UVA football: Better, but still not nearly better enough

Football teams make their most marked improvements between Week 1 and Week 2. UVA got better in Week 2.

The offense was able to run the ball in the 44-26 loss at #24 Oregon, gaining 193 yards on 40 attempts officially, and when you account for the yards lost on sacks the way you should, by assigning them to the passing game, you get 244 yards on 34 rushes.

Not bad, for a team that had 63 yards on 18 attempts last week in a 37-20 loss at home to FCS Richmond.

(Those numbers assign sack yardage to the passing game. Seriously, college football stats people. Get with the times.)

So, there’s that.

Kurt Benkert took a step back, getting sacked five times and throwing two interceptions, and when he wasn’t getting sacked or intercepted, he wasn’t all that accurate, and not making consistently good decisions.

For the night, Benkert was 20-of-39 passing for 193 yards and two touchdowns, with the aforementioned two INTs.

He was also assessed 27 yards in rushing losses on nine attempts, but again that includes yards lost on sacks – 51 yards lost on the six sacks.

You don’t always want to blame sack yardage on a QB, but Benkert’s inability to pull the trigger contributed to the issue Saturday night.

Good nights for the receiving corps. Eight guys made catches, with Keeon Johnson hauling in six balls for 40 yards and a touchdown, and Doni Dowling with four catches for 54 yards also standing out.

Olamide Zaccheaus (three catches, 47 yards) and Warren Craft (two catches, 23 yards, TD) also contributed nicely.

The defense … was awful. Oregon put up 632 yards of total offense. Quarterback Dakota Prukop threw for 331 easy yards on 21-of-31 passing. The UVA D registered no sacks and two QB hurries, which is roughly equivalent to a seven-on-seven drill.

The run defense was even less effective than the pass defense, gashed for 301 yards on 45 carries, with Royce Freeman going for 207 yards and two touchdowns, including an 85-yard sprint in the third quarter.

And for the second straight week, no turnovers.

Also for the second straight week: third down was the enemy. Richmond was 10-of-17 converting third downs last week; Oregon was 9-of-14, and converted a third-and-36 en route to one TD, and a modest third-and-12 on its way to another.

The stats seem to suggest a blowout loss, but this wasn’t that. Oregon led 30-6 at the half, and it was 44-13 midway through the third after the long run by Freeman.

It wasn’t that Oregon took its foot off the throttle, either. Prukop was still in the game throwing the ball in the final two minutes.

It was hard last week to imagine this Virginia team being as bad as it looked, especially when the group that got Mike London fired still somehow won four games, and blew late leads to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.

It’s still hard to figure who the 2016 Cavs can beat with a defense that can’t get off the field on third down and can’t turn its opponents over, and gives up 578 yards a game in the process.

Next week is at UConn, then it’s Central Michigan, who just upset #23 Oklahoma State on the Hail-and-ladder, then the ACC.

There may not be a game on the schedule in which this group will be favored. That’s a harsh reality for a UVA football team that did get better this week, but still has a ways to go.

Column by Chris Graham