The Result: Virginia breezed past FCS Abilene Christian on Saturday, winning 55-15. The victory made three straight for the Cavaliers, who improved to 4-4 on the season heading into their final three contests.
The Turning Point: This might sound disrespectful to ACU but once Virginia got rolling on a 28-yard TD catch by Tony Poljan, the game was over pretty quickly.
The Stat That Tells the Story: UVa’s passing game was explosive on Saturday, with the Wahoos averaging 20.3 yards per catch and getting more than 400 passing yards between the two QBs.
Wahoo of the Week: Once again it’s Brennan Armstrong, who dominated the two and a half quarters that he played. Armstrong nearly set some records and surely would have if he finished the game, with 383 passing yards and 52 yards on the ground. He finished the day with four passing touchdowns and no interceptions, and posted one of the longest plays in Virginia history, hitting Lavel Davis on a 90-yard TD strike. Armstrong and Virginia had a big talent advantage against Abilene Christian, and the Cavalier QB was the best player on the field.
Bronco’s Winning Formula:
24+ Points?: Yes (55)
+1 Turnover Margin?: Yes (+1)
+5 Average Starting Field Position?: Yes (+5)
Keys to Victory
1) End the game early and play the backups
It took a while but Virginia finally put the game to bed on the first drive of the third quarter. It would’ve been nice to see the starters pulled at the break but UVa only had a 14-point lead in the final minute of the half before scoring on the second quarter’s final play. Still, after a couple of sluggish drives UVa’s offense controlled the game and the defense did what it needed to do.
Grade: B+
2) Create some negative plays
UVa only notched one sack and four tackles for loss while also failing to force a turnover until the final play of the game. It didn’t matter much, but the Wahoos didn’t win easily because ACU made mistakes. Instead they had to earn it with big plays on offense. The defense did do a nice job forcing some big stops on 3rd and 4th down tries, which helped get the game out of hand early. UVa didn’t do a great job in this area but it didn’t matter much.
Grade: C
