Production: Virginia leaned heavily on quarterback Brennan Armstrong in Saturday’s loss at Clemson, with the redshirt sophomore accounting for 86 percent of his team’s offense. He had a very solid day running the ball, leading the Hoos in both rushing attempts (22) and yards (89). On the season, Armstrong has rushed 32 times for 136 yards, including sacks, and one touchdown. Those numbers, coupled with his passing ability, have helped Armstrong lead the ACC in total offense yards per game through his first two career starts.

In this week’s Film Room, we’re taking a look at one aspect of Virginia’s offense that performed quite well on Saturday night: Using Armstrong as a runner.

Creative Runs: There was plenty of talk during the offseason that UVa’s offense would feature more read-option runs, with Armstrong being proficient in that area. In Saturday’s loss, we finally saw Armstrong execute a read-option keeper to great success. Virginia was facing a 4th and 1 in Clemson territory but outside of field-goal range in the third quarter. UVa had already given Wayne Taulapapa a few short-yardage touches from shotgun, including an earlier 4th-and-short conversion that the sophomore running back bounced outside to move the chains.

On the play below, UVa leverages those previous plays to set up an opportunity for Armstrong to keep the ball and have open space to run into. Clemson’s front crashes down on the mesh point, likely anticipating a run up the middle or a Taulapapa run left. Armstrong reads this correctly, keeps the ball, and bolts to the edge. He makes a nice evasive move on the first would-be tackler, and ends up with a big gain.

The next play is a great misdirection set piece from OC Robert Anae. UVa runs Billy Kemp in motion and then he doubles back towards the quarterback pre-snap, setting up the illusion of a potential sweep back to the weak side. Taulapapa runs the opposite direction, setting up to lead block for Armstrong on a counter going against Kemp’s motion to the left side.

Armstrong then shows off some toughness and strength to break a tackle and pick up extra yards. If Ra’Shaun Henry was a little quicker with a seal-off block on the first Clemson defender, Armstrong wouldn’t have had to gear down to avoid contact and maybe picks up more yards, similar to the play we reviewed above.

Against a team like Clemson, an offense needs to find any advantage it can. On Saturday, UVa broke out a creative short-yardage play, where Armstrong either faked audibles or actually called them, and then crept up to the line of scrimmage and took a quick snap under center.

Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry picks up on the rouse at the last minute, but a good push from the UVa offensive line makes that moot, and gives the Cavaliers a fresh set of downs.

An offense can’t run these sorts of plays too often because eventually the defense will catch on, but for the second week in a row UVa has had Armstrong fake a play change to set up a play and catch the defense off guard (he also faked audibles and went in motion on the trick play where Thompson threw him a deep ball vs Duke.)

Armstrong has also had success running on designed pass plays, showing a good feel for his protection and where to run.

On this one below, he has a good pocket from his offensive line but the internal clock in his head still goes off when it's supposed to. Once he has the ball tucked, Armstrong does a nice job finding the open space and darting into it.

This run demonstrates his speed and is an encouraging sign that he will be able to replicate Bryce Perkins’ improvisation ability, at least at some level.

Draw Plays: The offense is so predicated on the short passing game that the Cavaliers are able to use that against defenses throughout a game. Virginia ran several quarterback draw plays on Saturday night, including in likely passing downs like the one below.

This run came on UVa’s first drive of the game and helped move the chains on 3rd and 10. The linemen stay home to show pass blocking but Armstrong quickly tucks and runs with the middle of the field open. The receivers do a nice job turning from route runners to blockers, and Armstrong survives a big hit at the sticks for a new set of downs. Clemson’s defense dropped almost everyone into coverage anticipating a pass, and UVa was able to burn them with this play.

Here is an example of a draw where Armstrong’s interior linemen hold briefly before going into space and clearing a run lane for the quarterback. Virginia uses some excellent window dressing on this play, with a lot of action on the right side that makes the play look like a designed throw to Shane Simpson with blockers in front. That action sends four or five Clemson defenders away from the middle of the field and some solid blocks create a nice lane for Armstrong.

If that play looks familiar, it’s similar to a Perkins 1st-down conversion early in last year’s win over Virginia Tech. UVa would go back to this play soon after and again converted a 3rd and long.

Final Thoughts: Armstrong’s rushing performance at Clemson inspires hope in the offense going forward. The first-year starter has now put together two performances where he wasn’t perfect by any means but moved the offense both on the ground and through the air. That balance was a hallmark of Virginia’s offense with Perkins at QB, and bodes well for Anae’s ability to mix up his play calling and confuse defenses.

Armstrong’s running has also demonstrated his toughness. He hasn’t been sacked a lot, which is great, but he has shown an ability to take a big hit and embrace contact, get up, and do it again. That toughness is a good sign for Armstrong's ability to fight for extra yards and put his face in the fan when required.

Production: UVa did a decent job on 1st and 2nd down against Clemson, but 3rd downs were a nightmare early in the game. The Tigers found themselves in 3rd and long several times in the first half and converted nearly all of those opportunities. Virginia’s margin for error against a team like Clemson was already razor thin, and allowing the Tigers to extend drives time and again was too much to overcome. For the day, Clemson finished 8-for-15 on 3rd down, including several conversions of 10+ yards. At one point late in the first half, the Tigers were 7-for-9 with a 3-for-4 mark on 3rd and 9 or more, with an average of nine yards to gain and 14 yards gained. That is simply an unsustainable amount of conversions to allow to any team, much less one as lethal as Clemson.

We went back and re-watched these critical plays to determine whether UVa’s problem was schematic, a talent disadvantage, simply poor play, or a mix of all three.

Travis Etienne: A Problem: Trevor Lawrence is one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time and yet he wasn’t even the best player in his own backfield on Saturday. Etienne was an unsolvable problem for the Cavaliers, going for 73 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and catching five passes for 114 yards and a score through the air. The reigning two-time ACC Player of the Year was a big part of Clemson’s success on 3rd down and he burned the Wahoos in a number of different ways.

The first conversion we’re highlighting was a back-breaker, after an intentional grounding call gave the Tigers 3rd and 16 deep in their own territory. Get a stop there and UVa has the ball near midfield down by a field goal. Instead, Lawrence finds Etienne over the middle, and he does the rest. Virginia, burned last year by Clemson deep balls and noting during the week that limiting explosion was their priority, was preoccupied with covering the line to gain.

Etienne runs what appears to be an option route out of the backfield and once he sees UVa’s linebackers dropping deep into coverage he stops his route and makes the catch. Against most running backs, UVa’s linebackers and defensive backs would be able to shut down the run after the catch on a reception made 10 yards before the line to gain before it got there. Unfortunately for them, Etienne isn’t most running backs, and converts easily by simply outrunning Zane Zandier to the spot.

Later in the quarter, Etienne converts a 3rd and 2 and takes the play into the end zone to give the Tigers a double-digit lead. It’s a pretty conservative call for Clemson and UVa anticipates the play well, with four defenders able to make the play before the sticks.

Notice Etienne’s initial pace before shifting gears and breaking a bunch of tackles on his way to the end zone. This conversion wasn’t because the Hoos were outschemed, they were just outplayed by the Tigers running back and weren’t sharp enough with their tackles.

This next conversion might be the most egregious. Clemson converted a 3rd and 17 on a simple flip to Etienne on a delayed screen, which for most teams would be a give-up play before punting. Missed tackles killed UVa after the catch, with De’Vante Cross missing Etienne point blank and Charles Snowden can’t get him either.

By the time reinforcements arrive, Clemson’s offensive linemen have made it out to the edge to provide blocking for Etienne, and it’s too late. A play that should’ve been over before it started goes for 46 yards instead, and Clemson ultimately goes up 17 points.

On the next play, Etienne simply isn’t accounted for. UVa is lined up in the Nickel and rushes five on 3rd and 6. The near-side receiver clears out Brenton Nelson with a route to the sticks, freeing up space for Etienne who simply leaves the backfield and turns around for the catch. No Virginia defender is really close to him, and Etienne simply outruns them for a fresh set of downs.

I’m not exactly sure why Etienne was uncovered here, particularly since it was 3rd and 6, not 3rd and 16, and the fact that he’d already burned UVa a few times in the game. Snowden is rushing on the play and Noah Taylor appears to be playing a spy role, but it feels like he would’ve been better served being assigned to Etienne and hoping that if Lawrence were to take off and run that one of the other five Cavalier defenders could get to him in time.

Lawrence's Conversions: If you can contain Etienne, then Lawrence will likely beat you anyway. That’s just the reality of playing against Clemson. Virginia did a serviceable job against the Tigers’ signal caller but still allowed 329 yards and three touchdowns.

This first conversion shows off his ability to read and run. Virginia is again in Nickel and brings everyone in the front seven after the quarterback. Zandier follows Nick Jackson on a double-gap blitz and gets caught up in the wash, unable to get into the backfield. Taylor brings a solid pressure off the edge but he cannot quite get there.

Lawrence sees the pressure and where it is coming from, and simply takes off into open space for the conversion. Virginia’s defense is always going to bring pressure and sometimes it will be picked up. Clemson’s offensive line and quarterback are so good that if the blitz doesn’t get home, the results won’t be pretty.

Against a slightly less athletic or intuitive quarterback, maybe Taylor gets home and the Hoos get off the field.

Duke had some success making plays down the middle of the field in the passing game and Clemson did the same from time to time. On this conversion, Clemson lines up with four receivers spread wide and three of them run routes towards the sideline, pulling the safeties wider. Clemson receiver Frank Ladson is in the slot, and he works past the inside linebackers and into open space. Lawrence reads the coverage perfectly, and releases the ball within two seconds of getting the snap.

That’s way too quick for Virginia’s pressure to get home and if the throw is on target, it’s trouble for Virginia’s defense. The Wahoos have two middle linebackers who are better against the run than the pass and it will be interesting to track how they handle coverage down the middle of the field when the safeties are pulled away or are dropped far enough back in coverage to create a hole in the middle of the field between them and the linebackers in coverage.

Our last play is a throw where Lawrence just has too much time and the result was a touchdown. Amari Rodgers is in the slot left and crosses outside of his fellow receiver before cutting towards the goal posts in the end zone. Lawrence has a very clean pocket with little pressure, with time to scan the field and make a throw to the end zone. Rodgers wins the route against D'Angelo Amos and Lawrence puts the throw on the money for a touchdown.

Final Thoughts: After reviewing Clemson’s conversions from Saturday, nearly all of which are shown here, they show a mix of talent disparity and mistakes. Most of UVa’s problems didn’t appear schematic. There are going to be mismatches on every play in every game, but they are still difficult to take advantage of if everyone does their job.

The one area where UVa’s players could have done demonstrably better was tackling. The Wahoos were credited with 18 missed tackles in the game and it felt like Etienne was the beneficiary of nearly all of them. Of his 74 rushing yards on the day, 60 came after contact. The same was true of his receiving plays. In fact, Etienne had more yards after the catch (128) than he had receiving yards (114) in the win, which shows that a lot of his catches were at or behind the line of scrimmage and he did the rest himself.

And that takes us to the final, big takeaway from these conversions: This is Clemson and this is what Clemson does. That offense is loaded with weapons and the Tigers can make defenses look sloppy. Virginia’s tackling wasn’t perfect last year, or two weeks ago against Duke, but it’s not a mistake that UVa has struggled to tackle against Clemson specifically in these last two meetings. Etienne specifically is so difficult to catch or bring down in space, and when coupled with good scheme and a few mistakes from the defense it’s a recipe for trouble.

On review, a lot of Clemson’s conversions were plays that went short of the sticks and players simply made plays in space. The good news is that most teams on Virginia’s schedule, or any schedule for that matter, aren’t going to be able to get away with dumping the ball off on 3rd and 17 and hoping their pass catcher is going to make a bunch of defenders miss, or simply out-run them.

Virginia’s defense certainly wasn’t perfect in Death Valley and there are a few of those conversions that the Hoos could certainly have avoided with sound tackling. But Clemson does this to almost everyone they play, so we’ll give the Cavalier defense the benefit of the doubt in this area until they start allowing similar plays to lesser competition.

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