Cavaliers stay focused on process, not 'crazy' offensive stats
The Hoos have a game on the other side of the country in less than a week. There is film to be watched and improvements to be made. There’s not a lot of time to celebrate Virginia’s latest offensive explosion, Dontayvion Wicks said after Saturday night’s win against Georgia Tech.
“But,” the sophomore receiver acknowledged after a six-catch, 168-yard, two-touchdown night in the 48-40 victory, “I know the numbers are crazy.”
Yeah, they are crazy.
Virginia put up 636 yards of total offense on Saturday night, the most since amassing 643 yards in a 2010 loss at Duke and the sixth-highest total in program history. The Cavaliers’ 48 points matched last week’s output against Duke; UVa hadn’t posted back-to-back 40-point games against ACC opponents since the 1992 season.
It was Virginia’s fourth 40-point performance of the season. You have to go back to 1999 for the last time a UVa offense reached that threshold.
“It kind of feels like we’re unstoppable,” said Keytaon Thompson, who caught nine balls for 89 yards and ran for another 65 yards for a rock-breaking performance on his birthday. “A lot of the time, I feel like when we do get stopped it’s self-inflicted, with either penalties or miscues within the offense. But I feel like when we’re all clicking and we’re all on the same page, I feel like we’re the best offense in the nation.”
The Hoos have some stats that can help back up Thompson’s claim. Virginia’s average of 539.5 total yards per game ranks fourth in the country. UVa is second nationally in passing yards per game, at 404.6. The scoring offense (37.6 ppg) ranks 16th in the country and third in the ACC.
Extrapolate those eight-game averages over a 13-game season—at 6-2, the Wahoos became bowl eligible with Saturday’s win—and this year’s team is on pace to erase a few school records. The offense is on pace to score 489 points; the 2019 team that played 14 games scored 449, the most in school history. The single-season record for most total yards is 5,516, by the 1990 team; this year’s unit is on pace rack up 7,014. Add a potential ACC championship game appearance and those projections would grow even higher.
“There’s lots and lots of production happening out there, so really fun to watch,” Bronco Mendenhall said after Saturday’s win. “But it is designed super well, and our offensive staff is doing a great job using the resources we have.”
With his fourth 100-yard game of the season, Wicks has worked his way into the record-breaking conversation. An unknown entering the season after missing all of last year with a foot injury, Wicks has emerged as one of the country’s most prolific play-makers. He’s sixth nationally with an ACC-best 847 receiving yards and fifth (second in the conference) with eight touchdown catches.
That yardage total sits just one yard behind Herman Moore’s 1989 total for No. 11 on Virginia’s single-season list. In 1990, Moore set the school records for both receiving yards (1,190) and touchdown catches (13) in a season. Factoring in a bowl appearance, Wicks is on pace for 1,377 yards and 13 TDs.
At quarterback, Brennan Armstrong continued his march toward the greatest season in program history. Armstrong threw for another 396 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday night, raising his season totals to 3,220 passing yards (tops in the country) and 23 TDs (fifth nationally and second in the ACC). He also ran for a season-high 99 yards and a pair of scores on the ground, leading a UVa ground game that posted a season-best 240 rush yards as a team.
A season-low six receivers caught passes on Saturday, but Armstrong efficiently got them the ball in a variety of ways. The lefty completed 67.4 percent of his passes and wasn't picked off, marking the first time in his two seasons as UVa's starter that Armstrong has gone back-to-back games without an interception.
Wicks high-pointed a jump ball in the end zone over two defenders for his first touchdown. On the second, Armstrong spotted a cornerback blitz before the snap and got it out quickly to Wicks, who made the first man miss then raced down the sideline in front of the UVa bench for a 77-yard score.
Though only one of his eight catches went for more than 10 yards, Billy Kemp was targeted on several quick, decisive throws, including his early 1-yard touchdown. Armstrong was able to stay patient while evading the rush to find tight end Jelani Woods, who picked up first downs on all three of his catches. Armstrong’s final throw of the night, a 20-yard dime to Ra’Shaun Henry in stride along the left edge of the end zone for what proved to be the game’s deciding score, might have been his best.
Then there was the connection with Thompson. UVa’s second scoring drive would have stalled out without a perfectly-placed 14-yard throw to Thompson that was out of the reach of a pair of defenders. Thompson jump-started another scoring drive with an out-stretched one-handed grab for nine yards. He converted a 3rd-and-16 early in the third quarter by elevating for a 23-yard catch across the middle for a first down; that conversion led to a UVa field goal.
“Incredible pass,” safety Joey Blount recalled afterward. “Like, how do you see that? Only throws Brennan can make like that.”
With four regular-season games and a bowl game still to go, Armstrong is already just the third 3,000-yard passer in program history. He’s on pace to throw for 5,232 yards and 37 touchdowns in 13 games. The UVa single-season records are 3,538 yards (Bryce Perkins, 2019) and 28 touchdowns (Matt Schaub, 2002). The ACC records are both held by former Clemson QB Deshaun Watson: 4,593 yards in 2017 and 41 touchdowns in 2016.
Armstrong admitted that “I think that’s awesome” when asked about the record-shattering pace he has played at this season, but “it just doesn't get done without the guys around me. You can’t do this solo.”
“A lot of big plays are happening,” the quarterback added. “Those are always fun for the crowd, the team, the energy of the team, but overall I feel like we're playing pretty well.”
After a 3-and-out on UVa’s opening possession, Armstrong led the offense to points on eight of its final 10 drives on Saturday. The Wahoos converted a season-best 63.6 percent (7 of 11) of their third-down opportunities. With five touchdowns and two field goals, they also scored on all seven trips to the red zone. Through the course of this four-game winning streak—the first time Virginia has won four straight ACC games since 2011—the Hoos are a perfect 23-of-23 (16 touchdowns and seven field goals) from inside their opponents’ 20-yard-line.
That efficiency in execution has helped the Virginia offense post the “crazy” numbers on both the scoreboard and stat sheet that have become the week-to-week norm this fall. The Wahoos acknowledged that they can’t take those big numbers for granted, and need to keep “pitching and catching every day” in practice, as Wicks put it, to prepare for a remaining schedule that prior to the Georgia Tech game was the 15th-toughest in the country, according to PFF College. That stretch continues with a visit to No. 25 BYU on Saturday night.
And even if the Hoos aren’t tracking their stats on the sideline after each drive or checking the record book following each game, they’re aware of what their collective performance has meant to this year’s team.
“It is a standard,” Armstrong said. “We take pride in it. We got guys to do it. It’s a big deal to us.”
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