The Result: Virginia went to the Steel City and upset the #18 Pitt Panthers, rallying for a 24-19 win on Saturday night. The victory improved the Hoos to 5-4 and 3-3 and ACC play, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process. The upset was UVa’s third road win of the year, the first time the program has done that since 2011, and marked UVa’s second road win against a ranked program in as many seasons, after having just three total since the turn of the century (2000-2022).

The Turning Point: Sometimes it can be difficult to pick just one play, but not in this game. UVa trailed 13-7, giving up 13 straight points after leading earlier, and Pitt had the ball in UVa territory. Pitt kicker Ben Sauls lined up for a 45-yard attempt that would have given the Panthers a two-score lead, but the kick was blocked by Jonas Sanker, allowing UVa to keep the game within a score. Virginia would go down and score a touchdown on the subsequent drive to retake the lead, and they never gave it back from there.

The Stat That Tells the Story: UVa won the 3rd quarter 14-0. That may not seem like much of a stat, but for this team, it’s an indicator of progress. In UVa’s first eight games of the year, they were outscored 85 to 23 in the third quarter. But on Saturday night, they were able to flip the game after going into halftime down by six, and it set them up to hang on in the fourth quarter.

Wahoo of the Week: It has to be Sanker, who made the big kick block to change the course of the game, but then also reeled in an interception on Pitt’s next drive, that he returned to the Pitt 20, setting UVa up for another touchdown, one that Pitt wouldn’t come back from. Sanker also recorded five tackles, with two TFL’s in the victory.

Offense:

UVa’s offense had a tall task against a good Panthers defense on Saturday. They didn’t put up a masterful performance or anything close to that, but they did enough to win a tough game on the road. UVa finished the game with 340 yards, an even 170-170 split between run and pass. The Hoos moved the ball relatively well early in the game, but had drives into Pitt territory undone, first by a bobbled ball that led to an interception deep in the Pitt red zone, and another drive killed off by a chop block penalty followed by a sack. UVa eventually found paydirt in the second quarter, with a one-yard Xavier Brown TD following a trick play pass from Suderian Harrison to Anthony Colandrea. But then, the Hoos went into a rut through the middle part of the game. Colandrea went cold, and eventually threw a second INT, this one certainly his fault, that led to a Pitt field goal and a 13-7 halftime deficit.

In the second half, things got better, starting with the blocked field goal which led directly to a five-play 73-yard drive, busted open by a 29-yard Colandrea run and a delayed seam throw to Brown for a TD to take the lead. UVa’s offense did a good job mixing in QB run in the second half and it kept Pitt’s front off balanced after they had quite a bit of success getting to the quarterback. UVa would take advantage of Sanker’s INT on their next drive, scoring from 20 yards out on four plays. Their final score came on a devastating 16-play, 60 yard drive that took 8:26 off the clock and damaged Pitt’s comeback hopes. Virginia’s red zone offense produced two touchdowns and one field goal on Saturday with no empty trips. It wasn’t perfect, but better than what we’ve typically seen this year.

UVa’s ground game was effective on Saturday against a good Pitt defense. When removing Colandrea’s negative sack yards, UVa rushed for 186 yards, or 4.8 yards per carry. Brown (15 carries for 68 yards) and Kobe Pace (12 rushes for 52 yards) split the load, both averaging better than four yards per carry and both scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Colandrea rushed for 56 yards after removing negative sack yards. Credit to the offensive line too. They opened up holes in the run game and while UVa was sacked six times, some of those were Colandrea running out of bounds, and those six sacks resulted in just 16 negative yards.

The passing game came in fits and starts on Saturday, with an uneven performance from Colandrea. The two interceptions were rough, but only one was really Colandrea’s fault, and luckily for UVa they led to just three Pitt points. The Panthers took Malachi Fields out of the game, holding him to just two catches, so other guys had to step up. Chris Tyree had his best game as a Cavalier, catching four passes for 42 yards and rushing once for 13 yards. Andre Greene had an impact early with three catches for 30 yards, and Brown had the 24-yard receiving touchdown.

While UVa didn’t light up the scoreboard, they overcame some mistakes and took advantage in the red zone, something they haven’t always been able to do. There’s still room for improvement obviously, but the ground game performance coupled with some improvements in the red zone was enough to get it done on the road against a ranked team.

Grade: C+

Defense:

Virginia’s defense showed up in a big way, shutting down an offense that averaged 38 points per game coming in. UVa held Pitt to just 292 yards of offense, and held them off the scoreboard for most of the first half, and then held them to just six points in the second half. Pitt went 4-for-13 on 3rd down, and averaged just 4.4 yards per play. We have to mention, of course, that Pitt lost starting quarterback Eli Holstein to an injury in the third quarter, but UVa’s defense was playing well when Holstein was in the game, too.

Virginia held the Panthers to 165 yards through the air with just 14 completions on 35 attempts. Backup quarterback Nate Yarnell struggled, going 4-for-12 for 44 yards with a pair of interceptions. We mentioned Sanker’s big takeaway in the third quarter, but Corey Thomas came up with a pick on a similar throw down the middle of the field, which all but sealed the game for the Hoos. UVa’s defense has struggled to create takeaways, but on Saturday, the two picks canceled out two of their own, and UVa scored four more points off of those turnovers than Pitt did.

UVa didn’t give up much on the ground, either. Pitt rushed for 127 yards on 32 attempts. Starting running back Desmond Reid got loose a few times and ended up with 80 yards, 34 of which came on one play, but other than that, UVa did a good job making Pitt throw to win. UVa’s front didn’t record a ton of sacks, but they pressured Pitt’s quarterbacks throughout the game, and forced some bad throws. UVa ended up with three sacks and eight TFL’s in the win; Defensive tackle Anthony Britton led the Hoos with 1.5 sacks, Kam Robinson added one, and Jam Jackson got a half sack. Terrell Jones also added 1.5 tackles for loss, getting the start over Chico Bennett.

Virginia’s defense put together one of their best efforts on Saturday, and took advantage of some Pitt mistakes, of which there were many. The defense felt like a group that had two weeks to prepare and get healthy for this one, and they were ready to go. Forcing two turnovers was big, too, and something we haven’t always seen from this group. When UVa’s defense was on the field against Pitt’s offense the defense was the better unit throughout the game.

Grade: A-

Special Teams:

Special teams have been quiet this season for the most part, but Saturday’s game was more eventful. We mentioned the block field goal which was not just a big play in this game, it was UVa’s first blocked field goal since the 2021 opener against William and Mary. UVa’s return units made a bit of a difference, too. Ethan Davies returned six punts for 25 yards, including a slippery 16-yard return into Pitt territory in the first quarter. Tyree returned two kicks for 35 yards, with a long of 22.

In the kicking game, Will Bettridge was perfect again, making all three PATs and the 32-yard field goal late in the game to extend UVa’s lead to five points. Daniel Sparks did a good job on kickoffs, and averaged 43 yards per punt, though he did shank one in the first quarter that kept UVa from pinning Pitt deep. He made up for it later, with a 66-yard punt that helped flip the field.

Special teams helped win the game on Saturday. They weren’t perfect necessarily, but UVa won that phase of the game against a well-coached Panthers team.

Grade: A

Coaching Staff:

The last time we saw this team, UVa looked checked out and unprepared against UNC. Two weeks later, the story was very different. Virginia was clearly up for the fight on Saturday night, and were engaged from start to finish in a gritty performance. It wasn’t a perfect game; it took a while for UVa to get on the scoreboard, but most of the issues early were related to execution or penalties rather than scheme.

Offensively, Des Kitchings made some changes, and some new red zone plays led to successful outcomes. Having the week off to self-scout certainly helped there. Defensively, John Rudzkinski came into the game with some wrinkles to create pressure, and it kept Pitt’s offense off-balance throughout the game. And on special teams, UVa got the job done throughout the game and then had the big block.

As far as coaching decisions, the big one was at quarterback. Late in the first half and into the second half, there were a lot of calls on social media for Tony Elliott to make the QB change, going to Tony Muskett. He opted to keep Colandrea in the game, and while Colandrea didn’t single-handedly carry UVa to a win down the stretch, the team ended up winning the game. Colandrea missed Tyler Neville on 3rd and 5 on UVa’s first drive of the 2nd half, and at that point was 8-for-14 with a pair of picks, and that’s when the calls for a change were happening. Elliott stuck with Colandrea, who then completed his next seven passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 45 yards in that stretch. We don’t know that Muskett would have come in and done worse, or that UVa would have lost, and Colandrea didn’t play his best game. But it’s hard to argue with the overall result, and while improvement is needed, it seems sticking with Colandrea worked out okay here.

Good job by the staff to get the team prepared to play on the road against a tough opponent in a physical game. There’s still plenty of work to do, and the three-game stretch run remaining is going to be very difficult, but Saturday’s win was a much-needed sign of progress after going more than a month without a win.

Grade: A-