If you’re inclined to claim moral victory, don’t. UVA led #17 North Carolina 14-10 at the half, but the ‘Hoos were outschemed in the second half in what turned into a 31-28 Tar Heels win.
The Virginia D had held a UNC offense that came in averaging 502.0 yards per game to 195 in the first half, but Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo dialed up the right adjustments at halftime.
UVA was getting pressure in the first half, with two sacks and constant pressure on QB Drake Maye, as Maye put up pedestrian numbers – 13-of-19, 109 yards.
Cavaliers defensive coordinator John Rudzinski actually dialed back the pressure in the second half, going with four rushers on most of the D’s snaps to try to get more defenders into coverage, but all that did was give Maye time to find open receivers.
Maye, facing less in terms of pressure, was 3-of-4 for 55 yards on Carolina’s first possession of the third quarter, culminating in a 4-yard Elijah Greene TD run that put UNC on top, 17-14, at the 12:05 mark of the third quarter.
Virginia would retake the lead at the 7:49 mark on a 1-yard Ronnie Walker Jr. run, but UNC answered, this time with Maye going 3-of-4 for 45 yards on the drive, the final completion a 19-yard TD pass to Josh Downs that made it 24-21 North Carolina with 4:13 on the clock in the third.
After a UVA punt, Maye led the Tar Heels on an 11-play, 80-yard drive – he was 5-of-6 for 69 yards and a TD, a 22-yarder to Elijah Greene – making it 31-21 with 13:19 left.
UVA would make it interesting late, with Brennan Armstrong leading a quick-strike seven-play, 71-yard, 59-second drive, concluding with BA willing his way into the end zone with an 8-yard scramble.
That made it 31-28 with 3:24 to go, but – and this has been an issue all season – special teams had to burn two timeouts because there weren’t enough guys on the field on the punt unit.
Between that, and a timeout that was blown on a fourth-and-1 play in the third quarter, as offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and head coach Tony Elliott debated whether, and how, to go for it, that left Virginia with no timeouts.
Elliott, weighing his options, and going with the wrong one, decided to try an onside kick, which UNC recovered, and the Tar Heels were able to bleed the rest of the clock, but not before Virginia was assessed a personal foul (Kam Butler) and unsportsmanlike conduct (Olu Agonloye) with the Carolina offense in kneel-down.
Inside the Numbers
The UVA offense had its best day against FBS competition – going over 20 points for the first time in eight games against top-division opponents, and gaining 418 total yards, the best for the unit in a game with a Power 5 team all season.
Armstrong wasn’t what you’d want him to be, again, throwing the ball – 17-of-35 for 232 yards, an INT and a 98.5 passer rating.
Part of that could be that he didn’t have top wideouts Keytaon Thompson, Dontayvion Wicks and Lavel Davis Jr.
Still waiting for word on why those guys were out.
In their absence, tight end Sackett Wood had a career day – six catches on eight catches for 94 yards, and freshman Sean Wilson had a day as well – five catches on eight targets for 61 yards.
The underachievers in the wideout corps were Billy Kemp IV (two catches on seven targets for 17 yards) and Demick Starling (one catch on six targets for 40 yards).
The ground game was productive, putting up a sack-adjusted 193 yards, with Mike Hollins going for 75 yards on 16 carries.
Armstrong accounted for a good bit of that total, though, with scramble yards – officially, he had 64 yards on 12 carries, but unofficially, 62 of his yards came on his nine scrambles.
The defense surrendered 455 yards, 260 after halftime, with Maye finishing 26-of-37 for 293 yards, two TDs and a 154.6 pass rating, and 74 yards and a TD on 16 carries.
Elijah Greene had 91 yards and a TD on 22 carries on the ground, and added the 22-yard TD catch on a swing pass.
No one had an answer in coverage for wideout Josh Downs, again – Downs, who had 203 yards and two TDs on eight catches in last season’s 59-39 UNC win, had 15 catches on 16 targets for 166 yards and a TD on Saturday.
The D ended up with four sacks – one each by James Jackson, Nick Jackson, Paul Akere and Agunloye – and five QB hurries.
James Jackson had 11 tackles to lead the defense, and Nick Jackson and Coen King each had nine.
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Chris Graham
