The UVA defense gave up 544 yards, the quarterback threw two picks, the ground game gained 76 yards and averaged 2.6 yards per carry.
But the D also recorded six sacks and 19 total pressures, Anthony Colandrea passed for 357 yards and three TDs.
And the final score was Virginia 31, Wake Forest 30.
It wasn’t pretty, but because it wasn’t pretty, it may have actually been beautiful, given how this team, a year ago, couldn’t seem to get out of its own way in close games, and then figured out a way in this one.
Let’s grade things on that curve.
Note: yes, I’m creating new grades, with my … to … designations.
Offense: B to B+
The QB
Colandrea was 33-of-43 for 357 yards, three TDs and two INTs.
The INTs weren’t of the “oh, crap” variety that offensive coordinator Des Kitchings has talked about.
The first one was a pass batted up into the air at the line of scrimmage; the second was a slightly underthrown deep ball intended for Trell Harris that would have been a big gainer if Colandrea had put just enough air under it.
Colandrea was 3-of-7 for 62 yards, two TDs and that one INT on deep balls – passes that traveled 20+ yards through the air, per Pro Football Focus data.
The game plan had Colandrea going short an awful lot – he was 11-of-11 for 37 yards on passes behind the line of scrimmage and 13-of-14 for 92 yards on passes that traveled less than 10 yards downfield.
Colandrea was most effective in the mid-range – 6-of-10 for 112 yards and a TD, and a 132.1 NFL passer rating, on passes between 10 and 20 yards downfield.
O line
Credit to the O line for keeping the QB upright – Colandrea was only pressured on five of his 45 dropbacks, and was sacked once on the night.
Four linemen were on the field for all 73 snaps – right tackle Blake Steen (PFF grade: 66.8, one pressure allowed), center Brian Stevens (PFF grade: 65.7), left tackle Jack Witmer (PFF grade: 64.4) and left guard Noah Josey (PFF grade: 56.0).
Ty Furnish (52 snaps, PFF grade: 55.1, one sack, one pressure allowed) and Ugonna Nnanna (22 snaps, PFF grade: 63.2) split time at right guard.
Nnanna was the extra lineman in the Grady Bunch tush-push formation on the game-winning score.
Wideouts/TEs
I’ve been writing for weeks about how Malachi Fields is the key to the passing game, and he was again on Saturday night.
Fields had 11 catches on 13 targets for 148 yards, and his success on the edge opened up operating space for Harris (7 catches/11 targets, 91 yards, TD, one drop) and tight end Tyler Neville (4 catches/4 targets, 67 yards, 2 TDs).
Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree is still having issues. In 34 snaps in the slot, Tyree got four targets, all behind the line of scrimmage, and he caught all four, but gained just 11 yards on the catches.
On the ground
I put the numbers out there already – 76 sack-adjusted rushing yards, 2.8 yards per carry.
Some of this, to me, was the game plan, and the play-calling within the game plan.
For some reason, 11 of the 27 rushing attempts were designed QB runs for Colandrea, and he gained a grand total of 15 yards on those.
RB1 Kobe Pace got five touches for 14 yards, and his backup, Xavier Brown, had nine touches for 35 yards.
Defense: C to C-
Run defense
Wake continually stymied the Virginia D with its mesh offense, which has the QB delaying a possible handoff with the tailback to create a triple-option – a handoff, a QB keeper or an RPO.
The Deacs put up 165 sack-adjusted rushing yards on the run part of the mesh, with Demond Claiborne going for 86 yards and two TDs on 21 carries.
The QB, Hank Bachmeier, had 45 sack-adjusted rushing yards, but they were all on scrambles, officially, though from my eyes, it felt like even the scrambles had some design to them.
The leaders in run-play tackling, per PFF: D lineman Michael Diatta (four run tackles, PFF grade: 77.3), safety Jonas Sanker (four run tackles, PFF grade: 62.8) and linebacker Trey McDonald (four run tackles, PFF grade: 53.1).
Pass defense
I’ve mentioned the six sacks and 19 total pressures. The UVA defense had 11 sacks total in 12 games in the 2023 season, so, that was a game for the guys up front.
Chico Bennett (two sacks, two pressures, PFF grade: 65.7) had the best counting numbers there.
The coverage unit didn’t do much – UVA didn’t record a single pass breakup, and Wake receivers gained 157 yards after the catch.
The best guy in pass coverage, per PFF: cornerback Malcolm Greene (one target, no completions, on 25 coverage snaps, PFF grade: 73.9).
Special teams: A solid B-
I’m grading down because of the punt block at the end of the first half, which fortunately didn’t lead to any Wake points, but still.
Daniel Sparks (PFF grade: 60.4) averaged 46.8 yards per punt, and only had two punts returned, for a net of eight return yards, so, aside from the blocked punt – he bore some responsibility for that, because he took his sweet time trying to get the ball out of there – he was good.
On kickoffs, Sparks averaged 71.4 yards per kick on his six kickoffs, and had one returned, for 28 yards, and had an average starting field position of 21.4.
Placekicker Will Bettridge was 4-for-4 on extra points and was good from 19 yards on his only field-goal try.
Tyree had two kick returns for 52 yards and one punt return for 11 yards.
Share
Chris Graham
