Virginia Football: Defense Shows Encouraging Signs at Illinois

The UVA defense delivered a solid performance despite the loss

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Despite losing by three touchdowns, all of Virginia's issues seemed to be concentrated on one side of the ball. Surprisingly, those problems were not with the UVA defense, which ranked 121st out of 130 FBS teams last season in total defense, but rather the Cavalier offense that mustered only a field goal in Virginia's harrowing 24-3 loss at Illinois on Saturday. 

Sure, the defense's performance was far from perfect. The Cavaliers allowed Illinois to average 4.4 yards per rush and running back Chase Brown totaled 146 yards on the ground by himself. The Illini also hurt the UVA defense with big plays on back-to-back touchdown drives in the first half to knock the Cavaliers on their heels. 

Beyond that, however, the Virginia defense was very solid. The Cavaliers surrendered only 17 points in the entire game, which, compared to some of the numbers they gave up last season, is worthy of recognition. 

It was the UVA defense that set the tone right out of the gate with Anthony Johnson leaping and intercepting Tommy DeVito's pass on the second play from scrimmage, the first of four turnovers forced by Virginia during the game after the Hoos had zero takeaways against Richmond. The UVA offense did absolutely nothing with those takeaways, but that didn't stop the Cavalier defense from continuing to come up with turnovers and stops. 

Illinois' first four offensive possessions resulted in the following outcomes:

• interception
• fumble
• three-and-out
• three-and-out

Billy Kemp's fumble on a punt return that resulted in Illinois' first touchdown of the game seemed to knock the whole team out of balance, as the Illini then scored two-straight touchdowns on very quick possessions: a 3-play, 57-yard drive that took 56 seconds followed by a 4-play, 69-yard drive that took a minute and 43 seconds. 

From there, the game could have turned into a catastrophe for the Cavaliers in all phases had the defense not straightened itself out. 

Illinois threatened to score a third-straight touchdown as the Illini put together a long 8-play, 96-yard drive that started from inside their own five-yard line. Threatening to punctuate that drive with a score, DeVito passed to Pat Bryant who looked to have a path to the goal line, but Jonas Sanker came in with a hit that jarred the ball loose into the end zone where it was recovered by Fentrell Cypress II. 

There were a few more similar drives in which Illinois drove deep into UVA territory before the Virginia defense made a stand. The Illini made four trips into the red zone but came away with just one touchdown and 10 total points on those drives. 

After giving up the back-to-back touchdowns in the middle of the first half, the UVA defense gave up just three points for the remainder of the game. 10 Illinois offensive possessions yielded only three points from early in the second quarter through the end of regulation. Virginia caused two more turnovers on a Chase Brown fumble forced by Antonio Clary and a strip sack of Tommy DeVito by Kam Butler, both in the second quarter. 

UVA also forced two more three-and-outs, quickly putting the ball back into the hands of the usually-capable Virginia offense. Illinois converted on just five of 14 third-down attempts. 

READ MORE: Six Overreactions to Virginia Football's Frustrating Loss at Illinois

There were several individual Cavalier defenders who had standout performances on Saturday. 

Sophomore safety Lex Long led Virginia in tackles with 13, eight of which were solo stops. He also had one tackle for loss and recovered the fumble forced by Antonio Clary in the second quarter. Clary had a solid day from the safety position as well, with seven solo tackles, one pass breakup, and the forced fumble. 

As always, Nick Jackson was steady at the linebacker spot, totaling nine tackles, 4 solo stops, and a sack. Chico Bennett Jr. made an impact with a sack and six tackles and Miami (Ohio) transfer Kam Butler managed to get to DeVito from the blind side on a pass rush for a strip sack. 

After starting the game with the interception on the second play, Anthony Johnson finished with a statline of six tackles, including five solo stops, one pass breakup, and the pick. Jonas Sanker rounded out the stellar play from UVA's safeties with four tackles, all of which were solo tackles, and the pivotal forced fumble with his big hit on Pat Bryant as he was crossing the goal line to score. 

There are still significant improvements to be made, but the performance of the Virginia defense on Saturday definitely gives the Cavaliers something to build on as they turn their focus to Old Dominion. For the first time in a few years, the UVA offense has to catch up to where the defense is. 

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