With UVa’s season opener against Richmond just days away now, we’re about to find out if the Cavaliers are going to take their game up a level or if it will be more of the same in Charlottesville.

The Wahoos went 3-9 a year ago and were competitive in many of their 12 games but ultimately couldn’t make enough plays to improve their win total from a 3-7 2022 campaign.

Now, the pressure is on to demonstrate improvement between the lines and have that improvement lead to an uptick in wins.

While UVa has plenty of pathways to improvement, there are several key areas of focus that could turn around their fortunes in a hurry.

Today, we’re taking a look at five key opportunities for improvement that will likely determine whether or not the Hoos take a big step forward in Year 3 of the Tony Elliott era.

We’ve talked at length this offseason about how UVa needs to improve its pass rush in 2024. After a solid 2022 where the Cavaliers averaged three sacks a game, good for 13th-best nationally, the defense took a big step back last year finishing dead last nationally with just 11 sacks, less than one per game. Injuries were a factor in UVa’s lacking pressure; Kam Butler got hurt in the fourth game of the season and missed the remaining eight and yet somehow still ended up leading the team in sacks (3.5). Chico Bennett got hurt during fall camp, missed the opener, and didn’t have a very productive season, at least when it came to creating pressure. And after those two guys, UVa didn’t develop a reliable third option.

The hope should be that a healthy Butler changes the dynamics up front for the Cavaliers. Last year, when he played, UVa had at least one sack in every game and five total in four contests. After he was done for the year, UVa recorded just six more sacks total and had four games with no sacks at all. Regardless of how it happens, UVa is going to need to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, creating drive-killing negative plays, which should raise the level of the entire defense’s play.

And on the other side of the ball, the Hoos gave up too many sacks. In 2023, they allowed 43 sacks in 12 games, or 3.6 per contest, good for 123rd nationally. That’s pretty far away from even average; 30 teams gave up less than 20 sacks, and nobody in the top 58 nationally gave up even 25. Virginia bringing back nearly the entire offensive line depth chart has been seen as a positive in the run up to the season, but that is only a good thing if those guys get better. The Cavaliers cannot afford to have either of their potential quarterbacks running for their lives in 2024 as much as they were last fall.

We’re not saying UVa’s special teams suddenly have to dominate opponents and be one of the best groups nationally. But can they at least not do significant damage to the team’s prospects on a weekly basis?

Last season featured some of the worst special teams units in the nation. The punt team allowed a pair of punts to be not only blocked but recovered for touchdowns, both coming in one-score losses (JMU, Louisville). Virginia struggled to cover returns, too: The Cavaliers allowed kick return touchdowns to both Maryland and Virginia Tech, and neither score even seemed particularly hard for the opponent. In addition, UVa was one of just five teams nationally to allow two 90+ yard return plays last year.

In the return game, UVa had four solid returns of 30+ yards but nothing beyond 40, and still haven’t had a kick return since the Joe Reed days. If there was a bright spot, it’s that UVa finished 16th nationally in field goal percentage at 85.7 percent and both kicker Will Bettridge and punter Daniel Sparks seem like trustworthy options at this point.

Simply put, UVa needs to fix the special teams issues or at least make the problems less frequent. Elliott opted to keep the special teams operation, at least from a coaching perspective, the same as the last two years when the results were poor. Now, Keith Gaither and his support staff, as well as the special teams contributors on the field, will need to show that the faith shown by Elliott was the right choice and will pay off going forward.

Through many games last year, UVa seemed more competitive than its record at the time. A big reason for that is the dreadful 0-5 start the Hoos had, which basically had the competitive portion of their season wrapped by the end of September. They went 3-4 the rest of the way, despite losing their starting quarterback for the second time in the season and playing as three score underdogs on three occasions. This year, UVa simply cannot afford to get off to a slow start and try to make up ground as the season wears on, as the schedule likely won’t allow it.

Virginia opens the campaign against UR next week in what should be considered a must-win game. The ACC opener the following week at Wake Forest seems like one of the most winnable games of the entire season, with the Deacs coming off of a rough season and going through a bit of a roster churn. Games against Maryland, Coastal Carolina, and Boston College aren’t exactly gimmes but they seem more open than many of the games down the stretch.

After the bye, UVa will play ACC contenders Louisville, Clemson and UNC in a row. And to end the season, the Wahoos play three of four on the road, including trips to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Even the home date with SMU is going to be a challenge, with the Mustangs coming off of a 10-win season in the AAC.

If UVa starts 0-5 this year, the program is likely heading for a worse record than it had a year ago. But if they can find a way to get to their bye week with a winning record, the Hoos give themselves at least a chance to make some noise down the stretch and play meaningful games into late November.

Tied to the previous section, UVa’s performance in Charlottesville needs to be better if the Cavaliers are going to turn around their fortunes this fall. In the Bronco Mendenhall era, they didn’t necessarily reach the highest of highs, but they were consistently relevant and in the postseason, in large part due to their success at Scott Stadium. From 2018-2021, they went 21-5 at home and 12-4 in home ACC contests.

And while we can’t blame the coaching change for the home record drop-off, it’s been pretty staggering. Since Elliott took over, UVa is just 4-8 at Scott Stadium. Two of those wins came against FCS opponents and another against a 3-9 Old Dominion team on a field goal as time expired. Elliott is just 1-7 in home ACC games, finally getting a home ACC win in November over Duke.

As with special teams, nobody’s expecting a total reversal here. But there’s a reason people talk about home-field advantage. It’s a real thing, or at least it is for most schools. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, they have just six home contests this year. But if they want to get back to .500 or better, they probably need to win four of six home games, or better. Three would be the absolute minimum, and that’s generous.

Finally, UVa has some work to do in performing well in big scenarios, specifically 3rd downs and in the red zone.

In 2023, Virginia converted 36.1 percent of its 3rd-down tries. That number was up rather significantly from their 32.1 percent average in 2022, but was still below average, with that 36.1 percent average ranking 97th nationally. Conversely, opponents converted better than 40 percent of their 3rd-down attempts.

Virginia scored on 79 percent of its red zone trips last year, finding points on 34 of 43 possessions. That number might sound okay, but given how short the field-goal attempts are, most teams score on most red-zone trips; that 79 percent average ranked 100th nationally last year.

Another way to look at the numbers is how many red zone trips resulted in touchdowns, rather than having to settle for three: UVa scored 22 touchdowns on those 43 red zone trips, a conversion rate of 51.2 percent, 115th-best nationally.

Third-down and red-zone efficiency has decided a large share of football games over the years, and will likely continue to do so in 2024. The margin of error for this team is so small and these plays have big margins, either positive or negative.

UVa’s coaching staff and players are going to have to find a way to be better in the biggest moments of their games this fall if they’re going to improve.