By a mere inch, the No. 16 Virginia Cavaliers avoided an upset to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday afternoon, winning 17-16 in overtime. For the second straight week, the Cavaliers came out with far less than their best against a lesser opponent. And, for the second straight week, they avoided defeat by the skin of their teeth.
In the first half, both sides of the ball struggled, but UVA managed to get to halftime tied 10-10. Neither offense scored in the second half as both defenses made
timely plays. The Tar Heels hounded UVA quarterback Chandler Morris in the backfield, sacking him four times in the second half alone. On the other side of the ball, the ‘Hoos picked off UNC quarterback Gio Lopez on two occasions, the latter coming with just 14 seconds left in regulation.
One final stop, on a potential game-winning two-point conversion by UNC, clinched a seventh win on the year for the Cavaliers. Here are five takeaways from Virginia’s latest heart-stopping victory.
A win is a win, but yikes!
Last week against Washington State was a less than stellar performance. This was a straight up bad performance by Tony Elliott’s squad against a fledgling UNC team.
The defense came out flat and the offense never really got going. Virginia managed a season-low 17 points, seven of which came in overtime on a drive starting just 25 yards out. The Cavaliers went over 36 minutes of game time without a score and were fortunate to even make it to overtime.
A win is a win, but the Cavaliers looked far from the high-powered team we saw earlier this season. There is a lot to fix before next week’s trip to Berkeley.
The UVA defense is to thank
The defense started out poor, conceding nearly 250 yards of offense in the first half. They were fortunate to have given up only 10 points heading into halftime.
That said, John Rudzinski’s unit deserves credit for allowing no points and just 107 yards in the second half. That second half performance, including two timely interceptions, was the difference between losing in regulation and giving themselves a chance to win in overtime.
Add in the game-clinching stop on UNC’s overtime two-point try, and the Cavaliers have the defense to thank for this win. It wasn’t a complete four-quarter performance, but it was enough.
The Virginia offense has fallen completely flat
Virginia came into this game averaging an ACC-best 41.3 points per game in conference play. You would not have known that from watching this performance. Chandler Morris and the UVA offense managed only 10 points in regulation against a UNC team that came into the day allowing 29.5 points per game against conference opponents.
Morris was banged up, and it was clearly affecting his play. Combine that with some questionable play calling decisions and uneven play from the offensive line, and it was a brutal day for the Virginia offense. The Cavaliers may have gotten away with scoring a combined 39 points in its past two games against Washington State and North Carolina. That isn’t likely to work out well against California, Wake Forest, and Duke in the weeks ahead.
Chandler Morris’ health is a major concern
Virginia’s signal caller has not looked his normal self the last couple of weeks, and with each big hit he took on Saturday, he only looked more and more uncomfortable. On more than a few occasions, he missed throws that he has largely hit on most of this season.
Two particularly noticeable ones came late in the fourth quarter on a screen pass to Trell Harris and a throw targeting Sage Ennis on a seam route. The latter would have been for a big gain and put the Cavaliers in scoring position late. If he completes that throw, Virginia may have avoided going to overtime for the third time in its last four games.
Morris does deserve some credit for leading the overtime scoring drive, and particularly for his gutsy seven-yard run on third down from the UNC 10-yard line. Morris checked to the play at the line of scrimmage prior to the snap before lowering his shoulder to reach the line to gain. UVA likely settles for a field goal if Morris doesn’t put his body on the line there.
His health is the most important thing to watch going forward. If injury continues to impact his ability to accurately deliver the ball down the field, this offense is going to continue to struggle, and backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin may need to be called upon.
OL and play calling leave room for improvement
The offensive line had largely been a strength of this team this season. They had allowed only five sacks in seven games coming into this contest. UNC’s defense changed that in a hurry, giving Virginia’s offensive line fits all day and sacking Morris a total of six times.
Additionally, in some critical moments, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings didn’t put the offense in the best position to succeed either.
None were more glaring than when he opted to throw the ball twice from the UNC one-yard line instead of trusting running back J’Mari Taylor. He learned from that mistake in overtime, opting for a direct snap to Taylor that resulted in a touchdown, just as he did on the overtime game-winning play against Louisville a few weeks back.
