Virginia Suffers Close Loss To North Carolina

Virginia Cavaliers
Ronnie Walker Jr. goes airborne for a Virginia touchdown. ~ Photo By Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

The Virginia football team produced its largest scoring output this season against a Power 5 opponent on Saturday, but it still wasn’t enough at Scott Stadium. After the Cavaliers hung around all afternoon, No. 17 North Carolina eventually prevailed 31-28 to give coach Mack Brown his first win in Charlottesville.

The Tar Heels moved to within one victory of the ACC Coastal Division title, while the Hoos fell to 3-6 and the brink of bowl elimination.

While Virginia was close to an upset of a ranked opponent, the ultimate outcome just added to what’s been a season of frustration for the most part. Cavalier coach Tony Elliott said he continues to see growth from his team, but not enough to get to the winner’s circle.

“They came out with the mindset that they were going to play to win and in the first half, that’s what you saw,” Elliott said. “That’s a positive that you could show them what they’re capable of when you know, you just show up and quit worrying and just play free, play for each other. So that’s definitely a glimpse there and the resilience there at the end of the fourth quarter. But then also we see a growth opportunity from the third quarter. We talked about competitive stamina a lot and in football it comes down to five, six, seven plays over the course of the game. And we didn’t make those plays in the third quarter. That put us in the position that we were going into the fourth quarter trying to come from behind in a two-score game.”

In some ways, the North Carolina loss followed the opposite path of the four-overtime Miami defeat. Just a week ago, the Virginia offense couldn’t convert plays near the goal line as it failed to score a touchdown despite multiple trips to the red zone during a 14-12 loss. This Saturday, the offense finally finished off some drives, but the defense couldn’t get off the field or force field goals frequently enough, particularly in the second half. The high-scoring Tar Heels fell short of their season-long 41.8 average, but 21 points after intermission was enough to get the job done.

The trouble spots in the third quarter began on the very first drive for the UVA defense. Carolina quarterback Drake Maye completed passes of 14 and 32 yards on 3rd-and-5 and 2nd-and-10 plays. Elijah Green capped it off with an easy touchdown run from 4 yards out. On the visitors’ second drive of the quarter, they faced 3rd-and-7 and 3rd-and-8, but converted both times. In fact, receiver Josh Downs did way more than get the necessary yardage as he hauled in a pair of passes for 34 yards on just those two plays, including a 19-yard touchdown catch on 3rd-and-8.

UNC’s third drive of the half also started in the third quarter before producing a touchdown in the fourth. On that one, the Heels converted plays on 3rd-and-5 and 4th-and-1 to keep the drive alive. Green again finished it off, this time on a 22-yard touchdown reception on a simple pass into the flats.

Those three drives really capture some of the key stats in the game for the UVA defense. Carolina converted 7 of 14 3rd down chances and 2 of 3 4th down chances in the game. Maye went 26-37 passing for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns with 74 rushing yards and 1 touchdown as well. Green posted 91 rushing yards with a touchdown on the ground and through the air. Downs, meanwhile, torched the Hoos yet again with 15 catches for 166 yards and a score. He had 8 receptions for 203 yards and 2 TDs in last season’s game.

“He really is [one of the best receivers I’ve coached] because he doesn’t drop a ball. He can get open, they can’t cover him man-to-man, he easily takes two,” Brown said. “The coaches have done an amazing job this year moving him around. It got last year in the last part of the season where he was bracketed every time. He still caught a bunch of balls, but it wasn’t as effective. And now they can’t find him. The little tunnel screen for a first down
on 3rd-and-10 was key and huge. He’s elusive, he’s hard to tackle, he’s tough and he can catch. And he catches the ball anywhere.”

Defensively, James Jackson led UVA with 11 tackles that included a sack. Coen King and Nick Jackson each added 9 tackles, while Aaron Faumui had 8.

“We didn’t do enough there on third down, as far as preventing them from moving the ball, which again, ends up leading to scoring defense,” Virginia defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said. “There’ll be some opportunities to learn from it and we’ll find ways to improve in areas that we would like to have been better.”

Virginia Cavaliers
UVA QB Brennan Armstrong bounces off of UNC defenders for his second touchdown of the day. ~ Photo By Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

For much of the day, UVA’s offense responded to UNC’s firepower. The recorded 418 yards, converted 7 of 13 third downs plus a fourth down, and generally matched the Tar Heels. In the end, the difference proved to be an interception in North Carolina territory on a tipped pass in the first quarter that initially arrived behind the crossing receiver and a lull in the second half that allowed UNC to build a 10-point lead when Virginia failed to move the ball on consecutive drives.

Considering the offense’s struggles this season, this Saturday’s performance had to be considered a step in the right direction, though it’s worth mentioning that North Carolina’s defense entered the game ranked in the bottom 25 nationally in both total defense and scoring defense. Still, the Cavaliers created touchdowns on all 4 red zone trips after last week’s struggles with Brennan Armstrong rushing touchdowns serving as bookends for the day. Xavier Brown and Ronnie Walker Jr., seeing his first significant action on offense after a spring injury, provided the other scores on goal line carries.

The ground game accounted for much of the Hoos’ offensive success. Mike Hollins led the way with 16 carries for 75 yards as he took on the most carries with Perris Jones out with an injury. Walker had 6 carries for 30 yards and Brown had 5 for 17. Armstrong added 12 carries for 64 yards, including the scoring runs. The first came on a designed run, while the second came from a scramble where he bounced off defenders near the goal line to get the touchdown.

Armstrong also completed 17 of 35 passes for 232 yards. That production came with three starting receivers – Dontayvion Wicks, Keytaon Thompson, and Lavel Davis Jr. – sidelined with injuries. That made tight end Sackett Wood Jr. the top target with 6 catches for 94 yards, while Sean Wilson chipped in 5 catches for 61 yards. Demick Starling hauled in a 40-yard reception on his lone catch. Billy Kemp IV had 2 catches for 17 yards, including a third down grab that extended the final touchdown drive.

It still wasn’t enough for a victory as Virginia suffered its second agonizingly close loss in a row.

“When you talk about competitive stamina, it’s always about the next play being my best play. So if I have a bad play, alright, good, it’s a learning opportunity. It’s the next play. If I have a good play, good, stay humble. It’s the next play,” Elliott said. “Doesn’t matter what’s on the scoreboard, it doesn’t matter what the conditions are around you, you just compete and you compete to the best of your ability. You’re slowly starting to see that really take root within the program and that’s why it hurts because I want those guys to taste some success because success breeds more buy in, more belief. But also I understand, as I told the guys in the locker room that adversity is necessary for building character. We’re focusing on trying to establish the core values, not just words, but creating these values in each and every individual in the organization and we’ve got plenty of good to look at, to stay humble with, and then plenty of opportunity for growth going forward.”

Final Stats

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Talk all you want Elliott toke one of the best quarterbacks around and made him average with that lousy offense they run

  2. Elliot speaks in cliche. it’s just a series of cliches. He seeks the confidence extended to those who speak the familiar.

  3. Essentially UNC is running UVAs offense and defense. As Mendenhall said numerous times, the object is to outscore your opponent.

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