The Result: An inspired second-half rally ultimately came up short in a 31-24 loss at No. 11 Louisville on Thursday night. UVa trailed 14-0 at the half but scored 21 straight points and had a fourth-quarter lead before the Cardinals rallied with two long touchdowns and held on for their ninth win of the year. The loss dropped the Cavaliers to 2-8 on the season and 1-5 in ACC play with two games remaining. It was their fifth one-score loss of the season.

The Turning Point: In the fourth quarter, Virginia was in the red zone with a chance to go up two scores. When the Hoos had 1st and 10 at the Cardinals 15, ESPN’S FPI tool gave them an 86.7 percent chance to win the game. They ended up kicking a field goal on that drive and Louisville quickly tied the game before eventually taking the lead. Perhaps if UVa had been able to get the lead to two scores with about eight minutes to play, things may have turned out differently.

The Stat That Tells the Story: In a flag-filled evening, the Cavaliers finished with 13 penalties for 100 yards in the loss, with many of those flags coming at inopportune moments. To say fans were very upset with the officiating postgame would be an understatement, and it would appear those sentiments were very reasonable given the way the game was officiated throughout.

Wahoo of the Week: We’re going to let a pair of freshmen share this one, awarding the honors to Anthony Colandrea and Kam Robinson. Colandrea had to prepare to start against a very good defense on the road on a short week and put together a very solid performance. He accounted for 403 yards of offense, and led the team in rushing, in addition to 300+ passing yards. Robinson, meanwhile, finished with four tackles, a sack, and an interception returned for touchdown in UVa’s comeback effort all in a game in which some feared he wouldn’t even play at all given his injury the prior week.

Offense: Virginia got off to a bit of a slow start with penalties, turnovers, and some blocking issues. But over the course of the game, the Wahoos put together a good effort against a Louisville defense that hadn’t given up a touchdown in the last two games, and allowed just 140 yards of offense to Virginia Tech in a blowout win the week prior.

UVa ended up out-gaining Louisville on the night with 434 yards of offense. The Cavaliers threw for 314 and rushed for 120, averaging 6.4 yards per play. They did struggle in a few areas, going 4-for-15 on 3rd downs and scoring just 10 points on three red-zone trips. The first three trips into Louisville territory ended up with no points, with two turnovers and a missed field goal.

Still, UVa found ways to move the ball throughout the game, using a lot of up-tempo offense. Colandrea wasn’t perfect but flashed potential and gave UVa a chance to win another game it entered as a big underdog. Early in the game Colandrea was under a lot of duress, but the blocking and scheme improved through the game. Once again, Malik Washington was great, catching nine passes for 155 yards and also recovering a fumble and running it in for a touchdown to give UVa the lead in the third quarter. Malachi Fields had a solid game, too, with 85 receiving yards on four catches.

The running backs didn’t really do much, and most of the rushing success came from Colandrea’s designed runs and scrambles. Jack Griese did score his first career touchdown on a goal line play to get UVa on the board. Obviously the health of Perris Jones is something on the mind of the entire program and its fanbase, after a scary injury in the third quarter that saw him taken off on a stretcher. The updates from UVa over the weekend seem promising and hopefully Jones will be able to make a full recovery.

Ultimately, UVa didn’t make quite enough plays to win Thursday’s game, but the offense moved the ball well enough to give the team a chance to pull a major upset. There were some missed opportunities, but given the circumstances with the short week and having to star their backup quarterback, it was a solid effort for the Hoos.

Grade: B

Defense: If you just look at the box score, it may not look like UVa’s defense had a tremendous effort on Thursday night. But John Rudzinski’s group was actually stout for most of the game and held up nicely against a quality opponent.

Louisville had 423 yards of offense, but 187 of them (44 percent) came in the fourth quarter. Obviously that’s not ideal and two big-play touchdowns doomed the Hoos on the evening, but Louisville also had two quarters of football with 66 yards or less. The much-maligned pass rush didn’t have a huge game but did record a pair of sacks and five TFLs, which is an improvement for certain. The defense also held Louisville to 4-for-11 on 3rd down, held the Cards to a field-goal attempt when UVa led 21-14 late, and forced three three-and-outs. Robinson’s pick-6 was UVa’s first defensive score since the late D’Sean Perry had one against Abilene Christian in 2020.

Virginia’s defense did a good job for the most part against a potent Louisville ground game; 73 of the 180 yards rushing came on a long fourth-quarter touchdown to take the lead. Other than that play, the Cards rushed for just 3.6 yards per carry. After allowing Georgia Tech to go for over 300 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground in the previous game, UVa’s run defense was much better in the Derby City.

As far as individual standouts, we mentioned Robinson, who is quickly becoming one of the team’s best players. Jonas Sanker once again led the team in tackles with 11, and Chico Bennett had a nice game, recording eight tackles and a TFL. Robinson and Paul Akere recorded UVa’s two sacks.

Overall it was a solid performance from the defense against a good Louisville team, holding them to 24 points and three touchdown drives. Unfortunately, the two big-play scores in the fourth quarter, after holding the Cards down for most of the game, proved to be too much.

Grade: B+

Special Teams: Once again, UVa’s special teams were special, for the opponent. UVa’s special teams groups have been quiet for the last several games, in a good way, but were bad-out-loud in Louisville. The defense gave Virginia a chance to stay in the game in the first half but when Daniel Sparks’ punt was blocked and caught in the end zone for a Cardinals touchdown, Louisville took command of the game. This was the second blocked punt this year that went for a touchdown and both ended up being extremely costly in one-score games. This was also the third touchdown allowed by the Hoos on special teams (Maryland kick return) this season.

Will Bettridge missed a field goal for the second week in a row, though he did make one later in the game. Still, allowing a touchdown and missing a makeable field goal were mistakes too big for UVa to overcome against a quality opponent.

We said earlier in the season that when the special teams allows a touchdown, we won’t give them a passing grade. So it’s another F for Keith Gaither’s group this week.

Grade: F

Coaching Staff: The loss on Thursday was a combination of frustrating and encouraging, depending on the elements one focuses on.

For the fourth time this year, UVa was a three-score underdog away from home. In those games, the Wahoos have been blown out in one as expected, won another, lost one in OT, and now have lost the last of the four by one score after taking a lead into the fourth quarter.

Given the circumstances at play going in, this game was a daunting challenge for the Hoos, what with the QB injury, the short week, the opponent, and the fact that they were on the road. And after a rough start, the team didn’t fold and played hard to the finish, coming up a little short while also contending with some harsh officiating decisions.

Credit to the coaching staff for getting the team ready to play this one, and keeping them locked in at half after a slow start. Tony Elliott said in the postgame that he decided to get more aggressive and match his message of playing to win and having to earn victory with his decisions. His call to “take the points” in the first half down 14-0 didn’t pay off, as Bettridge missed the field goal. It also felt at that time like UVa needed touchdowns, not field goals, and it was just 4th and 2, rather than 4th and long. Ultimately those points may have proved helpful, but a 40-yard field goal attempt is far from guaranteed points, versus a 4th and short, which is probably just as likely to be converted, if not more so.

Virginia’s coordinators did a good job, particularly through the middle part of the game, contending with various challenges in a tough game. Des Kitchings went perhaps a little too deep in his bag of tricks early and simplified things as the game went on and got better results. Rudzinski’s defense was ready to go, and did a good job bottling up the run and held the Cards without a touchdown for nearly 45 minutes of game action.

Still, the special teams coaching has to improve. Once again, those units let the team down and helped an opponent survive an upset bid with “free” points. Missing a field goal can be forgiven, and Louisville missed one of its own, so we can move past that. But that punt block felt like it was coming the whole time, and UVa’s staff and punting unit didn’t do anything to stop it. Those seven points were the difference in the game, and in the offseason, Elliott should look into making changes to how special teams are coached or who is doing what.

We’ll give the coaching staff a decent enough grade for Thursday’s effort, another one where they exceeded expectations from Vegas and the outside world but just didn’t have enough to get over the finish line.

Grade: C