A week after getting run out of Tallahassee, Virginia came home Saturday night needing a get-right game, and the schedule seemed to hand it one. Syracuse arrived 2-2 and winless in ACC play, a week removed from a 42-41 overtime escape at UConn that was its first win over an FBS opponent in more than a calendar year.
Virginia opened as an 8.5-point favorite, and the number only grew as Syracuse’s quarterback room thinned out. Steve Angeli, the Orange’s opening-day starter, was out. Amari Odom, who
replaced him, was doubtful. So Fran Brown turned to Malachi Nelson, ESPN’s No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class, now at his fourth school in four years, who had thrown two passes all season.
None of that mattered for most of the night. After Xay Davis capped a crisp opening drive with a 14-yard touchdown run, Virginia punted on six straight possessions as the rain came down on Scott Stadium, and the Orange carried a 17-7 lead into the half. Syracuse finished with more than 35 minutes of possession and a 430-288 edge in total yards. It took Beau Pribula’s 43-yard strike to Da’Shawn Martin late in the third quarter to wake the ’Hoos up, and 21 straight points followed. Even then, Syracuse’s fourth-string quarterback cut the lead to three in the final minutes, and Virginia needed a fourth-down stop to escape.
Here are my five takeaways from the win.
Daniel Sparks is still the best player on the team, and it isn’t close
For the second straight week, the most consistent player in a Virginia uniform was the punter.
Sparks has been excellent all year, and Saturday was no different. He punted six times for 313 yards, a 52.2-yard average, with a long of 72 and three inside the 20. He pinned Syracuse at its own 8 in the first half and at its own 6 in the second, and his final punt of the night flipped the field before the Orange’s last drive. For reference, Syracuse punter Jimmy Gregg averaged 40.3 yards, a difference of roughly 12 yards per punt.
This comes a week after Sparks set the school single-game record for punting average, 56.7 at Florida State, breaking the mark of 53.0 he set himself against Washington State last season. The Ray Guy Award preseason watch list member entered Saturday among the top punters in the country by average, and Saturday only helped his case.
On a night when much of the rest of the roster looked sloppy, Sparks kicked absolute rockets and is proving why he should be playing on Sundays. That said, it is also a problem when he is the clear team MVP six games into the season.
The late play calling worked, which makes the first three quarters harder to explain
After another excellent scripted opening drive, a consistent high point for Virginia, the offense was stuck for most of the night. A checked-into reverse pop pass went nowhere. Beau Pribula took a sack well behind the line to finish off a three-and-out, the 20th sack Virginia has allowed this season after entering with the most in the ACC. The Cavaliers went three-and-out on three straight possessions, and at one point gained two yards across three drives. Dave Clawson summed it up on the broadcast: Virginia just has screens and quarterback runs. By the time Pribula threw incomplete on third-and-20, the Scott Stadium crowd was booing.
After the game, Tony Elliott credited the response to effort. “I challenged them, ‘Don’t worry about the scheme, just go play from the heart,’” he said on the field. The players deserve that credit. While I appreciate the sentiment, I have to disagree slightly here regarding how it actually played out. The last few drives looked like a completely different plan.
Syracuse had been creeping its safeties down all night to stop the run, and at one point played with none deep. Virginia finally made it pay. A play-action shot to Dakota Twitty drew defensive holding, the staff dialed up nearly the same play again, and Pribula hit Da’Shawn Martin for the touchdown that flipped the game. Once the shots were on the table, the box loosened. Option pitches got Jekail Middlebrook to the edge, Pribula’s hard counts pulled the Orange offside twice, and a direct snap to Middlebrook, reminiscent of the way Virginia used J’Mari Taylor last season, became the go-to call near the goal line.
That is what makes the first three quarters so frustrating. Many fans have been calling for Virginia to open up the playbook for weeks. The answer was available all game, and Virginia waited until it was backed into a corner down 10 to try it.
The passing game is still the issue. Pribula finished 11-of-19 for 119 yards and a touchdown, and Virginia went 3-for-10 on third down. Against Power Four defenses this season, he is now 55-of-95 for 639 yards and six touchdowns, 6.7 yards per attempt. Despite the promising last few drives, the passing game looked anemic for much of the evening.
Eli Holstein again did not take a snap. While I privately questioned the decision not to switch to Holstein down 17-7 at the half (à la Nick Saban going to Tua Tagovailoa at halftime of the 2018 national championship game, as seen in ESPN’s new “Saban” docuseries), I will admit that the comeback did prove the coaches right on this occasion.
The injuries are piling up
The biggest loss came in the second quarter. Rico Flores Jr. went down without contact, holding his right knee, after one catch for six yards. He went to the medical tent and then the locker room, and he was on crutches on the sideline in the second half. There is no official word yet, but it did not look good. Flores, the UCLA transfer brought in to be the No. 1 receiver, already missed the first two games with a hamstring injury, and he had just started to look like himself with nine catches for 113 yards and a touchdown against Delaware.
The defense took hits too. Jacobie Henderson, who had eight tackles and two pass breakups, went down late after diving for an interception and was taken to the blue tent, appearing to favor his shoulder. Brandyn Hillman needed an injury timeout in the second half. Sichan John left holding his right arm, and Maddox Marcellus went down on Syracuse’s late touchdown drive. Omillio Agard did not start, with Justin Ross taking his place. All of that comes on top of defensive tackle Jason Hammond, who had elbow surgery after getting hurt against Norfolk State and is out for the season.
The timing could not be worse. Virginia goes to SMU next Saturday and then hosts Duke on a short week the following Friday.
The defense played the best bad game I’ve seen in a while
The defense is the reason Virginia won this game. It is also the reason it was close.
Start with the good. Syracuse ran 47 times for 163 yards, 3.5 a carry. Tylik Hill finished with 118, but 48 came on one run; his other 22 carries went for 70. The Orange went 5-for-15 on third down. Matthew Fobbs-White had two tackles for loss, a half-sack and the pressure that forced a prayer on the final drive. With Virginia’s offense stuck in neutral, the defense held Syracuse to 17 points through three quarters and kept the game within reach.
Now the bad. Syracuse’s 16-play field goal drive at the end of the first half was kept alive by three Virginia penalties. Fisher Camac was flagged for roughing the passer on what would have been a third-down throwaway, Henderson was called for unnecessary roughness after a hit on third-and-10, and Kam Robinson was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-14 deep ball. As the broadcast put it, the drive looked like a contest over who wanted it less.
Then there were the interceptions that weren’t. A deep ball bounced off the hands of three Virginia defenders. Christian Ellis had a pick overturned on review. Henderson missed one on a deep shot. On Syracuse’s final drive, Jam Jackson dropped one that hit him in the hands, and Ross nearly came down with another. Virginia broke up eight passes and forced zero turnovers.
The worst play came with Virginia up 28-17. Nelson had left with an injury after a scramble a few plays earlier, and Syracuse was down to Danny Lauter, its fourth-string quarterback, facing third-and-22. Ellis settled under the deep ball waiting to make a basket catch, and Daunte Bacheyeie reached in front of him, took it away and ran in for a 46-yard touchdown. A two-point conversion later, an 11-point lead was a three-point game.
Syracuse also missed two field goals, giving it seven misses on the season. This could easily have been a different result.
To its credit, the defense still made the final stop. But it should never have come to that.
A win is a win, but it’s time to reset expectations
The ACC is wide open. Outside of Miami, no team has looked like a juggernaut, and Wake Forest, which won at Louisville two weeks ago, may be the second-best team in the league. In a conference like that, an 11-win team returning a veteran offensive line should have been a contender.
That is not what Virginia looks like right now. Going into Saturday, Syracuse was the easiest team left on Virginia’s schedule. The Orange came in winless in league play, gave up 41 points to UConn the week before, and finished Saturday with their third- and fourth-string quarterbacks. Virginia was a double-digit favorite at home and won by three.
There is a fair counterweight. After the Florida State loss, I wrote that in both Power Four games where Virginia faced adversity, it folded. Down 17-7 on Saturday, it did not. Coming back from 10 points down is something this team had not done against a Power Four opponent this season.
But post-NC State, nothing I’ve seen against Power Four opponents gives me the confidence Virginia has a realistic chance to make it back to Charlotte.
The goal for this team should now be a bowl game, not Charlotte. At 4-2, Virginia needs two more wins from a slate of SMU, Duke, Wake Forest, California, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. That should be doable, but it is certainly not a given.
Bonus: Dave Clawson was nails in the booth
The former Wake Forest coach was on the call for the ACC Network, and at times it felt like he was coaching both teams. On almost every drive, he quickly identified and clearly articulated what each team needed to do, where it had gone wrong and what adjustments it needed to make. That was a breath of fresh air, and very impressive to see in what is admittedly a lower-tier ACC Network game.
What’s next
Virginia travels to No. 24 SMU for a noon kickoff on Oct. 17 before hosting Duke on Friday, Oct. 23. The first thing to watch this week is the injury report, starting with Flores and Henderson. The second is whether the offense can recapture the form it showed in the fourth quarter when it gets to Dallas.
