Postgame Takeaways: Hoos come home from Chapel Hill with a W
No. 16 UVa lived dangerously once again but survived to live another day in the ACC race, getting a 17-16 overtime win at North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the 7-1 Wahoos remained a perfect 4-0 in league play.
Following each game this season, we’re going to break down five takeaways. So let’s dive into the overtime win over the Tar Heels.
1. The defense rose to the occasion. Again.
When the Wahoos needed it two weeks ago in Louisville, the defense gave UVa points. Against Washington State, it got stops and points to boot. And on Saturday, once again, the defense came through. While the Tar Heels moved the ball at a much greater clip than they had previously to this point in the season, UVa bowed up when it needed to.
The Heels not only fumbled one away near the goal line but the Cavaliers got an INT off a deflected pass near the goal line later in the game. And of course, once UNC scored in OT and went for two to win, Virginia’s D got the stop short of the line to secure the win.
Once again, the Hoos took a while to get dialed in but in addition to holding the Heels to 5-for-15 on 3rd down over the course of the game and pitching their first fourth-quarter shutout of the year, they also limited the home offense to just 107 yards in the second half.
In fact, UVa hasn’t give up a fourth-quarter touchdown in the last three games and has outscored opponents 38-19 in the fourth this season, 62-31 when factions in OT.
2. But the offense, meanwhile, is clearly in a slump.
Against the Cards, one could argue it was a speed bump. Off the bye against a gutsy WSU team, one could say it was rust plus injuries. But after that showing in Chapel Hill? There’s no denying that UVa’s offense is mired in a slump.
The Hoos not only posted 259 yards of total offense but they rushed for just 59 yards and were 7-for-18 on 3rd down.
At 1.7 yards per rush, Virginia simply did not do enough on the ground and Chandler Morris spent much of the afternoon either with pressure in his face or being rocked. He was sacked six times in the game and played very unlike the steady skipper this ship has had for most of the season.
Not having Cam Ross clearly limited UVa’s ability to make hay off mismatches but on a day when the O-line got healthier for the first time in a few weeks, it was jarring to see the increase in pressure.
Perhaps the bigger loss continues to be the lack of TE/WR Dak Twitty. His versatility is sorely missed, especially in terms of the space he can create and the safety valve he provides given the matchups UVa can focus on because of his presence.
3. The Wahoos are playing with too much fire.
It’s great that UVa has allowed just one TD in 96:36 of regulation and that three times in the last four games, the team has gone to overtime and come out on top. (And in that other game, of course, a safety in the last couple of minutes ended up being the margin of victory.)
But the Hoos have also scored just four TDs in regulation over the last three games.
A win is a win is a win, but still. This is getting a bit ridiculous.
There’s no doubt that Tony Elliott and Co., while resilient and confident in the big moments, don’t want to keep winning games like this and there’s also no doubt that it’s risky to be this inefficient.
Eventually, one of these is going to go against you. The fast starts of the early season feel like a distant memory.
Rarely has a 7-1 team felt as vulnerable as this team can (and does) feel.
That being said, finding ways to win matters a lot and it’ll serve them well as the season moves forward. The trick will be what the situations look like when they need to tap into that skillset going forward.
4. Ja’Son Prevard continues to flash.
Whether it’s a late INT to secure the FSU win, an INT against WSU, or in this case a half tackle on the goal line to finish the victory, Prevard has a knack for coming through in the clutch.
“He finds a way, don’t he?” Elliott said of Prevard during the postgame presser.
Yes, in fact, he does.
The Cavaliers have a lot of fantastic pieces on D that continue to come up big, namely Kam Robinson (who had a career-high 13 tackles and a sack) and Mitchell Melton (who had a PBU and his first career INT) chief among them. But Prevard has been a difference maker all year and he showed against in Kenan Stadium why the Hoos are so excited to have him in the lineup.
5. Going back to Cali with a lot on the line.
Finally, UVa avoided to the dreaded 10:30 p.m. kickoff on the west coast, as the likely top-15 Wahoos will play at Cal at 3:45 p.m. in a game ESPN2 will televise.
It certainly makes for a better overall picture since the 4-0 Hoos are trying to keep pace with GT (5-0), Pitt (4-1), and a logjam of 3-1 teams thereafter. It’s been a long time since November football mattered as much as these results matter and it’ll be interesting to see how UVa deals with the mounting pressure. Given the last four games, one would think the Wahoos are accustomed to it but in some ways, the “playing with your food” thing is risky especially on the road.
