game. Virginia used a heavy dose of Cover-4 deep defense in the secondary last week against NC State and did a great job taking away the Wolfpack’s coveted crossing routes underneath that coverage. The linebackers will face a similar coverage challenge this week against Mike James and Duke Johnson out of the backfield. James has piled up 25 catches for 230 yards receiving this season as well as 2 touchdowns. Johnson, meanwhile, has recorded 23 catches for 200 yards and 1 TD. James’ 2 TDs came against Georgia Tech (screen pass) and Virginia Tech (leak-out sit-down route). You can see James’ touchdown against VT in this video (approximately 1:00 mark); you can also see the back shoulder throw mentioned below in these highlights from the ACC Digital Network.

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