The Result: UVa broke away from Pitt in the second half for a 30-14 victory after trailing 14-13 at the break. The win was Virginia’s first ever in Pittsburgh and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Panthers. The Wahoos have now opened the season 1-0 in ACC play with a big divisional road win in the Steel City.

The Turning Point: A Matt Gahm interception in the quarter. UVa drove down on its first drive of the second half and took the lead on a Brian Delaney field goal, but Gahm’s pick on the ensuing Pitt drive completely took the wind out of the Panthers’ sails, and set UVa up for the touchdown that would ultimately put the Hoos up two scores, a margin they didn't lose.

The Stat That Tells the Story: UVa's average starting field position for the game was its own 42-yard line. The Wahoos owned the field position game in this one and that dominance was a big factor in the win. All three of Virginia’s touchdown drives started inside the Pitt 30-yard line.

Wahoo of the Week: It’s Joey Blount, who helped the Cavaliers pitch a second-half shutout after going into the locker down a point. Blount was a disruptive force in UVa’s second-half pressure, finishing with two sacks and seven total tackles. Blount also came up with a late interception which helped kill off any hope for a Pitt comeback.

Bronco’s Winning Formula:

24+ Points?: Yes (30)

+1 Turnover Margin?: Yes (+3)

+5 Average Starting Field Position?: Yes (+19)

1) Win the line of scrimmage.

UVa wasn’t perfect in this regard, but the halftime adjustments on both sides of the ball helped the Hoos regain their footing after a rough second quarter. After dominating them on the ground last year, Pitt rushed for just 78 yards last night. Virginia had four sacks to Pitt’s three and both teams finished with seven tackles for loss. Pittsburgh’s 2019 team features quite a few new faces on both lines but for large stretches of the game they still looked like the Panthers that we’re used to seeing. Virginia’s line didn’t create a lot of pressure on Pickett early but they also didn’t get pushed around in the run game. On offense, UVa’s running game picked up the pace after the intermission, rushing for 98 of their 129 rushing yards after half. Pitt’s physicality at the point of attack was the difference in last year’s game in Charlottesville but the Cavaliers handled their business in the trenches in this one.

Grade: B

2) Don’t leave points on the table.

After struggling to score touchdowns in the red zone last year, the Wahoos still have some work to do in this area. Virginia was 5-for-5 in the red zone, which is good, but they settled for field goals on two of those trips. And on another drive, the Cavaliers came up just short of the red zone and ended the drive with a field goal, too, while another drive ended with a missed attempt. It’s great that Delaney had a solid night kicking the ball but in order to take the offense to the next level UVa needs to be better at converting red zone trips into touchdowns. The Wahoos were near the bottom nationally in red zone touchdown percentage, and while three touchdowns on five trips isn’t terrible there were certainly some points left on the board.

Grade: C