Sunday Couch QB: Louisville
By Josh Burton
The University of Virginia Football team dropped a tough one to Louisville this week, with Louisville scoring the go ahead touchdown with just under two minutes left in the game to pick up a 24-20 win over the Hoos in Charlottesville. It was another frustrating effort for the UVA team that once again felt like it could’ve easily won the game; a feeling that’s been hanging around the program for the last couple years. Offensive and special teams issues were the main plagues this wee. Let's take a look at what went wrong.
Offense
A general lack of scoring efficiency was once again the main issue for the Hoos. They were only able to convert one of four drives to the redzone for a touchdown, with two other trips ending in field goals and one ending in a turnover on downs late in the second quarter. I wasn’t a huge fan of the decision to go for it in that spot, which led to the turnover on downs, but the general inability to finish drives by getting into the endzone is a serious concern for this team both now and moving forward. On the year, Virginia is currently last in the ACC and in the bottom ten nationally on converting redzone trips into touchdowns.
UVA has only scored 10 TDs in 27 red zone trips.
— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) October 13, 2024
That 39% ranks last in the ACC and 129th in the country out of 134 teams.
Dead last among the 96 teams with at least 20 trips.
I believe there are a few different factors contributing to the problem here. One I believe is being addressed, which is the previous lack of a true rushing attack. Teams that can run the ball have more success scoring once they get close to the endzone, and for the last few weeks it has felt like that has been more of an emphasis on establishing the run. Obviously it’s still a work in progress but I think it will pay dividends going forward.
The other issue to me has been play calling/situational decision making. One example was the attempted “pop pass” to get first-year wide receiver Kam Courtney out on the edge from the Louisville six-yard line. While I appreciate the effort to get the defense spread out and get the electric Courtney in space, that close to the end zone isn’t an ideal spot for it. Credit to Louisville's defense for holding contain on the edge as they managed to drop Courtney for a seven-yard loss, pushing the Hoos back to the 13 for second and goal. Going backwards behind the sticks like this then makes it even tougher to call potentially successful plays to finish the drive. Once they get in this close to scoring, the Hoos need to limit negative plays as much as possible, especially given that it was only first down.
Defense
Defensively, the Hoos also didn’t play their best game. An inability to get Louisville ball carriers on the ground was in my opinion the biggest issue on the field and concern going forward. Missed tackles all over the field allowed Louisville to continuously turn could’ve been moderate gains into big chunk plays. While I don’t think this game was lost on the defensive side of the field, I certainly do believe they could’ve played much better.
Special Teams
As mentioned in the header, special teams play, specifically punts, were the other key factor to decide the games results. The usually very consistent Daniel Sparks had a poor day with issues on two punts. One punt hit off another UVA player and ended up being an extremely short attempt, while the other went off the side of his foot and ended up actually being a negative play and setting up Louisville with a one-play drive to score from the UVA 14.
While Sparks definitely needs to be more sound and clean with his attempts, I thought a different approach to punting this week also could’ve been a main reason for the issues. They tried taking a “rugby style” approach with directional punting as opposed to the conventional approach. I wasn’t a an of that approach, given that Sparks is a generally good punter who can really get the ball far downfield. Hopefully they’ll revert back to the conventional method after the multiple issues this week.
Although it was a very frustrating game, the UVA Football team is still 4-2 over (2-1 in ACC) and has plenty of opportunities to pick up big wins on the schedule ahead. While there’s no doubt that having won this one would’ve made the bowl math a lot easier, the team still has the chance to earn the right to their first bowl game since the 2019 Orange Bowl. Looking ahead, how do you think the team will finish? Join our conversation on Locker Room Access!
(Featured Image Credit: Josie Drumheller/UVA Athletics)