Take Two: Revisiting Saturday's lopsided UVa win over Illinois

The Result: Virginia hammered Illinois on Saturday, leading from start to finish in a 42-14 rout at Scott Stadium. The win moved the Wahoos to 2-0 on the season and was their 19th win in their last 21 home contests.

The Turning Point: Illinois made it a one-score game on their first drive of the second half but UVa slammed the door when the Cavaliers went 75 yards on nine plays, capped by a Billy Kemp touchdown reception. They controlled the remainder of the game and Illinois wouldn’t score again.

The Stat That Tells the Story: Virginia averaged 15.1 yards per completion in Saturday’s win, demonstrating how explosive the Hoos were in the passing game this week.

Wahoo of the Week: For the second straight week, it’s Brennan Armstrong. The junior QB has been sharp in the first two games of the year, and on Saturday he torched the Illini defense. Armstrong became the first UVa QB in five years to throw for 300+ yards in back-to-back weeks.

Bronco’s Winning Formula:

24+ Points? YES (42)

+1 Turnover Margin? NO (EVEN)

+5 Average Starting Field Position? NO (+4)

1) Start Fast

Virginia made a fast start a priority this week and certainly accomplished that mission. UVa got the ball to start the game and quickly marched down and scored just 1:16 into the game. Three minutes and 40 seconds later, the Wahoos were in the end zone again. They were up 14-0 in a blink, and while Illinois hung around for a while, the Cavaliers took control of the game early and never really relinquished. There were some missed opportunities later in the game, but the quick start helped them put the Illini in a tough spot on the road.

Grade: A

2) Make Illinois Throw

Bret Bielema has always had a knack for creating offenses that can march up and down the field by running the ball. This Illinois team isn’t the finished product he is looking for, and their ground game isn’t where it will likely be in a few years. Still, UVa bottled up the Illini on the ground for most of the day despite a few lapses. Illinois finished with 131 rushing yards (when removing lost yards for sacks) and averaged 5.5 yards per carry. But a lot of the damage was done once the Cavaliers already had the game in hand, and it would be a stretch to say the Illini ever really established an imposing ground game. UVa’s defense did a good job again on Saturday.

Grade: B+

Offense: Saturday’s performance was one of the best we’ve seen from a UVa offense in recent years. The Wahoos racked up 42 points and 556 yards, and were seemingly able to move the ball at will for most of the day. Late in the game, they had punted just once. They left plenty of points on the table too, with four drives going into Illinois territory but coming up empty (two turnovers, two missed field goals). Armstrong was the star performer and had maybe the best performance of his career to date, especially through the air. He finished with 405 passing yards, 50 short of the school’s single-game record, and five passing touchdowns. When Armstrong didn’t complete a pass, the throw was usually on the money and was either well defended or dropped. Even his interception was a good ball that almost resulted in a touchdown, but a good play by the Illini defender robbed him of it. He added 31 yards on the ground and even caught a pass, gaining 18 yards.

Armstrong spread the ball around to several different targets, with Dontayvion Wicks and Jelani Woods shining the most. Wicks hauled in a pair of touchdowns on three catches, and had his way with his defender plenty of times. Woods had a breakout game after missing most of the opener with leg cramps. The Cavalier tight end hauled in a touchdown in the first quarter, and finished with five receptions for 122 yards, and was chosen to break the rock as well. Kemp found the end zone too, and led the team with six receptions. Keytaon Thompson and Ra’Shaun Henry were factors in the passing game as well, and Mike Hollins got into the action out of the backfield with a pair of catches.

On the ground, UVa was solid if not spectacular. Wayne Taulapapa did the heavy lifting with 10 carries, and had a decent day outside of a fumble in the fourth quarter. Hollins and Devin Darrington got four carries each and Thompson scored on the ground in the third quarter.

Virginia’s offensive line deserves a shoutout as well. Armstrong was fantastic but he was almost always throwing from a clean pocket with all day to scan the field. UVa didn’t allow a sack on the day and will surely grade out well this week. There wasn’t much to improve on but UVa could have done better on 3rd down, finishing just 4-for-10 on the day, and the turnovers in the fourth quarter were unlucky but did bust up two promising drives.

This was an easy grade to give out. Job well done for Robert Anae and Co.

Grade: A

Defense: Virginia’s offense will draw the headlines, but the defense was good as well, just more quietly. Just as the offense got off to a fast start with quick strikes, the defense did a great job getting Illinois off the field early and not letting the game devolve into a shootout. On the day, the Illini finished with 337 yards, 221 through the air, and 116 on the ground. UVa only allowed 20 first downs on the day, and forced a pair of 4th-down stops, on Illinois’ two attempts.

Virginia’s defense almost went two games without forcing a turnover, but the Hoos grabbed a pair of takeaways in the fourth quarter. Freshman LB West Weeks recovered a fumble forced by Nick Grant, and transfer CB Anthony Johnson recorded an interception in his second game as a Wahoo. UVa’s defense forced plenty of negative plays, with six TFL’s and three sacks.

Virginia’s top performer on defense was Noah Taylor, who recorded a team-high seven tackles and had two sacks. The other sack belonged to Hunter Stewart, who had another solid game at linebacker. The Wahoos have been relatively vanilla with their pressures in the first two games, and it will be interesting to see if they continue to play more conservative or if they get more exotic starting next weekend in Chapel Hill.

The defense did a really nice job at all three levels and holding an opponent to 14 points should always be good enough to win a game.

Grade: B+

Special Teams: Not a lot to report here. UVa didn’t return a kick and Kemp finished with 13 punt return yards on the day. As we mentioned, UVa’s punt team spent very little time on the field. But Jacob Finn seems to be a really solid addition for the Wahoos, and he averaged just under 47 yards per punt on Saturday. There were no issues on the kick team either, and the Illini also didn’t return a kick on the day.

The one noteworthy item from special teams was Justin Duenkel, who missed a pair of first-half field-goal attempts. The first was from 46 yards, which isn’t exactly a chip shot, so no harm done there. But Duenkel’s miss from 31 yards was disappointing, especially after he made his first attempt from 26 only to have it negated by a penalty before he missed the subsequent try. Duenkel was solid last week and these two misses aren’t the end of the world, but you hope that it doesn’t break his confidence going forward. He could have some really critical attempts on Saturday, so hopefully he can shake off these two misses and get back on track.

Grade: B

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