The outcome of UVa’s upset bid at Pittsburgh on Saturday wasn’t determined until the final couple minutes of the game, but right from the start, the contest felt different. Pitt won the toss and took the football, an aggressive move from a Panthers team looking to take control of the game right away. They weren’t able to do that, and in fact, after a stop from UVa’s defense and a few Pitt penalties, the Panthers had to punt from the shadow of their own goalposts after a three-and-out. While UVa would eventually fall behind, the start of the game particularly for the defense, set the tone for how the remainder would play out.
And now, UVa’s hoping that the victory at Pitt will set the table for what the Hoos can accomplish in a difficult stretch run.
“Hopefully the guys have confidence after last week that they know what they need to do to prepare, but (we’re) just excited about the opportunity,” Tony Elliott said on Tuesday, as UVa’s head coach put the Pitt win in the rear view, and started focus on Virginia’s next daunting challenge, at #8 Notre Dame on Saturday (3:30pm, NBC).
Saturday’s win at Pitt was far from a perfect effort, but displayed the types of things UVa is going to need to do, in order to have a chance to win any of their three remaining games. The Hoos ran the ball well, going for 170 yards against a stingy Pitt defense. They also did a fair job in the red zone, scoring two touchdowns with one field goal make in the five-point win. They also got some pressure on Pitt’s two quarterbacks, and perhaps most importantly, forced a pair of takeaways and a blocked kick on special teams. Those are the game-changing plays UVa’s defense and special teams have struggled to make at times this year, and the block and two interceptions led directly to success. UVa scored touchdowns off the block and the first INT, and then the second interception all but sealed the game late in the fourth quarter.
The last time we saw UVa make game-changing plays like that was against Boston College. In that game, UVa forced back-to-back turnovers, and one that led to a short touchdown drive, and another that was returned for a touchdown by Jonas Sanker, also the hero of Saturday’s win at Pitt. It’s not a coincidence that the BC game was UVa’s most-recent win, either.
The simple fact is that UVa’s offense hasn’t been quite as dynamic or explosive as it was early in the season. There are plays here and there that can go for big gains, but really since Trell Harris got hurt, Virginia’s passing game has been neutered, or held down to short and intermediate gains for the most part. The ground game seems to be coming along, especially with the emergence of Xavier Brown, UVa’s first 400+ yard rusher since 2019. But the lack of explosiveness, coupled with UVa’s struggles in the red zone throughout the season, and a suddenly interception-prone quarterback, means that the Hoos need to continue to get game-changing plays on defense and special teams.
Saturday’s win against a tough Pitt team, on the road, demonstrated some grit and resolve for a UVa team that had lost three straight games and was reeling heading into a rough November home stretch. Elliott, who is now 4-0 at UVa off of a bye week, said the time off was a big help to his program ahead of the trip to the Steel City.
“The biggest thing that I think has helped us is it allows us to kind of get guys back. It allows us to have guys with a little bit of extra time to rest and in the North Carolina game we know what the situation with the offensive line was and the bye week gave us a chance to get all those guys back,” Elliott said of the week off.
“I want them to be able to refresh. And I think the bye week this week, this past bye week was big for us from a recommittal standpoint,” UVa’s head coach continued. “I think when I look at how the season has progressed, the summer we were in the building. We were always together. Fall camp, we were always together. Then you get into the grind of the season, they have their lives back a little bit. So you don't quite have as much time together organically. You have to force it. And I think that's what helped us is we had a little bit more time to just be together and recommit, and man, look at each other in the eye and say how do we want to finish and what are we really doing here.”
Unfortunately for the Hoos, they’re all out of bye weeks. There’s just three games left, starting with this weekend’s trip to Notre Dame. UVa will need to play their best game of the season, and probably by a large margin, to have a real shot to win in South Bend. After that, it’s ACC-leading SMU coming to Charlottesville, looking to clinch a spot in the conference title game in their first season in the league. And then, of course, there’s a trip to Blacksburg on deck after that.
Virginia got the rest they needed on their off week, and took advantage in Saturday’s game at Pitt. The Wahoos found what could be their best recipe for victory, too. The offense will still need to be efficient, and take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. They’ll have to continue to run the ball effectively, too. And the defense will need to continue to be aggressive, creating pressures, even if it requires some gambling, and hope that those havoc plays turn into turnovers, which will help keep the offense on track. And if special teams can make a play or two, that’s even better.
UVa’s recipe is the complementary football that coaches all across the country talk about. The Hoos aren’t going to be dominant in any of the three phases, in most games, and particularly against the level of competition they’re facing this month. But if they can’t dominate anywhere, they need to capitalize on opportunities, everywhere.
