Steve Fairchild must have woke up Saturday morning and found the missing playbook pages in between the cushions in the sofa. Either that or he decided to actually use them.

Regardless the only question about the UVA offense Saturday was where did it go in the fourth quarter and where has it been the first 10 games of the season? Fairchild’s crew was almost flawless and while the Cavalier defense was not, it held on enough to secure a 42-34 win for the home team.

Defensively, Virginia limited Duke to its second lowest rushing yards and yards per carry of the season and held the Devils to just 185 yards passing on 21 of 34 attempts for 5.4 yards per attempt for three quarters. But the Wahoos turned an A grade into a C in the fourth quarter as it surrendered three huge chunk plays of 40, 47, and 49 yards, accounting for 35% of Duke’s 385 passing yards on the day.

Other than the placekicking crew, special teams were not an asset Saturday. Hopefully, this operation can pull off its first complete game of the season and the defense and offense can play for four quarters instead of three this weekend. With that, the Hoos might be able to break an embarrassing 11-year losing streak to the boys in Chicago maroon and orange.

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