As UVA football heads out west, we are reminded that the biggest improvement in a college football team, the saying goes, comes between Week 1 and Week 2.
The Cavs’ played the role of jobber in a 37-20 smackdown at the hands of FCS Richmond in their home opener last week, so even incremental improvement might not be immediately obvious late, late Saturday night on the Left Coast.
Oregon (1-0) isn’t the Oregon of 2013, when the Ducks, then in the midst of a run of seasons in national-title contention, manhandled a Virginia team on its way to a 2-10 season in a 59-10 laugher that wasn’t even that close.
Oregon is a fringe title contender at best in 2016, but it still has firepower, evidenced in its 53-28 season-opening win over UC-Davis last week.
Graduate transfer quarterback Dakota Prukop (Montana State) threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in his first FBS start, completing 21 of his 30 pass attempts, and also running for 36 yards on 11 carries in directing the spread-option running attack.
Royce Freeman had 87 yards on 11 carries, among nine ball-carriers who toted the ball in the opener for Oregon, which also got 117 yards on seven catches from Darren Carrington II, one of eight Ducks to catch a pass last week.
All told, Oregon laid 522 yards of total offense on UC-Davis, which you’d expect. What you wouldn’t expect would be that the Ducks D would get torched for 392 yards of offense, allowing UC-Davis quarterback Ben Scott to throw for 303 yards.
Could that be the sliver of an opening that gives Virginia a chance at the upset? UVA’s own graduate transfer quarterback, Kurt Benkert (ECU), was the sole bright spot for the ‘Hoos in the loss to Richmond, completing 26 of his 34 pass attempts for 264 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception.
The run game was anemic – not accounting for yards lost to sacks, which come off rushing totals in college football, UVA ran for 63 yards on 18 carries against an FCS opponent that gave up 4.5 yards per carry and 156.6 yards per game in 2015.
The Virginia defense was torched all the way around, giving up 524 yards to Richmond, including 187 yards on the ground, a stat that does not bode well going into the Oregon game.
Coach Mark Helfrich directs a balanced offensive attack that ran for 251 yards in the opener, and it’s a run game that will gas opponents with all the misdirection in the spread-option keeping the front seven guessing who even has the ball.
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