Take Two: Revisiting UVa's improbable comeback at Louisville

The Result: Virginia rallied from a three-score deficit in the fourth quarter for a dramatic road win, taking down Louisville 34-33 in the final minute. The win moves UVa to 4-2 overall and 2-2 on the season, and marked the first time in a decade that UVa won back-to-back ACC road games.

The Turning Point: There were a ton of turning points in the second half of Saturday’s game, but perhaps the biggest was Darrius Bratton’s crucial downfield tackle on what looked like a touchdown run for Cards running back Hassan Hall. Instead, Bratton brought the running back down after a 53 yard gain in the open field, stopping him at the UVa 27. The Virginia defense held Louisville to a field goal, keeping the offense in the game, down by six. UVa would go on to score the game-winning touchdown in the final minute, but if Bratton misses that tackle, the Cards hold on.

The Stat That Tells the Story: Without Dontayvion Wicks for most of the game and already without Lavel Davis, UVa had three receivers catch nine passes each, combining for 375 yards and one touchdown in the win.

Wahoo of the Week: This was a tough one, but how about Keytaon Thompson, who finished with nine receptions for 132 yards and a rushing touchdown, including two big fourth down catches on the game winning drive. All this, while still wearing a brace on his left hand.

Bronco’s Winning Formula:

24+ Points? YES (34)

+1 Turnover Margin? NO (-1)

+5 Average Starting Field Position? NO (-6)

1. Make Cunningham one dimensional

Virginia’s defense had their fair share of struggles on Saturday, but they actually did a good job slowing down Malik Cunningham on the ground. In fact, Louisville didn’t even try to get Cunningham going after getting stuffed on a few early attempts. The Cardinals QB finished the game with 38 rushing yards on six attempts, and for the first time this year Cunningham didn’t score a rushing touchdown, after having two in each of his first five games of the season. Louisville didn’t really seem interested in running their QB much, but UVa’s defense did a decent job keeping Cunningham from getting loose on all but one of his rush attempts.

Grade: A

2. Finish off drives on offense

UVa struggled to finish drives in the end zone in the first half, but luckily were able to flip that around in the fourth quarter. Virginia took five drives into Cardinals territory in the first half. The Cavaliers scored a touchdown on their opening drive, but managed just six points on their next four that crossed the 50 yard line. The Hoos led at the half, but perhaps they wouldn’t have had to make such a heroic comeback if they had simply scored a few more points in the first half. Especially considering that both of their first-half drives ended in field goals wrapped up inside the ten yard line (once at the 4, and again at the 7). Virginia did find the end zone when they had no margin for error late, however, so it’s difficult to be too tough on the Hoos in this category.

Grade: B-

Offense: Another roller coaster performance for the Virginia offense that was mostly positive.

Let’s start with the good. Brennan Armstrong once again carried the Cavaliers with his arm, throwing for 487 yards and three touchdowns, completing 40 of 60 pass attempts. We mentioned the performance of UVa’s wide receivers, but it’s worth another look. With Wicks going down on the first drive, Armstrong leaned on Ra’Shaun Henry to make big plays down the field, and the senior wideout had his best game as a Cavalier. Henry finished with nine catches for a game-high 179 yards. We profiled Thompson already, and the former quarterback was not only productive, but came up with some big catches in the clutch, including a few absolutely critical grabs on the final drive. Billy Kemp was steady and reliable, catching nine passes for 64 yards, and scoring his fourth touchdown of the season. Malachi Fields (3 receptions for 60 yards) had a big 51-yard reception, and saw plenty of action with Wicks out. Finally, Grant Misch, a seldom-targeted player in UVa’s passing game, came up with the game-winning touchdown grab in the game’s final seconds.

UVa was also really solid on third down, going 9-for-19, and Armstrong converted 4th and 6 and 4th and 8, both to Thompson, on the game-winning drive. UVa went 6-for-6 in the red zone, and did a good job controlling the game with long, sustained drives. In the first half, UVa had the ball for more than 17 minutes, keeping their defense off the field.

There were several improvement areas, however. We already mentioned the two drives in the first half that went inside the 10 but not into the end zone. Armstrong also had two really costly interceptions in the 3rd quarter, which set up 10 Louisville points in a quarter the Cardinals won 20-0. The biggest problem UVa faced on offense was up front, where they weren’t able to replicate their excellent effort at Miami last week. There was no running game to speak of really, with the Hoos finishing with 66 rush yards after removing the negative yards from sacks. UVa’s offensive line wasn’t able to create much of a push, and the Hoos allowed 11 tackles for loss and a whopping five sacks. UVa didn’t find the balance they had last week, but luckily Armstrong was able to torch a struggling pass defense and that was enough.

Still, UVa reached the 30+ point plateau for the fifth time in six games this season, and they made big play after big play down the stretch when they needed them. Despite an imperfect effort, UVa’s offense once again did enough to win the game.

Grade: B

Defense: The defense had a really solid first half, and overall, wasn't as bad as the scoreboard probably indicates.

The Cardinals struck up the band on the first play of the game, hitting a 92-yard touchdown off of play-action. That was an ominous start, but for the remainder of the first half, UVa’s defense did a pretty decent job. They allowed just 157 yards and three points over the remainder of the half, and the Cards rushed for just 45 yards on 13 attempts. UVa also finished the first half plus-1 in the turnover margin, with Coen King ripping the ball out from a Louisville receiver and recovering the fumble.

One common trend in UVa’s performances this season is that the opponents have seemingly made good halftime adjustments, and the defense has struggled to get stops. Even against Illinois, the Hoos gave up a touchdown to start the second half. UNC scored 35 points after halftime, and both Miami and Wake moved the ball and scored after intermission. Louisville absolutely dominated the third quarter, starting with a long rushing touchdown to take the lead. The Cards’ big halftime adjustment was going run heavy, rushing 13 times in the third quarter with just three pass attempts. UVa gave up 20 points in the frame, but in fairness, 10 of those points came directly off interceptions that set up Louisville with great field position.

In the fourth quarter, UVa’s defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs when they really needed them. We already mentioned the Bratton tackle that kept the Cardinals out of the end zone late, and UVa was able to stuff the run on the next three plays and force a field goal. Louisville nearly gained enough yards in the final seconds to win the game but the defense didn’t allow any of Louisville’s plays to go for more than 17 yards, and that was enough.

Louisville’s offense has been quite good this year, and they are fueled by big plays, both on the ground and through the air. The Cardinals had 13 “big” plays in the game, including two of their three touchdowns on the day. Those big plays were costly, but UVa’s defense did a decent job keeping the Cards from hitting too many home runs. And holding Louisville to four field goals and three touchdowns proved to be enough to win the game.

It’s also worth noting that UVa again struggled to create pressure with no sacks on the day.

Still plenty to work on, but the defense was serviceable for most of the game, with the exception of the third quarter.

Grade: C

Special Teams: It was a strange day for UVa’s special teams.

Brendan Farrell was again solid in the kicking game, with his lone miss coming on a 55-yard attempt at the end of the first half. Jacob Finn punted four times, averaging 38.8 per attempt, but one of his punts was just 31 yards and set Louisville up at the Virginia 36-yard line. We’ll chalk that one up as an outlier, based on what we’ve seen.

Kemp did his job in the punt return game, with no real issues to speak of. The real issues for UVa came on kick return. The opening kick of the game was returned just eight yards by Perris Jones, though the bad field position didn’t really cost UVa anything as they scored a touchdown despite starting at their own 15. On the next kickoff, Mike Hollins called for fair catch and then recovered his own fumble at the UVa 2-yard line, where the play was blown dead. That was an uncharacteristic error, and luckily, UVa’s offense was able to flip the field with a decent drive. UVa did replace Hollins with Kemp on the next kickoff, however.

The only other takeaway for special teams is that for the second straight week, opponents missed a potential game-winning field goal as time expired. So whatever UVa is doing at the snap with their “field goal defense,” they should keep it up.

Grade: C