Things looked bleak for three quarters in front of one of the best Scott Stadium atmospheres of the Tony Elliott era, but the Virginia Cavaliers found a way down the stretch to improve to 6-1 on the year with a 22-20 win over the Washington State Cougars. In a game that featured a sluggish offense, just enough defensive stops, and timely special teams breaks, the ’Hoos extended their home unbeaten streak to five.
A look at where players and position groups are trending after UVA’s sixth win of the
year:
Stock Up
Ja’Son Prevard
Prevard has been on a tear the past three games. After breaking out with two interceptions against FSU and a stellar coverage game against Louisville, he made another big play when the ’Hoos needed it most, on top of another solid game for the FCS-transfer.
In addition to his fourth-quarter pick, he added a tackle and yet another pass deflection at the line of scrimmage. But most of all, his energy on the field is impossible not to notice. In this game and against FSU, I’m not sure there’s been a guy on the UVA defense having as much fun out there as Prevard. Judging by his play, he feeds off the crowd energy the past two home games have provided. More big plays seem to be ahead for number ten, and you can best believe this team will need every one of them down the stretch.
Jahmal Edrine
On a night where UVA’s passing game and overall offense struggled to get things going, it was UVA’s biggest target who stepped up and carried the passing game. Edrine hauled in five passes for 102 yards, including a crucial fourth-quarter catch along the sideline that barely cleared the hands of a WSU cornerback. He put the passing game on his back multiple times with long sprints after catches as the rest of what usually is a balanced, spread out attack, struggled to get going — the ’Hoos had five other players catch passes, but altogether combined for just 77 yards.
The Scott Stadium crowd
It certainly feels like a crazy thing to put in the ‘Stock Up’ category, given recent history, but Saturday night’s crowd undoubtedly affected the Cougars and provided a noticeable boost to the Cavalier defense in the second half.
I’m not sure I’ve seen a football team melt down so quickly when the game was on the line than Washington State’s offense on its final two drives — thanks to a true home-field advantage, of course. The Cougars’ second-to-last drive went false start, false start, holding, seven-yard run, interception. And when backed up against their own goal line on their final offensive chance after a disaster of a fair-catch call, the drive started with an incompletion, then a false start, and finally — the game-winning safety.
The 56,048 fans in the stands brought it. And as little as there was to be happy about in the first half, the noise and pressure put on the Cougars ultimately allowed UVA to seal the deal. A comeback having much to do with a loud and rowdy Scott Stadium couldn’t have been said for years on end, up until this season.
Kam Robinson
I don’t know if Robinson woke up on the wrong side of the bed on the morning of game day or what, but he continued to lay the big hits throughout the night. From drilling Zevi Eckhaus in front of the UVA sideline to suplexing a receiver and telling the Cougar bench all about it after the fact, Robinson was on fire. Finishing with one of the best stat lines of any Cavalier defender, he racked up eight tackles, a pass deflection, and most importantly, the safety that put the Cougars away for good.
Robinson has been playing like an All-American since returning from an injury in the early part of the year. Other than maybe Prevard, there isn’t a UVA defender playing better than Robinson, and you can’t help but wonder if the ’Hoos might be undefeated had he been able to go against the Wolfpack. Regardless, UVA’s defensive leader continues to ball out each week.
Will Bettridge
While there have been memorable plays all over in UVA’s dramatic last three games, Bettridge has stepped up his game and remained reliable no matter the size of the moment. The ’Hoos badly needed early points in the third quarter, and after penalties moved the offense substantially outside of ‘go for it’ territory, it was Bettridge who came up clutch in the first of two opportunities, nailing a 47-yard field goal — the same distance as the one he missed against NC State — to pull within seven points. Tony Elliott called on him once again late in the fourth quarter, and again, Bettridge delivered. His 34-yarder helped knot the game at 20 and helped rejuvenate the Scott Stadium crowd down the stretch.
The senior continues to be nails since the NC State game in clutch moments, and as big as his kicks against Florida State, Louisville, and now Washington State were, his contributions still seem to fly under the radar. So far, he’s hit 11-of-14 field goal attempts and remains a perfect 33-for-33 on PATs.
Stock Neutral
Chandler Morris
Unlike many UVA quarterbacks of the past, Morris’s least productive games are still good enough to win. UVA’s signal-caller had one of his toughest games from a numbers standpoint, but still found a way to manage the game effectively enough. He came up short on a few throws early on, but helped push the offense over the edge in the end with critical throws to Sage Ennis and Edrine in key moments to set up those eventual game-tying drives. After entering the injury tent with an injury to what Tony Elliott mentioned was the same shoulder that was injured on his scramble against Coastal Carolina, Morris continued to gut it out, finishing with 179 passing yards on 15-of-25 attempts. Though he failed to throw a touchdown for the first time as a Cavalier, there’s no doubt the ’Hoos needed everything he had to claw back.
Tony Elliott
So much has been made of Elliott’s success coming out of the bye over the years, so you would have assumed UVA was going to step in between the lines on Saturday night with a fiery demeanor and jump out to another quick start — that did not end up being the case.
The ’Hoos went three-and-out to start the game, with the Cougars throwing the initial punch soon after, driving 78 yards on seven plays on their first possession for a touchdown. UVA continued to sleepwalk its way through the first half and in short moments throughout the third quarter, but to Elliott and the team’s credit, things finally clicked in the final quarter with a furious rally.
Elliott said in the postgame presser, “The team made a decision at the half to come out and find a way to win, and they did.” And as bad as things looked in doing so, college football is a results-based business. Whatever was said at halftime and before the fourth quarter worked — and for a team to respond in such a way, it only happens if you have a well-established culture on the days, weeks, and months leading up to a game like that, which tells us a lot about the current mindset of the program and that it’s in a great spot.
Good teams find ways to win games, no matter how ugly — the ’Hoos did just that.
Run defense
Given the finish, I decided to move this out of the ‘Stock Down’ territory, but not many people, if any, would have thought the ’Hoos would be pushed around in the trenches at any point in this game — but that’s exactly what happened early on. After standing tall and at times bullying Florida State and Louisville, it was a head-scratcher to watch the Cougars continually bounce off tackler after tackler for extra yards en route to 14 first downs and 113 rushing yards in the first half alone. The Cougars also used that ground success to eat up over 20 minutes of possession time in the first half.
While the ’Hoos started slow up front, they finished strong. As soon as the first drive of the second half, the pressure heated up, thanks to Fisher Camac, Mitchell Melton, and Jason Hammond finding their ways into the backfield play after play, even if it was to close space for others to clean things up.
The Cougars accounted for just 30 rushing yards in the second half as the pressure ramped up on the field and inside the Stadium. This culminated in the biggest play of the night for this unit: They plugged the gaps up against Washington State’s own endzone, allowing Robinson to make the game-winning stop.
Stock Down
Third down efficiency
Morris and the offense have owned third down all season long, but an inability to move the ball on the initial downs repeatedly had the ’Hoos off-schedule on the money down. Things started rocky with two straight three-and-outs in a combined 2:06 of game time. Despite eventually converting on the third drive that ended with a Cam Ross touchdown, the ’Hoos entered the halftime break having converted one of seven times.
Things got better in the second half as the offense established the run with J’Mari Taylor, especially in the fourth quarter when the momentum swung. Still, even a four-for-eight second-half performance felt uncharacteristic, given how spoiled fans have been watching this team routinely find ways to keep the chains moving, whether it be direct snaps to Taylor or completions for chunk yardage.
UVA’s aggressive play calling
In nearly all of UVA’s games before Saturday, there was a clear ‘go ahead and try to stop us’ effort to establish Taylor and the ground game from the jump. And while it’s easy to sit back in retrospect and throw stones at plays that didn’t work days after, not knowing for certain whether problems arose from the strategy itself or lack of execution on the field, things looked inconsistent from a mindset standpoint, to say the least.
The obvious example here is the fourth-and-one decision to throw the ball out wide after Donovan Platt stole a possession in WSU territory with a difficult grab on an overthrow, which was caught and stopped short of the first down. UVA’s offensive line hadn’t been playing like world-beaters to that point, but the reluctance not to line up, regardless of whether the Cougars knew what was coming, and run the ball straight up the middle for yards in the first half, felt very passive compared to past games. That confidence and swagger did show up later on, as UVA marched the ball down the field to bring the game even, thanks to big runs by Harrison Waylee in addition to Taylor, but you’d like to see this team set the tone with the same nastiness it has all year from the opening snap.
The secondary
Despite hauling in multiple interceptions, the ’Hoos were again beaten downfield for an explosive touchdown. Eckhaus found a man deep for the game’s first score, despite Prevard and Devin Neal dropping in coverage. Like past games, there were defenders in the area on numerous passes, but physical plays to knock the ball away were lacking. There were also plenty of instances where receivers were clearly open crossing over the middle of the field. The overall coverage consistency just wasn’t there for the ’Hoos.
Eckhaus finished with 183 yards passing, partly due to UVA clamping down in the second half and the Cougars’ success on the ground to start. The Cavalier secondary has taken steps forward this year, but by no means has it been a shutdown unit. The importance of a consistent pass rush to make opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable will continue to be huge to help mitigate the struggles on the perimeter.
