Six Overreactions to Virginia Football's Frustrating Loss at Illinois

Overreacting to UVA's concerning 24-3 blowout loss at Illinois on Saturday

Matt Riley-Virginia Athletics

Virginia was surprisingly uncompetitive in a 24-3 loss at Illinois on Saturday. The frustrating defeat revealed more than a few potentially disastrous problems for the Cavaliers, particularly on the offensive end, while the UVA defense actually held up its end of the bargain for the most part.

After suffering such a comprehensive loss, it can be tempting to make drastic conclusions about the outlook of the entire season. But with just two games in the books, those observations should be taken with a grain of salt. With that said, we're going to go ahead and run through our six overreactions to Virginia's disappointing defeat at Illinois:

1. Virginia's offensive line problem is borderline catastrophic

There was some hope coming into the season that Garett Tujague and the Cavaliers would be able to build a serviceable wall in front of Brennan Armstrong despite losing their entire starting offensive line from last season. Their outing against Richmond in week one was decent, but against the Fighting Illini on Saturday, the UVA offensive line was little more than a turnstile between Armstrong and the Illinois pass rush. The entire Virginia offense was a shell of its former self from last season, but the offensive line was the crux of the issue. Armstrong had essentially no time to survey his targets and it seemed to throw off his game. He missed some open targets and was not in sync with his favorite receiver Dontayvion Wicks - we'll talk more on the UVA receivers later. 

An Illinois pass rush that had just one sack through its first two games of the season, including zero sacks in a 38-6 blowout against Wyoming, managed to get to Brennan Armstrong consistently, sacking the Virginia quarterback five times on Saturday and hurrying him another six times. Illinois didn't even need to blitz in order to get quick and effective pressure on Armstrong. The Illini were bringing four and sometimes three pass rushers and were still getting through the line in short order. UVA also managed only 42 rushing yards on 29 attempts, another consequence of the Cavaliers failing to compete on the line of scrimmage. 

There's hope that when Jonathan Leech returns from injury - and with the rest of the linemen getting more experience every game - the performance of the O-Line will improve. But, the more likely outcome is that the Cavaliers will continue to struggle unless they make strategic adjustments to account for the pressure opposing defenses will inevitably put on Armstrong in the pocket.

2. UVA's lack of coaching adjustments was concerning

Perhaps even more disturbing than the performance of the UVA offensive line was the lack of adjustments made by the coaching staff, especially coming out of halftime. Despite a horrendous first half, Virginia remained within striking distance for most of the game thanks to a solid effort by the UVA defense to yield just three points after halftime. With the margin at 21 points, the Cavaliers were just a few plays away from making a game out of it. The Virginia offense of 2021 could score three touchdowns in the blink of an eye. 

It was obvious by halftime that whatever game plan UVA had implemented for this game wasn't working and changes needed to be made. Puzzlingly, however, Tony Elliott and Des Kitchings didn't seem to make any of those changes. Virginia continued to run the ball on first and second down even when it had become clear that the ground game was not going to be productive. Too many possessions were wasted on three-and-outs that featured two ineffective rushing plays followed by a failed passing attempt on third and long. With the pressure Illinois was getting in the backfield, Virginia simply didn't have the time to execute long passing plays. 

There were glimpses of effective plays, such as when Brennan Armstrong rolled out to his left and found Lavel Davis Jr. for a 62-yard completion. The Cavaliers also had some success running an option play to let Armstrong use his legs. Any play that moved the line of scrimmage or got Armstrong out of the pocket was much more successful than the traditional pocket passes or the between-the-tackles rushing attempts that were getting blown up by the Illinois defense. Virginia did not nearly enough of the former and way too much of the latter. 

3. Virginia's hopes to have a balanced offense might be a pipe dream

Judging from Saturday's game, it might just be the case that it isn't possible for Virginia to have the "balanced offense" preached by the UVA coaching staff this season. It's not necessarily a running back problem - Virginia has some quality backs in Perris Jones and Mike Hollins and true freshman Xavier Brown, who got four touches during the game. A running game has more to do with the offensive line than it does with the player carrying the ball and Virginia (most likely) simply does not have the horses up front to execute an effective ground attack. 

Virginia's new coaching staff wanted a more efficient offense than last season's, an offense that could run or pass the ball depending on the game situation. That is a nice thought, but the 2021 UVA air raid offense racked up crazy numbers and won six games - likely would have won more if the Virginia defense hadn't played so poorly. That level of production would be vastly preferred over what we saw on Saturday. Virginia's strength is in its passing game and the Cavaliers would be wise to lean on it, especially when they find themselves trailing by multiple scores. UVA's ill-advised commitment to the run game stalled the offense. 

4. UVA's vaunted receiving corps was locked up by the Illinois secondary

Brennan Armstrong and the UVA receivers are extremely talented - there is no arguing that. But the offensive scheme and play-calling had just as much to do with Virginia's passing production in 2021. Sure, there were plenty of plays in which Armstrong expertly placed balls in tight windows and UVA's receivers made tough contested catches. However, there were also a ton of plays that were pitch-and-catch completions between Armstrong and a wide open receiver as the result of a well-designed play. 

Compare that to Saturday's game, where Virginia's receivers couldn't get separation from their defenders and Armstrong was way off his game. The Illini secondary played well, but this was the same Illinois pass defense that gave up 330 passing yards to Indiana last week, including multiple receivers with 100 yards. Part of the solution is better play design. Armstrong does not have the time to let his receivers run long-developing routes down the field. The Cavaliers need plays that quickly get the ball out of Armstrong's hands and into the hands of the receivers so that they can make plays: quick comeback routes to Dontayvion Wicks and Lavel Davis Jr. on the boundaries, slants and underneath crossing routes to Billy Kemp IV and Keytaon Thompson. With his pocket collapsing instantly on virtually every play, Armstrong either needs to get rid of the ball right away, or roll out of the pocket and make throws on the run. 

5. Inexcusable errors and sloppy plays dug the Cavaliers into a deep hole

Illinois played well on Saturday and earned the win, but the Cavaliers shot themselves in the foot on several occasions. In an attempt to field a punt from his own ten-yard line, Billy Kemp was hit and fumbled the ball into the end zone and the Illini recovered it for their first touchdown of the game. Kemp stumbled a few moments before he caught the ball and he should have called for a fair catch as soon as that happened. Instead, Illinois was handed six points early in the game. 

At another point, Virginia came up with a key takeaway, as Jonas Sanker hit Pat Bryant as he was crossing the goal line and jarred the ball loose . Fentrell Cypress II scooped up the ball in the end zone and, rather than taking a knee for a touchback, unwisely tried to take it out of the end zone despite having little chance of getting it past the 20-yard line. Late in the game, Armstrong quickly had a few pass rushers in his face and lofted a pass high into the air, hoping that someone in a white jersey would come up with it. Instead, it was easily intercepted. These are veteran players making boneheaded decisions that could have easily cost the Cavaliers the game had it been a closer affair. Mistakes like this should be easily addressed in practice, but candidly, they should have been addressed in fall camp before they ever happened in a game.

6. The performance of the Virginia defense evokes cautious optimism

The one and only bright spot of the game for Virginia was the play of the defense. The Cavaliers had two bad drives late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter which resulted in Illinois' only two offensive touchdowns of the game. Other than that, the defense played fairly well. UVA's defense gave up only 17 points, adjusting for the punt fumble TD, and 17 points allowed would have won a lot of games for the Cavaliers last year. Illinois had a few drives that could have easily ended in touchdowns, but Virginia stood tall and held the Illini to field goals, two of which were missed. 

Most importantly, the Cavaliers came up with four takeaways on three forced fumbles and an interception. Normally, you'd expect an offense to take advantage and score 10-14 points off of those turnovers. Instead, the UVA offense managed only three points. There's room for improvement still with the run defense, as Chase Brown rushed for 146 yards and Illinois averaged 4.4 yards per carry, but UVA's tackling was pretty solid. Virginia made enough plays on the defensive end to give the offense a chance to comeback. 

So, if the offense can return to form and reestablish its deadly passing attack - which of course will necessitate UVA mitigating its permeable offensive line - the defense could potentially be effective enough for Virginia to have a successful season. But the improvements have to come quickly. 

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