UVa finds its rhythm right away in impressive rout of Illinois
Brennan Armstrong was in a little bit better mood when he joined reporters in the postgame media room at Scott Stadium this weekend compared to last.
Virginia’s quarterback had just thrown for 405 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Hoos past Illinois 42-14. It was Armstrong’s second straight 300-yard passing game—making him the first QB in program history to open a season with consecutive 300-yard performances—and the Wahoos as an offense had posted more than 500 total yards for the second straight game.
But after last Saturday’s 43-0 season-opening victory against William & Mary, Armstrong had lamented the offense’s inability to either get off to a fast start or find a rhythm until late in that game. Against the Illini, UVa was able to do both.
The Cavaliers got out of bed early, jumping out to a two-score lead about five minutes into Saturday’s 11 a.m. kickoff. They ran eight plays on those first two possessions. Six of them went for first downs, including a 32-yard touchdown pass from Armstrong to Jelani Woods on the opening drive, then a 28-yarder to Dontayvion Wicks to cap UVa’s second possession.
As an upbeat Armstrong recounted afterward, “Two touchdowns right off the rip.”
By the end of the first quarter, Armstrong had completed seven passes to five different receivers for 171 yards and those two scores. Five of those seven completions went for at least 20 yards. With the defense holding the Illini without a 1st down until their third possession, the Wahoos were able to outgain them 210-33 in that first frame.
“Creating a fast start just allows us to put the defense in a disadvantage,” said Woods. “It really just helps us as an offense because we can just do what we want to pretty much.”
The Hoos were also able to get Woods involved in the offense immediately, a week after the tight end made just one catch for 5 yards on two targets in his UVa debut against the Tribe. He broke free for a 31-yard catch-and-run on the first play from scrimmage on Saturday. He finished the day with five catches for 122.
With Woods listed at 6-foot-7 and 265 pounds, “There really isn’t a good matchup if you’re thinking about man-to-man,” coach Bronco Mendenhall said afterward.
“If you choose to put a linebacker on him, most likely he’s not as fast. And there aren’t many linebackers that are over 6-7,” Mendenhall elaborated. “And then if you choose the secondary route, there’s not many secondary players that are 6-7. And they might be fast but they probably don’t weigh 250.”
UVa was able to exploit those one-on-one matchups with Woods in man coverage on Saturday and as Armstrong said, “you saw what happened.”
"He went for over 100 and a touchdown,” the quarterback continued. “Doesn’t get tackled by the first guy. That’s another big thing for him. We didn’t see much from him the first game but yeah, the fans and everyone got to finally see how he should perform.”
Woods finished the day with three catches of at least 20 yards. As a team, Virginia had nine plays of 20-plus yards, all through the passing game. Wicks and fellow receivers Keytaon Thompson and Ra’Shaun Henry had two apiece.
A week after nine different players caught passes, the Hoos had 10 different receivers log catches against Illinois—including Armstrong, who pulled in an 18-yard reception from Wicks on a touchdown drive in the third quarter. Woods and Thompson finished with five catches apiece; Billy Kemp had a team-best six for 55 yards and a score. Wicks had his first career two-TD game.
“It’s hard to narrow down on four different or five different threats,” Mendenhall said, “and with a quarterback that’s making good decisions and fast decisions and throwing accurately, then that’s leading to points.”
All of that added up to a career day for Armstrong. With 405 passing yards, he joined Kurt Benkert (who did it twice) and Marc Verica as the only quarterbacks in program history to break 400 passing yards in a game. He was the first UVa QB since Benkert against Central Michigan in 2016 to throw five touchdowns in a game. On 27-of-36 passing, Armstrong set new career highs for both completions in a game and completion percentage as a starter (75 percent).
After his fourth TD pass of the day, a 4 yarder to Kemp midway through the third quarter, Armstrong limped straight to the medical tent on the UVa sideline for a visit that extended through the defense’s next series. He emerged with a brace on his right knee but didn’t miss a snap, though he did return to the tent briefly in the fourth quarter and also spent some time on the stationary bike on the sideline to stay loose.
Armstrong didn’t offer details in postgame, only saying he’d be fine. Mendenhall said it didn’t appear the injury affected his quarterback.
“He’s unmatched in terms of how competitive, how tough, and his determination,” the head coach said.
Led by Armstrong’s performance, UVa’s 556 total yards surpassed the 545 they posted a week ago against William & Mary. It’s the second time since Mendenhall and his staff arrived for the 2016 season that the Wahoos have had back-to-back games of at least 500 yards of total offense—and with that other mini-streak coming against Abilene Christian (518) and Boston College (549) late last season, UVa has now surpassed that mark in each of their last four home games.
“You’ve got to make plays when we’re in man coverage, and we did,” Armstrong said. "We could have made more but yeah, that’s what you need to do when they have a six-man box, a seven-man box. You’ve got to make those plays outside.”
Armstrong still wasn’t completely satisfied with the offense’s performance on Saturday. The offense stalled out on a pair of first-half drives that ended with missed field goal attempts by Justin Duenkel.
“It’s our job to convert so we don’t have to kick field goals,” said the quarterback. “We want to score touchdowns.”
UVa also turned the ball over twice in the second half, once on a Wayne Taulapapa fumble and then on an interception at the 1-yard line when defensive back Kerby Joseph wrestled the ball away from Thompson on a pass that Armstrong said was a little behind his receiver.
“We just have to clean things up. The little things,” said Thompson, who also scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter. “We started out fast, we put an emphasis on that this week, but after those first two drives we started to sputter a little bit. So if we can clean that up then I think we can be one of the most explosive offenses in the country.”
“We were moving the ball all day. Just touchdowns,” agreed Armstrong. “We just need more. We just need more touchdowns. That’s more fun. We have stuff to improve on.”
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