I’m dating myself here, comparing the UVA defense’s stats from its 35-31 loss to NC State in Week 2 to Bret Saberhagen.
Other old guys like me getting ready to read this are laughing uproariously right now.
Saberhagen was a two-time Cy Young winner who pitched in MLB from 1984-2001, and would win 10 games one year, 20 the next, then go 7-12 ahead of going 18-10, 14-16, 23-6 and 5-9.
Now the rest of you get it.
Maybe.
ICYMI
- UVA Football Report Card | Grading out the offense in the Week 2 loss to NC State
- Greg’s Grades | UVA Football report card for Week 2 loss at NC State
- Five observations | How UVA Football won the statsheet, still lost the game
The UVA D’s Bret Saberhagen act:
- Quarter 1 on Saturday: NC State put up 122 yards of total offense.
- Quarter 2: State had 40 yards, one first down.
- Quarter 3: State had 230 yards, three TD drives.
- Quarter 4: State had 24 yards, two first downs.
It was all or nothing, or rather, nothing or all: the Pack was an unstoppable force, and then the UVA D was an immovable object.
Not sure how that works.
Front: C-
It wasn’t pretty.
No sacks, for one.
The pressure on QB CJ Bailey was decent – Pro Football Focus reported pressure on 11 of Bailey’s 26 dropbacks; Bailey was 3-of-9 for 28 yards and a 42.8 NFL rating on those dropbacks.
The run defense gave up 215 yards on 36 attempts, and the bulk of the damage was to the left side – 170 yards on 22 runs to the left of center.
Middle linebacker James Jackson led the D with five run tackles.
Edge rushers Daniel Rickert and Fisher Camac and interior lineman Jason Hammond led the unit in QB pressures with two each.
Snap counts (58 total defensive snaps)
Edge rushers
- DE Mitchell Melton: 42
- DE Fisher Camac: 34
- DE Daniel Rickert: 26
- DE Cazeem Moore: 24
Interior line
- DT Jahmeer Carter: 32
- DT Anthony Britton: 23
- DT Jacob Holmes: 17
- DT Hunter Osborne: 16
Linebackers
- WLB Landon Danley: 53
- WLB Caleb Hardy: 5
- MLB James Jackson: 34
- MLB Maddox Marcellus: 24
Secondary: C
Bailey was 16-of-23 for 200 yards and a TD, and a 110.8 NFL rating.
As a unit, the UVA secondary was logged for 10 of the completions on 13 of the attempts for 134 of the yards.
Cornerback Emmanuel Karnley was the cover defender on the TD pass, a 27-yarder to wideout Noah Rogers.
The unit had one pass defensed – by cornerback Jordan Robinson.
In the short passing game – behind the line of scrimmage and inside of 10 yards downfield – Bailey was 11-of-12 for 88 yards.
Intermediate – 10 to 19 yards in the air – Bailey was 4-of-6 for 85 yards.
He completed one deep ball on two attempts, the TD pass to Rogers.
Snap counts (58 total defensive snaps)
Safety
- S Devin Neal: 49
- S Ethan Minter: 47
- S Christian Charles: 20
Corner
- CB Donavon Platt: 50
- CB Ja’Son Prevard: 44
- CB Jordan Robinson: 37
- CB Emmanuel Karnley: 25
- CB Corey Costner: 10
Special teams: B
Cam Ross, for the second straight week, was the ACC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Ross had four punt returns for a total of 81 yards, including a 48-yarder in the second quarter setting up a second quarter TD that gave the ‘Hoos a 24-14 lead going into the break.
Daniel Sparks averaged 44.0 yards on his two punts, with one downed inside the 20, and all six of his kickoffs went for touchbacks.
The weak link, again, is the guy who is supposed to put points on the board, Will Bettridge – who made a 29-yarder in the second quarter, but doinked from 47 in the fourth.
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Chris Graham
