At 4-1 with a 2-0 conference record, the Cavaliers arrived at their first idle week with plenty to play for as the season unfolds. On the heels of their first loss, though, there are certainly some questions that linger around the Wahoos.

We’ve revisited the unknowns many had in the preseason to help frame things for the program moving forward, looking at two big questions on each side of the ball.

Heading into the first of its two open weeks, Virginia’s offensive line is the team’s biggest concern and area of focus. The Wahoos hung tough at Notre Dame, but ultimately couldn’t overcome allowing eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss to the Irish. UVa rushed for four yards (including negative sack yards) in the 35-20 loss. And while the Irish exposed some issues on the line, it wasn’t the first time this season that there have been problems up front.

On the season, the Cavaliers have lost just over 100 yards on 15 sacks allowed, or three per game. UVa has had issues blocking in all but one game this season (William & Mary) and while the Hoos are still off to a good start to the season at 4-1, the blocking must improve if the team is going to finish strong.

Five games in, UVa hasn’t nailed down a starting five on the offensive line. The most stable position appears to be center, where Olu Oluwatimi has been a mainstay with the exception of the ODU game that he didn’t play OC due to a hand injury. The guard positions have been mostly manned by Ryan Nelson and Chris Glaser, both of whom have played over 300 snaps. Bobby Haskins has played 293 snaps at left tackle, with Ryan Swoboda playing 57. Swoboda has spent more time at right tackle (140 snaps), splitting time with Dillon Reinkensmeyer (193 snaps). The shuffling up front has continued five games into the season, and if the Cavaliers are going to find any consistency up front, the coaching staff will probably need to decide during the bye week what the best group is going forward. This should also be useful for getting lineman healthier, which could boost the group as a whole starting next Friday night at Miami.

It remains to be seen whether Virginia’s blocking issues are related to scheme, talent, cohesion, health, or some combination therein. Notre Dame put out a great blueprint on how to defend Virginia’s offense, by getting pressure with its front four and dropping the other seven players into coverage. Regardless, UVa’s offensive line is going to need to do a better job creating running lanes and protecting Bryce Perkins for the offense to take the next step forward.

Through five games, Perkins has thrown for 1,177 yards with eight touchdowns and six interceptions. At his current pace, he would finish the season with 2,824 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 14 picks. A season ago, Perkins threw for 2,689 with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 13 starts. Obviously the turnover numbers aren’t where Perkins and the coaching staff want them to be, but there is a chance that the passing game could be cleaner going forward.

Perkins is throwing for nearly 30 more yards per game than he did last year and could approach 3,000 yards passing if he keeps that average up.The passing numbers don’t quite align with last year’s data, but they aren’t necessarily much worse. But he hasn’t been the running threat that he was a year ago and hasn’t seemed to quite shake the knee injury he suffered in fall camp. Through five games, Perkins has rushed 67 times for 164 yards and two scores. Those stats include lost yardage due to sacks, and if those plays are removed, Perkins has accumulated 265 yards on 15 fewer carries. Last year, even with the negative sack yards included, Perkins rushed 212 times for 923 yards and nine TDs, averaging 4.4 yards per carry on 16 attempts per game. This season, Perkins is attempting 13 rushes per game, and averaging 2.5 yards per attempt.

Virginia’s running game overall has struggled through the first five games and the fact that Perkins hasn’t been able to break runs with consistency may be putting more attention and focus on the running backs. His knee injury has forced him to wear a brace throughout the season and perhaps it comes off later in the year. That injury wasn’t perceived as major, so maybe the week off before heading to Miami will get him closer to 100 percent, and allow him to take off and run more. If so, that certainly wouldn’t be bad considering how the offensive line has struggled in pass protection.

On the other side of the ball the Cavaliers simply don’t have nearly as many question marks after five games. Including sack yards, Virginia is only allowing opponents to rush for 2.8 yards per carry and has allowed just 21.4 points per game, which is quite impressive considering the offense has allowed two turnovers to be returned for touchdowns and several others that set up the opponent with great field position.

A big part of UVa’s success on defense has been the ability to create negative plays for the opponent, particularly with sacks. Heading into the Notre Dame game, the defense had forced 20 sacks and was tied for the lead in that category nationally. Virginia got to Ian Book four times on Saturday, including two intentional grounding penalties which are recorded as sacks.

Jordan Mack leads the way with six sacks, and breakout linebacker Noah Taylor has recorded four of his own. UVa has gotten most of its sack production from the linebackers, as Zane Zandier and Charles Snowden are next on the sack leaderboard with three a piece. If the Wahoos can continue to get after the quarterback and force negative plays, then they will be tough to beat.

The Cavaliers might not be able to put together five sacks in every game but if they can have a few a game with several more TFL’s mixed in then the D will continue to dominate in the second half of the season. The group should be able to force some more chaos in the next game against Miami, an offense that has allowed 4.5 sacks per game, which is third-worst nationally.

While the defense has been excellent overall to start the season, the Hoos haven’t forced quite as many turnovers as the 2018 group, at least five games in.

Last fall, UVa recorded 17 interceptions in 13 games and forced 12 fumbles, recovering four. That’s more than two turnovers forced per game and 1.6 takeaways per contest. Through the first five games of this season, the Cavaliers have forced five turnovers and the offense/special teams has lost 11 of them. Virginia has recorded four interceptions on the season, with two of them returned for touchdowns (Nick Grant and Zandier). Remarkably, UVa’s first five opponents have combined for just one fumble lost and that wasn’t even on defense. That recovery came last weekend, when Chris Finke muffed a fair catch attempt on a punt. So even that fumble wasn’t really a forced error.

If the defense can start forcing turnovers, particularly fumbles more often, then that only increases the margin for error for all three phases of the game. The offense needs to do its part by taking better care of the ball but there is certainly room to grow when it comes to forcing takeaways.

Virginia had bad fumble luck last year, losing 10 of the 19 that hit the turf, and recovering just four of the 12 that its opponents put on the ground. This year, the Hoos have lost four of their seven fumbles and recovered the only one from an opponent. Still, with a high interception total, the Hoos finished +2 in turnover margin a season ago. Through five games, the 2019 squad is -6 in turnovers and certainly could improve that number over the final seven games of the slate.

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