The Result:. Virginia blew a second-half lead for the third time in five games this season, being outscored by 20-3 by BC after halftime en route to a 27-24 loss on the road. It drops UVa to 0-5 on the year, and 0-2 in ACC play, and drops Tony Elliott to 3-12 and 1-8 in ACC competition at UVa.

The Turning Point: It was halftime. UVa’s apex was the Hail Mary to end the first half and it was virtually all BC after the break. The Eagles scored on their first three drives of the second half and four in a row total, going from down 14-0 to then down 21-7 down to 24-21 up.

The Stat That Tells the Story: The Cavaliers had more penalty yards in the second half (46) than they had yards (just 39).

Wahoo of the Week: We’ll go with Jonas Sanker, who led UVa in tackles with 12 and had a pass break-up, a TFL, and a forced fumble.

Offense: UVa’s offense had a promising start to the game and then it fell apart. Virginia scored a touchdown on the opening drive for the second time this year (Maryland) and outgained the Eagles 274-120 in the first half. The Wahoos got a boost going into the locker room too, benefitting from a virtual free play after a helmet came off to complete a Hail Mary and go into halftime up 21-7. Things were going well, for the most part.

And after halftime, the offense barely came out of the locker room.

They gained just 39 yards, averaging 1.6 yards per play. They went 1-for-6 on 3rd downs and missed their lone 4th-down try. They ran the ball 11 times for 10 yards, and had their lone turnover of the game, a Tony Muskett INT. Their lone score of the second half, a field goal, came on a six-play, 12-yard march after a BC fumble.

Simply put, the Eagles were on the back foot going into halftime and then their coaches and players made adjustments and played better in the second half. UVa did none of that. The protection broke down, especially in the second half, which totally disrupted the passing game. Muskett was sacked five times for 29 yards by a defense that had just five sacks total in the first four games. Muskett had a really solid first half, throwing for 218 yards and three touchdowns, but once the blitzes started coming he couldn’t keep his eyes downfield to make plays. UVa’s pass and run blocking were both ineffective in the losing effort.

“Establish the run” is an overused and outdated football cliche at this point, but we still hear it week and in and week out. And UVa’s coaching staff seems determined to keep trying. So far, the only thing they’ve established is that Virginia can’t run the ball. They’re going to keep trying, and if nothing else, maybe it’ll keep them from getting a quarterback hurt behind an offensive line that struggles against teams that bring pressure. And they’re going to bring more and more pressure, going forward.

If you’re looking for positives, it’s a short list. Fields (five receptions for 88 yards, TD) and Malik Washington (nine receptions, 97 yards, TD) were both solid on Saturday. And UVa was perfect in the red zone, but only got there twice.

The offense looked decent early then terrible late. They can’t put a complete game together, something that’s been a problem since this staff arrived.

Grade: D

Defense: Like the offense, UVa’s D had a promising start to the game and then didn’t finish the job. In the first half, UVa allowed just seven points and 120 yards to the Eagles. They forced a pair of takeaways and went into the locker room with a 14-point lead. In the second half, UVa allowed 20 points, 266 yards and 6.2 yards per play. The defense again forced a pair of turnovers in the second half, but the offense wasn’t good enough to capitalize on them.

The D has struggled to deal with a lot of injuries, which is certainly making life more difficult for the coaching staff. UVa has leaned on young players, which has had mixed results. Early in the game, freshman corner Dre Walker came up with an interception to end a drive in the first quarter, and Kam Robinson made some plays around the football. Unfortunately, most of UVa’s biggest mistakes on defense came from veterans. UVa had four players called for pass interference: Coen King, Malcolm Greene, Tayvonn Kyle, and James Jackson. After King gave up his DPI (a few plays after committing a special teams penalty) he got beat badly on a double move for a touchdown. Greene later misread a quick screen pass, which allowed a receiver to get loose for a touchdown. UVa needed more from its veteran group on Saturday, and if they don’t get that going forward, there’s no reason not to give the younger players more opportunities.

A few defensive players deserve some credit for making plays on Saturday to give the team a chance. Josh Ahern came up with an interception in the first half and had a TFL as well. Sanker’s exploits were covered above, and Virginia’s defense also had a fumble recovery from Dave Herard.

It just wasn’t a good enough effort for Virginia’s defense on Saturday, particularly after halftime. The Hoos simply gave up too many costly plays at the wrong time and had a bunch of penalties that added up. Like the offense, it felt like the staff got out-schemed in the second half, and again, the entire team struggles to put a full 60-minute game together.

Grade: D

Special Teams: Virginia had more punt yards (337) than offensive yards (313), so I guess that’s good?

Special teams didn’t have the one major disaster play (or worse) that they’ve had in other games this year. So I suppose that is improvement, after all. They did have two kick-catch interference penalties though, one of which was declined because the punt return actually went for more yards than the penalty would’ve given BC.

Daniel Sparks averaged 48.1 yards per punt with a long of 70 and two 50+ yard punts, and he continues to be the team’s most-consistent performer. Will Bettridge was perfect again on PATs and hit a season-long 44-yard field goal to tie the game in the fourth quarter. That’s a positive for the kicker, who UVa will certainly count on to make an important kick at some point down the road. Washington did a decent job on kick return opportunities and that’s about it for special teams.

It was a forgettable special teams game for the Hoos, which is better than we’ve seen from them in some other games this season.

Grade: C

Coaching Staff: Elliott talks about the need to have “competitive stamina.” Since he took over as Virginia’s coach, the team has not put together a complete 60-minute game against any of its 15 opponents. That was true on Saturday, when the Cavaliers raced out to a 14-0 lead and looked good for a half or so, only to implode after taking a miraculous Hail Mary touchdown into the locker room. It was like a completely different team came out of the locker room and BC took advantage. Elliott again talked postgame about players trusting their technique but the problems seem to run deeper than that. This is, after all, the third time in five games this season where the Hoos blew a double-digit lead en route to a loss.

In all three phases BC was outplayed early but then figured out a way to disrupt what UVa wanted to do, and went out and won it. Once again, UVa’s staff didn’t have a counter punch, and couldn’t get the team to reset after things started to go wrong. The offense did nearly nothing in the second half, and the defense only got stops when BC put the ball on the ground. When UVa has good moments under this coaching staff, the Cavaliers typically come early in the game or in the first half, and then the trend goes south after that: In three of its five games this year, UVa didn’t score a touchdown in the second half, this game among them.

Execution is one issue, but the team’s lack of discipline and consistent inconsistency is a much larger concern at this point. BC was the nation’s most penalized team coming into the weekend. They played their cleanest game against UVa with five penalties, but the Cavaliers couldn’t stay out of their own way. They finished with an embarrassing 11 penalties for 90 yards. It’s one thing if young guys are making mistakes, but every penalty on Saturday came from a veteran player. When the camera pans to the sideline, Elliott is often waving for players to get off the field or is reacting to some on-field mistake. At some point, the lessons of the week should be sinking in and players should be able to play more clean if they’re being taught how. But that’s not happening.

Elliott’s in-game management has continued to be questionable. In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss, he elected to punt with UVa training 24-21 with 10 minutes to play, in a 4th and 4 situation at the BC 37-yard line. That’s too long for a field goal, but eventually the offense has to try and get something going. That was one of the instances where Elliott had to call his offense off the field, and Muskett was clearly hoping to go for it. Instead, Sparks punted for a touchback and UVa gained 17 yards of field position, and ultimately lost the game by a field goal.

The one time in the game where UVa got super aggressive was in the final minute of the first half after BC scored. That situation wasn’t managed flawlessly, and Muskett’s intentional grounding would’ve ended the half on a long-developing play with an offensive line that can’t block for too long, but UVa got bailed out by what was basically a technicality. (It’s also worth noting that Elliott had to nearly pull Ty Furnish away from a BC player so he didn’t pick up another bad post-whistle penalty after doing so in a critical moment last week). The subsequent Hail Mary gave UVa a 21-7 halftime lead, so they were rewarded for their aggressiveness. But Elliott decided to play it safe in BC territory down three in a baffling decision.

Later in the quarter, he urged the offense to go quickly on 4th and 3 at the UVa 35, with 1:30 to go and a timeout. At that point, the timeout does you no good if you don’t get the conversion, and you really only need 25 yards or so to have a shot at a field goal with plenty of time to get there. So why not call timeout, reset, and get your best play called? Instead, Muskett had to force a play that wasn’t there, and the game was over. So the time saved by rushing the team to the line only forced BC to have to kneel one more time than they would have otherwise.

These might seem like small things, but it all matters when a team has such a small margin for error. Its also probably harder to get players to play clean and with energy when the coaching decisions are either uninspired or ultra-conservative.

These are the same issues the staff has had in the first five games, and since they arrived. But here’s why they aren’t getting a pass this time: BC stinks. The Eagles were so lackluster in the first half, it took a terrible effort for them to sneak out a win at home. They came in 1-3 with losses to a bad NIU team, a narrow win over Holy Cross, and an embarrassing loss last week at Louisville. They’re a team that doesn’t play clean with penalties and turnovers, and on Saturday gave UVa four takeaways. It didn’t matter, because UVa can’t consistently take opportunities and capitalize on them.

We will continue to hear about how the coaches need to coach better, and do a better job reaching the players, but let us know when that happens.

There were signs last week that UVa was getting better, before the Hoos ultimately got in their own way and surrendering a loss. There were good signs in the first half of this game too, but they were short lived, because they always are these days.

There are signs of life, followed by a cascade of errors and a lack of production.

Maybe this staff will turn things around and we’ll look back at how far they’ve come from 0-5 in Year 2. But historically, if they were going to make that happen, we would have seen more proof of concept by now.

So as the Cavaliers head into a must-win game against an FCS opponent to ensure they don’t go 0-12, the fanbase sits in purgatory, waiting either for a big reversal of fortune from this staff or their inevitable removal at some point down the road.

Grade: F