The spirit, drive, and demeanor of the Virginia football team begins with its defense. The Cavaliers surged to a 5-1 start behind that unit’s play on pass defense, on third down, and against the run. The whole team feeds off of that side of the ball and that identity.
Shoot, after quarterback Kurt Benkert fumbled late at North Carolina last week, senior linebacker Micah Kiser even joked Monday that a punt would have been fine there instead of trying to make a play because UNC wouldn’t go 90 yards on the defense and that those players wanted to be on the field at the end to preserve that victory.
So when Boston College drove off its own goal line with a 15-play, 85-yard field goal drive to open the game and then backed that up with dueling 76-yard touchdown plays later in the quarter, the Eagles effectively reached into the chest of the UVA football team with their talons and ripped out the heart. The Cavaliers never recovered from that 17-point outburst over those 10 minutes. Those are the most points scored in the first quarter of an ACC game since 2008 for BC.
”I was shocked,” Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert said. ”I think our defense is really good and they don’t really give that many big plays up often. For it to be the quick and that sudden early in the game, it was definitely not something we’re used to seeing.”
For BC, that long field goal drive to open the game marked the first time this season that its offense scored on the first possession of the game. That Cavaliers nearly short-circuited that drive on just the third play when the defense crashed around quarterback Anthony Brown in the end zone on 3rd-and-6 at the six-yard line. Brown, however, slipped past the pursuit and broke through up the middle to keep the drive going.
The visitors ended up converting three third downs on that drive and continued to flip the third down script all day long. They finished 10 of 19 (52.6%) on third down in the game against UVA’s defense, which entered the game No. 7 nationally in allowing 26.83% on conversions. At one point, BC was 7 of 8 (87.5%) and 10 of 15 (67%) on third down in the game.
A lot of that damage came with simple passes to running backs and tight ends on screens and play action. In fact, tight end Tom Sweeney led the Eagles with four catches for 55 yards and two touchdowns. Trouble with the tight ends dates back throughout the season. William & Mary’s Andrew Caskin (2-37), Indiana’s Ian Thomas (4-31), Boise State’s Jake Roh (5-42), and North Carolina’s Brandon Fritts (2-15) all had some success against the Hoos.
“I think the plan they had was really good,” Cavalier coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Their was no way that they were going to allow sacks, so the ball was coming out very quickly with man to man type of beating routes and he was delivering the ball on time to well executed routes and consistently. And then on play action where he is athletic enough, he bought enough time for routes to develop, a first route, a second route, or even a third route sometimes and that combination between those two things really gave us problems. And right from the beginning and very surprisingly because we believe on of our strengths is playing really good pass defense and play really well on third down and so the had a very good plan, they executed it really well, and to their credit.”
Beyond the ability to break down the defense with play action and the tight end position, Boston College also took advantage of explosive scoring plays. In fact, part of the early barrage that seemed to knock the Hoos off their feet came from two 76-yard touchdowns. Those plays are the Eagles’ longest scoring plays of the season.
On the first, receiver Thadd Smith took an end-around run to to the house when he broke contain up the home sidelines and sprinted toward the hill. UVA didn’t execute setting the edge on that play. Later in the quarter, BC receiver Kobay White broke free on a receiver screen and covered the distance up the middle of the field. Players said after the game they had a screen-beater called on defense, but didn’t get it executed properly. The visitors eventually scored on their first four drives and scored 40+ points in consecutive ACC games for the first time in program history.
For the most part this season, unlike 2016, Virginia has been good enough in the other areas on defense to make up for those miscues. That didn’t hold true against the Eagles, who finished with 512 yards of total offense and converted on key plays throughout the contest.
Regardless, those two jailbreak plays highlighted a vulnerability to date for the Virginia defense through the first 19 games of the Mendenhall era and that’s explosive scoring plays. Teams have found ways to score on big plays covering a quarter of the field or more regularly over the first season and half. In fact, UVA has given up at least one touchdown play of 26 yards or more in 15 of the 19 games.
Here’s the list:
2016
- Richmond: 55-yard run
- Oregon: 77-yard pass
- UConn: None
- Central Michigan: 85-yard pass
- Duke: None (23-yard pass)
- Pitt: 38-yard pass
- UNC: 40-yard pass, 46-yard pass
- Louisville: 29-yard pass
- Wake Forest: 64-yard run
- Miami: 77-yard pass
- Georgia Tech: 67-yard run, 54-yard pass, 60-yard run
- Virginia Tech: 39-yard pass, 32-yard run, 42-yard pass, 31-yard pass
2017
- William & Mary: None
- Indiana: 29-yard pass, 26-yard run, 32-yard pass
- UConn: 60-yard pass, 30-yard run
- Boise State: 40-yard pass
- Duke: None
- UNC: 47-yard run
- Boston College: 76-yard run, 76-yard pass
Only Duke (twice), FCS opponent William & Mary, and Connecticut last season failed to come up with an explosive scoring play. In some cases, like the Boise State game this season, a late touchdown against reserves skews things a bit too. Still, that at least raises the question of whether the aggressive nature of UVA’s defense is a bit of a risk-reward proposition or just inconsistent.
”You might be overstating it just a little bit,” Cavalier safety Quin Blanding said. ”We’re aggressive yes, but if you do your assignment in this aggressive defense there should be no second wave because everyone is locked up or the coverage got to them or there’s a sack happening or the linebackers and D-Line are doing their jobs and everyone’s covering. You’ve just got to execute.”
