Offense looks good early, then shuts down: The UVA offense seemed to be hitting early, getting a touchdown on its first drive, a 12-yard TD pass from Greyson Lambert to UNC transfer T.J. Thorpe, a nice 27-yard scoring pass from Matt Johns to Brendan Marshall, a couple of long field goals from Ian Frye and Dylan Sims.
But that was it, as the only points in the second half of the abbreviated spring game came on a defensive touchdown.
When it was over, the offense had gained 353 total yards on 84 plays, 4.20 yards per play.
In case you were wondering, no, that’s not good, especially against a defense with an inexperienced linebacker corps that was also thin on Saturday on the defensive line.
The running game gained 4.4 yards per carry, but 158 of the 196 yards came on five of the Cavs’ 45 carries.
The quarterbacks, Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns, did little to distinguish themselves. Lambert was 6-of-14 for 79 yards, a touchdown and an interception; Johns was 11-of-23 passing for 66 yards and a touchdown.
The Cavs gained 157 yards on 39 passes, 4.02 yards per play. Dock the passing game for the yards lost to sacks as it’s done in the NFL, and you’re at 3.0 yards per play from the passing game.
Yeah, yikes.
Thorpe and tailback Taquan Mizzell emerged as the bright spots. Thorpe caught four passes for 58 yards, and gained 47 yards on the ground on two carries, breaking off a 46-yard run on an inside reverse on the opening drive.
Mizzell had 83 yards on nine carries and had two catches for another nine yards.
Defense: Quin Blanding, no surprise here, led the UVA defense with nine tackles. The sophomore safety had an interception and also was credited with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Divante Walker and Andrew Brown were in the offensive backfield early and often. Brown, a Top 10 national recruit who had a subpar freshman season in 2014 after being slowed by a myriad of injuries, had 3.5 tackles for loss. Walker had three tackles for loss.
Tim Harris forced a third-quarter fumble that was recovered by Mark Hall, who returned it 35 yards before lateralling the ball to Trent Corney, who finished out what turned into a 70-yard defensive touchdown.
Harris, Tre Nicholson and Darrious Carter were each credited with one pass breakup each.
Special Teams: Punters Nicholas Conte and James Coleman each kicked relatively well. Conte averaged 40.6 yards over his four kicks, with a long of 60 and one kick downed inside the 20 (and one awful shank). Coleman averaged 42.7 yards on his three kicks, with a long of 51 and two touchbacks. There seemed to be issues with long-snapping and blocking that would present an issue against a defense going all out in a regular-season game.
The placekickers were 2-of-3 on kicks. Ian Frye was good from 46 yards. Dylan Sims connected on a 44-yarder. Andrew King missed badly on a 38-yard kick.
– Report by Chris Graham
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