Virginia Football Pro Football Focus Report: Close, But Still A Loss

Virginia Cavaliers Jestus Johnson III
Jestus Johnson III moved into the Virginia center spot. ~ Photo courtesy Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

The Virginia football team suffered its second loss of the season on Friday night when Syracuse squeaked out a 22-20 victory after the Hoos took a late fourth quarter lead. The Cavaliers had one last drive to try to win in the final minute for the second straight week, but those hopes fizzled out quickly with three incompletions among five total plays.

The defeat marked the second road loss of the season following a rough 24-3 setback at Illinois in Week 2. In terms of the Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades, which aim to measure the level of execution, the Hoos showed considerable improvement from one road trip to the next. Of the 12 PFF categories available at the time of this article, UVA posted a better grade in 10 of them; only the receiving grade (55.0 to 48.9) and the pass rush grade (68.3 to 59.2) dropped.

Certainly, holding off the final Orange score or mounting a last-minute drive would have made those improvements feel better for fans. What else did the PFF data say this week? Let’s take a look.

Virginia PFF Offensive Player Of The Game

There were limited votes on the message board late Friday night after the game, but the pick for the Sabre Offensive Player Of The Game landed on receiver Keytaon Thompson or running back Perris Jones. PFF agreed as Jones received the highest grade of the week on offense at 72.3.

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