Sunday Couch QB: Wake Forest
By Josh Burton
The University of Virginia Football team escaped Wake Forest with their first win in Winston-Salem since 2002, a 31-30 Saturday night thriller. Let's dive into the good, the bad and everything in between.
Offense
This game in many ways felt like UVA Football of recent years, highlighted by a high flying offense and led primarily by the passing game. Anthony Colandrea was very good slinging the ball around for over 350 yards. He did have two interceptions, but only one was really on him. The other was the result of a batted down pass at the line that fell into the arms of the defensive end on the opposite side. Malachi Fields was the most impressive receiver. He was nearly unguardable with 11 catches for 148 yards. Tight End Tyler Neville had a huge night as well. The Harvard transfer hauled in a pair of touchdown receptions, both in the second quarte from 18+ yards out (18 yards then 24 yards, respectively).
If anything, UVA has found three really talented playmakers in this game.
— Preston Willett (@PrestonWillett) September 8, 2024
Malachi Fields, Trell Harris and Tyler Neville have combined for 18 catches for 281 yards (15.6 per catch) and 3 TDs.
The issues I had with the offensive game were on the strategic side, particularly pertaining to the rushing attack. In football, “the box” is the space between offensive tackles and within 6-8 yards of the line of scrimmage. What you’re looking for with the box is strictly a numbers advantage. With five offensive linemen and five defensive players in the box, you have an advantage on offense. Each defender is “counted for” to be picked up by a blocker, leaving the running back space to run. This continues to work as you add extra blockers such as tight ends, full backs, etc., just add one defender for each additional blocker to continue to have the advantage. Then when the offense capitalizes on their advantage in the box, the defense adjusts and it opens more space in the passing game.
Most of our rushing attack seemed to be designed on getting to the edges, while for most of the contest we had a positive advantage inside the box. Essentially we were running to where Wake was playing as opposed to taking advantage of the space inside they were giving up. As we weren’t finding much success, we abandoned the running game and leaned more on the playmaking of Colandrea. While Colandrea was very good, I was surprised to see the staff not trying to establish the run more. Wake’s defense had given up 185 rushing yards the week before to a lowly North Carolina A&T team and was lining up in a way to give us the advantage to do so. Equally strange was that of the 28 rushing attempts, it was an even split with 14 going to running backs and 14 combined carries between the two quarterbacks ( Junior Grady Brosterhous came in for the “Grady Bunch” play, UVA’s version of the “tush push” to score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter). There will be plenty of questions about our rushing capability going forward after what I thought was a very poor showing against what should’ve been a great opportunity.
Defense
The defense managed to hang in long enough to gut out a victory, seemingly getting stronger in the game’s deciding moments. After allowing scores on seven of Wake’s first nine drives (Wake had a one play “tenth drive” with two seconds before the half that I’m not counting here), the defense settled in and did not allow a score on Wake’s final four drives. This stretch of impressive play was highlighted by senior safety Antonio Clary recovering a Wake fumble as the Deacs were moving towards field goal range in the game's final minutes.
The biggest talking point coming out of the game defensively was the defensive line. Much like last week, they were largely ineffective for much of the game in generating any pressure or slowing down Wake’s running game. Wake managed 141 yards on the ground. And although the Hoos did record six sacks, only one of those six was by a defensive linemen. The rest all came from blitzing defenders.
UVA had 6 sacks in the win tonight. They only had 11 all of last season.
— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) September 8, 2024
It’s their most in a game since…not that long ago. Had 8 in a ACC road game vs GT in October 2022.
While the blitz is an effective defensive strategy used by every team every week, you don’t want to have to rely on the blitz as your only way of generating pressure. Going forward, the defensive line will have to find a way to generate more pressure themselves.
Multiple UVA defenders left the game with injury concerns. These issues are highlighted by linebacker Kam Robinson, a member of the Freshman All-American team last season, who was unable to return after his exit and was shown without pads on the sideline in the fourth quarter. Third-year Trey McDonald played admirably in Robinson's place, recording a career-high nine tackles and also getting his first sack on a fourth down to stop Wake from getting into scoring position late in the fourth quarter. Although Trey played well, our defense isn’t especially deep and could certainly benefit from having Kam on the field.
Special Teams
Special teams issues showed up again early in this contest, both in the punting game and on a kickoff. On Wake Forest's first punt attempt of the game, instead of signaling for a fair catch and fielding the ball near midfield, we instead opted for a “get away” approach and the ball bounced roughly another twenty yards into our territory. While the punt was short and would’ve required the returner to come up to field it, that’s still a spot where you really hope your guys are able to make the play. On the other side, the Hoos had a punt blocked just before halftime. Luckily, the recovery happened just outside of Wake's field goal range and they only had time to run one play before the half.
The kickoff team only had one mistake, a kick that went out of bounds. My biggest complaint is that it was following UVA’s first score of the game, instantly giving Wake Forest both good field position and the momentum back. With a kicker who has shown they can consistently kick the ball out of the end zone for a touchback, giving up the extra ten yards of field position with the penalty just can’t happen.
Rivalry Renewed
Now 2-0 on the year (1-0 in ACC play) the Hoos head back to Scott Stadium for a huge clash with former longtime rival Maryland next Saturday (9/14). This game is scheduled for a 8 pm EST kick and will air on the ACC Network.
UVa opens as a 2.5-pt home underdog for Saturday night’s tilt against Maryland
— Brandon Lloyd (@blloyd8298) September 8, 2024
What did you think of the Wahoos last night? Feeling confident looking ahead? Join all of our discussion over on the Locker Room Access Forums!
(Featured Image Credit: Jamie Holt/UVA Athletics)