In Saturday’s win, Virginia had four touchdowns that were 17 yard plays or longer, meaning that the Cavaliers didn’t have to rely on goal line scores to end drives with points.

Those big plays paid off, and UVa finished the game five for five in the red zone with 44 points in the win. UVa created 12 total big plays (10+ yard runs or 15+ yard throws) with six on the ground and six more through the air.

The first truly big play came on the first drive, capped with this 23-yard touchdown run from Brennan Armstrong. This play appears to be a designed run with Chris Glaser and Shane Simpson acting as lead blockers on a delayed draw. UVa has used these plays to great success at times throughout the season, and this was a really good call for a 1st and 10 play just outside the red zone. It’s a call with limited downside and the upside being what you can see below.

The run of big-play TDs continued on their next drive, with Simpson catching a short pass and taking it the distance. The 71-yard score was Virginia’s longest play of the season from scrimmage or otherwise and helped the Cavaliers to a first-quarter lead. This play is similar to one that was run for Wayne Taulapapa in the season opener against Duke, but that ball was dropped. Simpson is a more dynamic player in the open field than Taulapapa and has the speed to make a short throw into a big gain.

These plays usually don’t do much for UVa but this one was timed perfectly, as Carolina came with an exotic pressure off the edge that Simpson was running to. That player and Chazz Surratt (at LB) weren’t able to get to Simpson before he could hit the edge and was off to the races.

The first red zone score of the evening came on their third touchdown, with Armstrong hitting Ra’Shaun Henry for an 18-yard score. Henry has caught the ball three times this season, all of them ending in the end zone and one called back for a procedural penalty. It seems that he is becoming more involved in the offense, especially with Lavel Davis out the past two weeks.

This play may not look spectacular, but it is good to see Virginia use the middle of the field more than 5-10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Watch as UNC’s defender cheats to the outside, not expecting a route into the middle of the field, allowing Henry to get open for the catch and score.

The final touchdown of the night came on a similar look, this time to tight end Tony Poljan. This 17-yard score came with Poljan working down the seam on a post beyond the second level of the defense. He does a good job finding space in the soft spot in the middle of the field, and Armstrong puts the throw on the numbers as the defenders converge on his tight end.

Again, this is a more aggressive route and throw for the quarterback, which results in a fourth touchdown overall for the QB.

Here are two more chunk plays that were good to see in Saturday’s win. The Hoos continued to use Keytaon Thompson as a runner from time to time but picked their spots in a slightly more logical manner in the win. Thompson was used quite a bit in short-yardage situations where he thrives, including on a carry from the 1-yard line that resulted in a touchdown.

On the play below, he goes in motion from wide receiver to running back and looks prepared to take a sweep handoff to the right. Instead, the play is a counter back to the left, breaking the tendency with how UVa would normally run this play. Thompson does a good job following solid blocking and picks up 14 yards.

On the final play of the third quarter, Virginia started off the drive with a big play following a Carolina score to cut into the lead. Simpson took a left-to-right draw handoff for a 29-yard run, one of the biggest gains of the night.

This play is a staple of the offense and the Hoos simply ran it successfully. It seemed that Carolina’s defense was a bit off balance throughout the night and wasn’t able to pick up on tendencies quite as easily. This can allow plays that would previously go for modest gains to be broken for chunks of yards, as this one did.

The offense took a step forward on Saturday night but also got some much-needed help from the other two phases. That help was somewhat non-existent during the four-game losing skid, with the Cavaliers forcing just one turnover and no points off of them, while creating very little on special teams.

On Saturday, UVa’s other two phases did enough to put the offense in a position to win the game. The Wahoos won the turnover battle and had 14 points off of their two takeaways to seven points off turnovers for UNC, and that was the difference in the ball game. We’ll look at four plays made by the defense or special teams that helped UVa win, in chronological order.

The first may have flown under the radar a bit but proved to be a huge swing in the game.

In the second quarter with the game tied, UNC hit back-to-back big plays to move into Virginia territory, but on 2nd down, Nick Jackson came up with a big play that killed the Tar Heel drive. His sack of Sam Howell put the Tar Heels on the edge of field goal range and after no gain on third down, Grayson Atkins’ 52-yard try was no good, and the game remained tied.

UVa would go on to lead 27-20 at the half and this sack was a big reason UNC trailed at the break.

On the ensuing Virginia drive after the sack, the Hoos moved the ball but eventually were shut down and forced to punt. The stop provided UNC with a chance to take a lead into halftime with a successful drive but a special teams mistake helped lead to the opposite happening. Nash Griffin’s punt was muffed by Carolina’s Rontavious Groves, and recovered by UVa long snapper Tucker Finkleston at the UNC 20-yard line.

The heads-up play by the coverage unit helped set UVa up with a short field in the final minutes of the half, leading to Thompson’s one-yard TD run to put UVa up 27-20 with 1:14 to go in the half.

The complementary football continued into the final minute of the first half, with UVa’s defense keeping the Tar Heels off the scoreboard. UNC hit back-to-back pass plays of 36 and 29 yards to move the ball to the 5-yard line, setting the Heels up to tie the game.

But after an incomplete pass and pass interference from Antonio Clary that gave UNC a 1st down but likely saved a score, Virginia’s defense came up with a big play. Howell’s swing pass to Javonte Williams was well covered by the UVa defense, and ended up as a fumble recovered by Howell for a big loss. With no timeouts remaining, the stop ended up being the final play of the first half, and the Tar Heels walked away from 1st and Goal at the 5-yard line with no points.

UVa would get the ball to start the second half and scored another touchdown to go up 34-20. With UNC desperately needing a score, the Wahoos dialed up pressure on Howell and forced another game-changing play.

On 2nd and 6 from the UNC 38, Zane Zandier pressured Howell and forced him out of the pocket, where Charles Snowden corralled him and forced a fumble. Another heads-up play, this time by Mandy Alonso, led to another Cavalier recovery and another short field for the offense. Armstrong and Co. would take advantage, with a third-straight touchdown drive to put them up 41-20, a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

The Wahoos hit some much-needed big plays and got some much-needed help from defense and special teams to put themselves in a position to win on Saturday. And on top of that, their coaches called an aggressive game, and went for the win after four-straight weeks ended in defeat.

The Cavaliers went for it on 4th down four times against Carolina and picked up all of them. The final conversion is the one that will likely stick in the minds of most but all four conversions proved important.

The first try came on UVa’s first drive of the game, after the Hoos surrendered another early score to begin a game. They faced a 4th and 1 at the UNC 49-yard line, down 7-0, after a Thompson rush on 3rd and 3 came up just short. Virginia then gave the ball to its dependable short-yardage runner in Taulapapa, who was able to sneak it over the line to gain. The result was a 1-yard gain and a 1st down and UVa would go on to score a touchdown to cap the drive and tie the game.

The second attempt came much later in the game, with UVa up 34-20 in the third quarter. The Cavaliers had just recovered the fumble on the strip sack of Howell, and were going in for the kill. On 4th and 1 from the UNC 21, well within Brian Delaney’s range, UVa’s coaches decided the touchdown was more valuable and put the ball in the quarterback’s hands. Armstrong gained four yards, giving the Wahoos a fresh set of downs. One play later, he hit Poljan for the 17-yard score to go up three TDs.

The third conversion came in the fourth quarter, with the lead down to a touchdown. UVa faced a 4th and 1 at the UNC 40, out of field goal range but not exactly in a dangerous part of the field should the attempt fail. UVa decided to go for it, again giving the ball to Taulapapa in a short-yardage situation. He barely got there but the 1st down proved huge, as it led to the decisive field goal in a three-point victory.

And finally, the fake punt. This was a gutsy call, with UVa up three and the lead dwindling in the final quarter. Not to mention it was a 4th and 3 where a 1st down was no certainty, even if the play worked as designed. And on top of all that, the play didn’t really work as designed.

Thompson took the direct snap and ran right but Carolina was ready for it. In fact, Thompson said as much in his Monday media availability. But he is a creative runner, and reversed field and rolled left, picking up five yards and the new set of downs. If UVa doesn’t pick up the 1st, UNC has the ball in Virginia territory with more than enough time to tie or win the game. And if the Hoos had punted the ball back to Carolina, they may have had worse field position but their ability to pick up yards in a hurry put the defense in a tough spot no matter what.

So Bronco Mendenhall went with a risky call to secure the victory, and it paid off, despite Carolina sniffing out the play. Much of the credit for that should go to Thompson, who did the smart thing by cutting his losses on a run right, knowing that whether he was short of the line to gain by 10 yards or half of a yard, it wouldn’t be a good result. He went for broke with the cut back and it worked out for him and the team.

For the second straight year, UVa’s offense had a breakthrough performance in a win against Carolina. On Saturday, the Wahoos racked up 418 yards with a balanced attack and had a lot of success in the red zone. They were great on 3rd down but they made up for it by some timely and aggressive fourth-down conversions. The Cavaliers also increased their numbers of big plays and the emergence of Simpson was a big help to the cause.

The offense also got enough help from the defense and special teams to put them over the top after not receiving much in the last few weeks. The muffed punt and subsequent recovery came at a critical time in the game and was likely the most important play of the game. The forced fumble on Howell and the red zone stop also proved huge, before the successful fake punt put the game on ice.

The win over Carolina showed that all the pieces matter for the Cavaliers. The offense improved as they needed to after a lackluster performance against Miami. Their undermanned defense was overwhelmed at times by a great UNC offense but a few timely plays were enough to win despite allowing 41 points and 536 yards.

If the offense can continue to score and move the ball consistently through aggressive play calling and timely big plays and the defense and special teams can create a few game-changing plays, the Wahoos have a chance to do some damage in the back half of their schedule.

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