The Virginia football team opened its season against now No. 9 Tennessee on Saturday and it’s fair to the say that the offensive line looked overwhelmed for large portions of the 49-13 loss. The Cavaliers managed just 201 yards of offense and 3.1 yards per play, while they gave up 11 tackles for loss with 4 sacks.

“I think the speed and the depth, right, kind of shocked us a little bit just because it’s hard to simulate that on our practice field,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said when evaluating the offensive line’s play. “I think once the shock wore off, the guys kind of settled in.”

“They got more confident and they played better,” Cavalier offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “The initial surge got us. The speed of it. With that, our guys settled in and we blocked them better in the run game and the pass game.”

There’s some evidence of that in the statistics. Virginia produced 64 yards in the first half vs. 137 in the second half. The offense went 1-8 on third down in the first half and 4-10 in the second half. UVA gained 0 yards or lost yardage on three of its first five drives, but then moved the ball for at least a few yards on seven of nine drives after that (excludes the end of first half, single-play drive) and created three scoring drives.

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