Coming off of their first of two byes, UVa has to refocus and get right back to work. After a 3-1 start to the season, it’s all ACC foes plus Notre Dame remaining, so every game going forward will be a big-time challenge for a program trying to show growth and increase their win total following two three-win seasons in a row.
The next string of challenges starts this Saturday, when UVa hosts Boston College for Homecomings (Noon, ACCN). The Eagles enter with a 4-1 mark, and like Virginia, already have an ACC win, having beaten Florida State on the road in the season opener. BC’s only loss came at Missouri, a team currently ranked #9 in the AP Poll. BC got a scare last weekend against Western Kentucky, but eked out a 21-20 win over a very solid G5 program.
There are still plenty of unknowns heading into this game, regarding both programs. Can UVa go 3-0 under Tony Elliott following off weeks? How for real are the Hoos, or is their quick start a function of the quality of their opponents? Is BC 4-1 good, or did they catch a break against a suddenly bad FSU program, and then did the rest of their damage against middling competition at home? We’ll have more answers on all of that this weekend.
The biggest question of all is around the status of BC starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who is a pivotal part of the Eagles’ game plan. Castellanos seemed to be full go at practice on Tuesday, but BC coach Bill O’Brien stopped short of saying he would go this weekend. The Vegas odds are trending from a UVa lean to more of a coin flip though, which may be a sign that Castellanos will play. If he can’t go, the Eagles are a different team without him; his absence was evident to anyone who watched BC’s game last week against WKU.
And while there are questions about his status, and other elements of Saturday’s contest, everyone seems to know what kind of game this is going to be, and what the Eagles are going to want to do.
“Same old BC,” Elliott said on Tuesday, in a complimentary way, when asked about BC’s physical identity, even with a new staff in place. “They take pride in smash mouth football. They lead with the run. They've got a dynamic quarterback, which may be a little bit different than some teams in the past with his style of play.
“Overall, they want to line up and come at you, and they're going to get in their 12, 13 personnel. They get into some sets where they don't even have a wide receiver on the field and they just come at you. That's all I know as BC football regardless who has been the head coach.”
BC is going to want to dominate the line of scrimmage, and run the football. The Eagles have nearly a 2:1 run/pass ratio, with 202 carries this season for 877 yards, or 4.3 yards per run. Tailbacks Treshaun Ward and Kye Robichaux are both dynamic, dangerous ball carriers, and if Castellanos can go, that’s another run threat (43 carries this season).Defensively, the Eagles are again going to try and out-physical Virginia up front, with dynamic pass rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku, who has a nation’s best eight sacks this year, leading the way. Virginia’s lines will have to have the physicality to match, on both sides of the ball.
Virginia will have an opportunity to play a more ground-oriented style of football, too. Against Coastal Carolina, the Wahoos took whatever they wanted on the ground, and racked up 384 ground yards in a comfortable win. Whether the Cavaliers can do that against a solid ACC opponent is a big question, but according to UVa’s head coach, they’re going to give it a go against the Eagles.
“Man, it starts with running the football. That's where everything starts. Starts with running the ball and stopping the run,” Elliott said in Tuesday’s presser. “Hopefully the guys have confidence that -- and Coastal is a good football team. Hopefully the guys got confidence that if they work together, play with low pads, then we can have success.”
“It's really a mindset, and I believe that the guys are really starting to embrace that,” Elliott continued. “Now, we know it's going to be a challenge versus BC. Eight-man front. They will have extra hats around the football. So the backs are involved, too, so they got to run through the smoke.”
Another way this program can show toughness is through outlasting the competition. Virginia struggled last year to close out games. They came up short in four games where they were ahead or tied in the fourth quarter; UVa also had four double-digit leads turn into losses throughout the season. One of those losses came at Boston College, where UVa led 14-0 early, and 21-7 at half after a hail mary completion to Malachi Fields took the Hoos into the locker room with the lead. It was all BC after the break though, as the Cavaliers wilted down the stretch in a 27-24 loss.
This year, we’ve already seen UVa have a good fourth quarter, in the win at Wake Forest. Virginia was down two scores there, and rallied to pull out a win anyway. The Wahoos would be advised to avoid a similar scenario this weekend, but if even if the game is neck and neck, UVa has to find a way to make plays down the stretch in front of their home crowd.
A win on Saturday will require a lot, but it’s going to have to be a gritty victory if the Hoos are to get it. One of the areas where UVa needed to show the most growth this year was in the trenches, and late in games. This weekend, we’ll get a better idea of how far they’ve come.
