Take Two: Revisiting a Tar Heel overpowering of the Hoos

The Result: Virginia was overwhelmed by UNC’s offense en route to the team's first defeat of the season, falling 59-39 in Chapel Hill last night. The loss drops UVa to 2-1 and 0-1 in ACC play, while ending the four-game winning streak over the rival Tar Heels.

The Turning Point: Carolina’s opening drive of the second half. The Tar Heels were down 28-24 at the half but recaptured the momentum with a five-play, 74-yard drive, capped with a 5-yard TD pass from Sam Howell to tight end Garrett Walston. UVa would punt on its ensuing drive and UNC would score again, taking hold of the game for good.

The Stat That Tells the Story: The Heels out-rushed UVa 392 to 21 in the win. Carolina averaged 8.3 yards per carry, while the Cavaliers managed just 1 yard per rush attempt.

Wahoo of the Week: For the third straight week, it’s Brennan Armstrong. The UVa signal caller had a record-setting performance spoiled by the loss in Chapel Hill. The junior QB set a single-game school record with 554 passing yards, smashing the previous record of 455. Armstrong also threw for four touchdowns in the losing effort.

Bronco’s Winning Formula:

24+ Points? YES (39)

+1 Turnover Margin? NO (-1)

+5 Average Starting Field Position? NO (-5)

1) Handle Adversity

Virginia has looked like a different team on the road than what we get from the Wahoos at Scott Stadium in recent years. And early in Saturday night’s game, that was the case again. Their offense seemed a little out of sorts early and had their first drive killed by a procedural penalty with the second thwarted by a botched handoff. The offense did do a nice job bouncing back and scoring 21 straight points to take a halftime lead, though. But the defense didn’t handle adversity well at any point in this game. They were never able to adjust to Carolina’s attack and that result is quite clear when looking at the box score.

Grade: D

2) Close the game strong

UVa didn’t get it done here, either. We mentioned in the game preview that UNC is one of the nation’s best teams when it comes to closing out games and winning the fourth quarter. UVa’s second quarter was impressive but the Wahoos were out-scored 35-11 after halftime, never able to retake control of the game.

Grade: D

Offense: It’s worth taking a moment, despite a loss, to acknowledge how far UVa’s offense has come. For years, the Hoos struggled to move the ball and score points, and really struggled to create explosive plays. Quarterback play was erratic and often disappointing. But despite the setback on Saturday, it appears that they have unlocked their offense’s potential with this group of players.

Despite a second-half interception, Armstrong was simply fantastic throughout the game. Carolina might not have the nation’s best defense but Armstrong showed patience and maturity in the pocket, finding the open man and keeping drives alive. He was great on 3rd downs, where UVa finished 8-for-14 on the night. He hit a bunch of big plays and had nine completed passes of 20 yards or more. It’s a shame that this effort was spoiled by the result, but if Armstrong can keep this up for the entire season, he is going to have a phenomenal season and UVa will win more games than it loses.

At receiver, Dontayvion Wicks was again a star performer, catching seven passes for 184 yards and a score. The Louisiana native is clearly going to give defenses trouble down the field, assuming he isn’t sideline by the injury he picked up in the second half on Saturday. Billy Kemp had a nice game, hauling in eight catches for 106 yards and a pair of touchdowns. And Jelani Woods found the end zone again as well, catching six passes for 47 yards.

Virginia’s offense did enough to win but there were certainly shortcomings. The Cavaliers started the game slow with a pair of empty possessions that put Carolina in a position to win the game. They had a pair of turnovers, one of which came in the red zone. But most importantly, they have continued to struggle to run the football. UVa finished with just 21 rushing yards and attempted just 22 carries to 57 pass attempts. Wayne Taulapapa exited the game with a concussion but UVa didn’t really try to replace his production with other backs. Jacob Rodriguez was the team’s leading rusher with just 14 yards on three carries. It’s easy to make the case that UVa didn’t need to run the ball because the offense was able to move the ball through the air easily. But in the future, the offense will likely need to be more balanced.

Grade: B+

Defense: I’m not going to spend a ton of time on this today. If you saw the game on Saturday, you know how the defense played. And if you didn’t see it, then you’re better off for it. In simple terms, UNC scored five touchdowns on five second-half possessions, after any halftime adjustments should have taken place. The Tar Heels didn’t punt the ball all night. They averaged 8.3 yards per carry, and Howell threw for 307 yards and five touchdowns despite completing just 14 passes. UVa was plagued by big plays, bad run fits, and untimely penalties throughout the day all at all three levels of the defense.

Fentrell Cypress did have a big interception and return that would have been the turning point had UVa gone on to win the game. That was the lone bright spot for the group on Saturday night. We’ll soon find out whether this game was a nightmare performance and an outlier, or if it’s a bad omen for where this season is going on that side of the ball.

Grade: F

Special Teams: Special teams didn’t play a huge role in deciding Saturday’s game, but there were highs and lows. UVa did allow a 38-yard punt return to Carolina which set up a drive in good field position, helping out the Tar Heel offense that didn’t need any help. Jacob Finn averaged 37 yards per punt on three attempts and Justin Duenkel was perfect on extra points and made his only field goal kick. Duenkel did have one kickoff out of bounds late while trying to squib kick but that didn’t really matter much. It was a relatively quiet day for special teams, who didn’t spend much time on the field because both offenses were too busy walking up and down the field and scoring.

Grade: C

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