Illinois tailback Chase Brown ran for 199 yards in the Illini’s 23-20 loss at Indiana last week. There’s the challenge for a Virginia defense that surrendered 170 yards on the ground in a 34-17 win over Richmond in Week 1.
“They’re a big, physical team up front. They run the football. They’re going to be committed to run the football,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said.
The UVA defense was most vulnerable up the A gap. Richmond gained 92 yards on 14 carries in the A gap, right over the nose in UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski’s 3-4 stack.
Brown, last week at Indiana, gained 108 yards on 14 A gap runs.
So, there’s your first key to the game, taking away the runs between the guards and over center.
The second key will be keeping Tommy Devito, the Syracuse transfer who is the Illini’s QB1, in check.
Devito was 21-of-35 passing for 232 yards, two TDs and one INT last week, and connected with wideout Isaiah Williams on nine passes for 112 yards.
Devito also gained 32 yards on scrambles, meaning you have to account for him when he breaks the pocket.
The challenge posed by Devito: “The ability to extend plays with his legs, he can make all the throws, he’s got experience, so you can see that he’s poised and calm, doesn’t get flustered, and just gives them balance because they’re going to be able to run the ball, and then he has the ability to beat you with his arm off of all the play actions and the move the pocket stuff that they do,” Elliott said.
The Virginia D, in the Week 1 win, didn’t get challenged too much downfield. UR offensive coordinator Billy Cosh tried to piecemeal his way down the field with the run game and dinks and dunks in the pass game.
Illinois will take more shots downfield – Devito had seven attempts of 20+ yards, but he only completed one, for 22 yards – though largely, Illinois OC Barry Lunney will have Devito doing a lot of short stuff.
Devito, last week, was 8-of-9 for 83 yards on passes behind the line of scrimmage, and 9-of-13 for 77 yards on passes of 0-9 yards.
“Coach Rud is going to try and keep his guys in position not to give up the huge explosive play and put pressure on the offense,” Elliott said. “As an offensive guy, you like the guys that take a chance and give you the explosives, because offensively, you’re like, man, a 14-play drive, that’s an opportunity for mistakes. So, what you’re banking on is you keep everything in front.”
The dink-and-dunk passing game can make it hard to get pressure on the QB, but the Virginia front seven had good numbers in that respect last week, recording 22 pressures, including two sacks.
“We hit the quarterback a couple times, but we got there just a split second late. They weren’t going to hold the ball too long. They were going to try and get it out of their hand. I think that our guys have got to do a better job of playing with their hands,” Elliott said.
“We’ve got to be able to get more pressure. If we’re going to keep everything in front and try not to give up the big play on the back end, then the front four has got to get there, OK, or the next step is then you’ve got to start bringing five. If you start bringing five and six guys, now you put yourself in man coverage situations on the back end. So, the alternative is we’ve just got to get a little bit more pressure.”
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Chris Graham
