Virginia, on its way to a 1-5 start through the first half of the 2023 season, was getting dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The secret to the 31-27 win over then-#10 North Carolina on Saturday night: the lines stepped up.
The counting numbers had already told the big story there. Virginia ran for a season-high 228 yards, held UNC to 143 yards on the ground, broke even in the sack battle, and UVA played that to a huge advantage in time of possession, keeping Carolina’s potent offense off the field.
Just how good both lines played in the upset is reflected in the deep dive we do each week using detailed play-by-play analysis from Pro Football Focus.
Chris Graham breaks down UVA’s 31-27 upset of North Carolina
O line
Coming in, the Virginia offensive line was ranked in the bottom 10 in FBS by PFF, creating issues for the ground game, which was averaging 99.5 yards per game, 120th nationally, and the quarterbacks, who had faced pressure on 36.4 percent of their dropbacks in 2023.
The run game, on Saturday, piled up 240 sack- (and kneel-down)-adjusted rushing yards on 51 tries, just under 4.8 yards per carry.
The A gap was fruitful: 88 yards on 17 runs up the gut, with two of Mike Hollins’ three TD runs going middle-left.
The other run zone of note: around the left end of the line. Virginia gained 51 yards on 10 tries going around left tackle McKale Boley, who earned a career-best 80.5 PFF grade on Saturday.
Run-blocking grade for the unit on Saturday: solid A.
QB Tony Muskett was only pressured on seven of his 33 dropbacks – 21.2 percent.
Notably, Muskett gained 75 sack-adjusted rushing yards on 10 rushing attempts, and none of the rushing attempts were scrambles.
Muskett had scrambled on nine dropbacks in his first three starts.
He was sacked twice on Saturday; he’d been sacked 13 times in his first three starts.
Pass-blocking grade for Saturday night, then: yeah, another solid A.
I should go A+ in both areas, but I wouldn’t want the guys to let it go to their heads.
D line
Virginia had just five sacks all season going into Saturday night. The two in the upset, then, is noteworthy, even though Drake Maye was only pressured on 10 of his 53 dropbacks.
Notable there: the one INT that he threw came because of pressure from edge rusher Paul Akere, who hit Maye as he was throwing downfield on a second-and-10 at the UVA 48 with 26 seconds left.
The hit caused an errant throw that was intercepted by linebacker James Jackson that clinched the game for UVA.
The UNC ground game gained 152 sack-adjusted yards on the ground on 27 attempts, 5.6 yards per, which doesn’t look good statistically, but for whatever reason, Carolina offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey didn’t try the run game more.
Effectively, then, the front was able to hold Carolina under its season average on the ground, so …
D line grade: B.
Defensive secondary
Unsung heroes, these guys. Maye passed for 347 yards and two TDs, but was just 24-of-48 through the air.
Downfield, Maye was … not good: 10-of-19 for 157 yards on passes that traveled 10 to 19 yards in the air, and 3-of-12, albeit for 120 yards and two TDs, on passes that traveled 20-plus yards in the air.
It should stand out that Maye was 22-of-41 (53.7 percent completion rate) in a clean pocket; coming into the game, his completion rate in a clean pocket had been 74.8 percent.
The standouts on the back end for UVA:
- Sam Westfall: no catches allowed on two targets on 31 pass-coverage snaps, one pass breakup, 39.6 NFL passer rating against
- Jonas Sanker: one catch allowed (for 18 yards) on five targets on 55 pass-coverage snaps, 42.1 NFL passer rating against
- Malcolm Greene: one catch allowed (for 14 yards) on three targets on 25 pass-coverage snaps, 49.3 NFL passer rating against
- Caleb Hardy: two catches allowed (for a total of 41 yards) on five targets on 26 pass-coverage snaps, 69.6 NFL passer rating against
- Tayvonn Kyle: five catches allowed (for a total of 32 yards) on eight targets on 52 pass-coverage snaps, one pass breakup, 70.8 NFL passer rating against
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