If the 2025 UVA Football season was one long game, we’re in the break between the first and second quarters.
What we’ve seen so far:
- ‘Hoos 55, W&M 16 | UVA Football takes care of business in Cupcake Bowl
- UVA Football | Red zone issues, what else is new, doom ‘Hoos in 35-31 loss at NC State
- UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet
Good a time as any to ask: what do we know about this team, three games in?
Chandler Morris
Much has been made of the O line not allowing a sack of Chandler Morris through three games, and according to Pro Football Focus, Morris is one of seven FBS QBs with at least 50 pass dropbacks (among the 234 overall with at least 50 dropbacks) who hasn’t been sacked yet this season.
A big part of this is by design – Morris has only attempted five deep balls through three games, the bulk of his throws being behind the line (17 attempts), within 10 yards (38 attempts) and intermediate (10-19 yards, 28 attempts).
Getting rid of the ball quickly will, again, by design, make it hard on opponents to get him to the ground.
Morris has been reasonably adept in the quick passing game – per PFF, he is 29-of-36 for 227 yards and two TDs, and a 111.5 NFL rating, ranking 58th among the 234 FBS QBs with at least 50 dropbacks, on pass plays in which he gets rid of the ball within 2.5 seconds.
He’s not been as good on pass plays on which he gets rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds or more – 33-of-53, 443 yards, two TDs, one INT and a 93.5 NFL rating, ranking 91st among the FBS QBs with at least 50 dropbacks.
You can see the reasons Morris is ranked just 61st in FBS in pass efficiency.
Because he’s not attacking downfield, he’s going to need to be more efficient in the intermediate passing game – Morris is just 24th in FBS among the 48 QBs with at least 20 attempts in the 10- to 19-yard range, with a 97.6 NFL rating on those throws.
His receivers could help him in the short passing game, where he ranks 23rd among the 107 FBS QBs with at least 20 attempts in the 0- to 9-yard range with a 111.1 NFL rating on 28-of-38 passing.
Nine of the 10 incompletions, per PFF, are drops by UVA receivers.
Ground and pound
We’ve been hearing coaches since Mike London talk up how this is going to be the year we get a ground game going.
Finally!
We’re only three games in, and two of those were Coastal Carolina and William & Mary, but still, Virginia ranks eighth nationally in rushing offense (266.7 yards/g).
PFF grades the run game 17th nationally (among the 136 FBS teams), and the run blocking grades out at 30th nationally.
The bulk of the running has been done between the tackles – 88 attempts, 633 yards, for 7.2 yards per attempt.
One good thing about having two blowout wins early is, O line coach Terry Heffernan has been able to get his starters out early a couple of Saturdays, and save their bullets for later weeks and tougher matchups.
The Virginia offense has logged 241 snaps through three games, and the leader in snaps among the O linemen is right guard Drake Metcalf, who has 184 snaps (76.3 percent), and that’s with Metcalf and three other starters (center Brady Wilson, left tackle McKale Boley and left guard Noah Josey) going all the way in the NC State game in Week 2.
Defense
Still a work in progress here.
I’m hesitating to give too much credence to the season numbers, because two of the games were blowouts of teams who are basically anemic on offense.
Particularly the win over Coastal Carolina, that one is basically worthless now – Coastal, after losing to UVA, 48-7, in the opener, limped to a 13-0 win over Charleston Southern in Week 2, then lost 38-0 to ECU in Week 3.
In between the blowouts of Coastal and W&M, the D gave up 35 points and 416 yards in a Jekyll-and-Hyde showing in the loss to NC State in Week 2.
I call it Jekyll-and-Hyde because State did its damage in the first and third quarters; the defense was able to make in-half adjustments that basically shut the Pack down in quarters two (40 yards of total offense) and four (24 yards of total offense).
We still don’t have a kicker
Will Bettridge was a top recruit in the Class of 2022; have to say, the coaching staff has utterly failed to get him developed.
Bettridge, a senior now, is 0-for-1 career on tries of 50+, and 11-of-17 from 40-49, with a career long of 47.
Four years in, we still don’t have a kicker that we can trust to reliably put points on the board if a drive stalls out in the vicinity of the plus-35.
This is going to be something that bites our team in a key situation this season.
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Chris Graham
