The Tony Elliott era got off to a better start than that of his predecessor, with Virginia defeating Richmond, which blew out Mendenhall’s ‘Hoos in his 2016 debut, by a 34-17 final on Saturday.
There weren’t a lot of folks on hand for the occasion – the official attendance was announced at just under 42,000, but I overheard in the press box from one of the media relations guys that 27,000 passed through the turnstiles.
So, that’s something to work on.
There’s going to be plenty on the field to work on as well, but at least it came in a relatively comfortable win.
Richmond scored first, but UVA led 28-10 at the half, with Brennan Armstrong throwing for 132 yards and a touchdown, and running for 89 yards and another score.
Armstrong connected with Lavel Davis Jr., the 2020 freshman All-America who missed 2021 with an ACL injury, on a 56-yard score in the first quarter, and then the QB1 scored on 64-yard keeper early in the second quarter.
Things got a little wobbly in the second half. After a holding call negated a first-down run, Dontavion Wicks, trying to make a play at the sticks, fumbled at the UR 34, setting up the Spiders with a short field.
Richmond would go on to convert a little too easily. Reece Udinski, VMI transfer, connected with tailback Savon Smith on a 5-yard TD pass to get the score down to 28-17.
Things would get a little hairy after that one. Armstrong, throwing off his back foot into the pass rush, was picked off by Richmond nickel corner Aaron Banks at the Virginia 37.
The Virginia defense held, and Richmond coach Russ Huesman, thinking, one-score game, decided to try a 48-yard Jake Larson field goal, which missed wide left.
After a UVA punt, Richmond dinked and dunked its way back into Cavaliers territory, but the D got stops on third-and-one and fourth-and-inches runs by UR tailback Aaron Dykes at the Virginia 36.
Virginia finally got some breathing room on the next offensive series, with Armstrong connecting on a 25-yard pass to Keytaon Thompson to get into plus territory, then hitting Billy Kemp on a third-and-five to keep the drive alive in the red zone.
Tailback Perris Jones, a former walk-on who ran for 104 yards in his first career start, scored on an 11-yard catch-and-run with 11:51 to go in the game to push the margin out to 34-17.
Richmond’s final two drives didn’t get into Virginia territory, and the Cavaliers were able to bleed the last 4:55 off the clock with three first downs.
Armstrong, running the new pro-style offense favored by Elliott and installed by new offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, was 21-of-33 passing for 246 yards, two TDs and the one INT, and a 140.2 QB rating.
Armstrong was the other 100-yard rusher for Virginia on the day, finishing with 105 yards on 10 carries and the long TD.
The run/pass ratio was 42 runs/33 rushes, a big departure from the Bronco Mendenhall era, which had his offensive coordinator, Robert Anae, closer to a 70/30 split the past couple of years.
Virginia put up 505 yards of total offense – 259 on the ground, 246 through the air.
Richmond finished with 330 yards, with Udinski, in his first start at UR, going 23-of-34 through the air for 160 yards and a TD, and a 116.9 QB rating.
Smith (13 carries, 88 yards, one TD rushing, one TD receiving) and Dykes (17 carries, 76 yards) keyed the ground game for Richmond, which put up 170 yards on 35 attempts overall.
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Chris Graham
