As poorly as this season had gone for first-year UVA Football coach Tony Elliott, any one of five or six plays goes the right way on Saturday, and the ‘Hoos are back to .500, and you never know what can happen from there.
Instead, it’s another week of frustration for Elliott, his team and the fan base, after a 14-12 four-OT loss that drops Virginia to a 3-5 mark, and was another reminder of how not to go about building a program.
The offense, again, failed to capitalize on opportunities, scoring six points on three second-half drives that got inside the Miami 5, then coming up short on two opportunities to walk off the ‘Canes in OT.
“That’s been the theme with us offensively, is we’re just leaving points on the field,” Elliott said, listing the plays that, any one of them goes the right way, could have changed the result.
“There were several trips to the red zone. That’s why you always tell them, guys like Lavel [Davis Jr.], he’s trying hard, but man, find a way to keep your feet and score a touchdown,” Elliott said, referencing the 47-yard third-quarter pass from Brennan Armstrong to Davis, who had to adjust to an underthrown ball from Armstrong inside the 10, and should have easily scored after making the catch, but he got tripped up trying to adjust to the ball mid-flight, and ended up losing his footing at the Miami 3.
Virginia would go on to get just three points, on a short Will Bettridge field goal, on that drive.
“[Grant] Misch, he had the ball, got on him quick, and find a way to make the touchdown,” Elliott said, this time referencing a fourth-and-goal from the 1 pass from Armstrong that Misch just dropped.
Even three points there, and Virginia wins in regulation.
“Mike [Hollins], get the ball in the endzone.”
This one was a 64-yard catch-and-sprint from Armstrong to Hollins that didn’t get into the end zone because Hollins stepped out at the 3.
That one was on the drive that ended with the Misch drop on fourth-and-goal.
“There were some plays there. I think maybe the first or second play, we got [Dontayvion] Wicks open, we got to make those plays,” Elliott said, on that one, referencing a pass from Armstrong to Wicks on the first UVA play from scrimmage, on which Armstrong just overshot a wide-open Wicks.
The defense, meanwhile, as has been the case all season, played more than well enough to bring home a win, holding Miami to 272 yards, and a pair of field goals in regulation, one on the final play that sent the game to OT.
“I want these guys be frustrated,” defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said. “We’re frustrated as coaches. We want to win. We want to win for that V-Sabre. We want to win for Charlottesville. We want to win for all the folks here in the state of Virginia. We’re frustrated. And at the same time, there’s a lot of good things that we can learn from. We owe it to this university to play at a high level and then ultimately, frankly, to win.”
“It’s more so I think it’s just wishing that we had a few plays back,” said free safety Coen King, who had 13 tackles and a pass breakup in the loss. “Like they say, every play comes down to someone doing their job, and coaching. They beat us, and I think that we beat ourselves. The plays that they made, the plays that we didn’t make, we also beat ourselves. And I think it just comes down to taking it one step at a time, really focusing on what your job is, and executing at the highest level possible in every play.”
“It’s just ending with a victory. The biggest frustration right now is finding a way to win those games right there. Those hurt,” said strong safety Antonio Clary, who had six tackles and a sack on Saturday. “It comes down to three or four plays that determine the game, so when you let one slip like that, it hurts bad.”
This loss, and the 22-20 loss to Syracuse last month, show how close this team could be to 5-3 instead of 3-5. Literally one play among many in both of those games is the difference, and that’s with the structural deficiencies in the approach that Elliott has brought to the fore in building his program.
He inherited an offense that averaged 515.8 yards per game last season, but failed to keep the offensive line from bolting for the transfer portal, had to rebuild that from scratch, obviously failed, and the offense has struggled as a result to get a footing, and is averaging just 359.9 yards per game this season, and has yet to score more than 20 in a game with an FBS opponent this year.
The special teams – a miserable failure in each of the first seven games – actually had a solid day on Saturday. Bettridge was 4-of-4 on field goals, including a pair of 41-yarders in OT, punter Daniel Sparks averaged 43.5 yards per punt, and the coverage and return units held serve – no big plays on the plus side, but no big plays for the other guys, either.
The defense has improved dramatically – giving up 340.5 yards per game this season, down significantly from the 466.0 yards per game surrendered a year ago.
Better D, awful special teams – simply a lack of attention to detail there, and that’s on Elliott – and the staff dropping the ball on scheming the offense, also on Elliott, who got the job because of his success at Clemson as the offensive coordinator and play-caller for two national-title winners.
That’s why this team is 3-5 instead of 5-3 or better, and it’s only going to get harder from here.
Because Armstrong is out of eligibility after this season, as is his top target, Keytaon Thompson. And the rumblings about underclassmen who are unhappy with how the season is going, and how the coaching staff seems to think they need to fit in, have to get you to thinking about a mass exodus heading to the transfer portal after the season finale at Virginia Tech in four weeks.
This was supposed to be a bridge season for Elliott – a chance to take what Bronco Mendenhall had left him in the cupboard, win seven or eight games, and use that as a springboard to boost recruiting to build a foundation for the future.
Instead, Elliott lost the O line, let the guy who should have been his offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, go without so much as even giving him a shot at the job, and now we have this – a 3-5 record, tough games with UNC, Pitt and Coastal Carolina, in addition to the rivalry game with Virginia Tech, which Tech, no matter how bad things down there are, almost always wins, and a 2023 recruiting class that currently ranks 13th in the ACC.
Basically, it’s a mess.
The job ahead for Elliott is motivating kids who may not want to be there for the spring semester to want to block and tackle and dive for fingertip catches and burst through holes.
He’s got a positive attitude, at least to the public.
“The guys continue to strain and continue to fight. I thought that overall, the team made progress,” Elliott told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “You look at two weeks ago versus Louisville, we were trying to give the game away early. Then we came back and battled through adversity. And then now we’re in a four-quarter, overtime game all the way down to the end. So, definitely not the outcome that we wanted, and the guys are going to be sick when they watch those four or five, maybe six plays that would have made a big difference in the game that we didn’t make.”
OK, so that may not have been as positive in terms of attitude as I thought when I first heard it.
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Chris Graham
