Virginia Football: 8 Observations From UVA's Season-Opening Win

What we learned about the Cavaliers as they opened the Tony Elliott era with a victory over the Spiders

Observations from Virginia's season-opening win over Richmond on Saturday :: Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The Tony Elliott era of Virginia football officially began with a 34-17 victory over Richmond on Saturday. It was far from a convincing win, as some sloppy play in all phases led to the Cavaliers fielding a less-than-inspiring second half performance in which they were outscored 7-6. 

But a win is a win. And especially with a first-time head coach leading the way, winning the game cannot be taken for granted. Tony Elliott getting a victory in his head coaching debut was paramount and the Hoos got that job done. 

With the first 60 minutes of Cavalier football in 2022 in the books, let's take a look at what we learned about the team from the season-opening win. 

1. Perris Jones is RB1 for a reason

If anyone was wondering how former walk-on Perris Jones earned the starting running back job, those curiosities were satisfied with his performance on Saturday. On 19 carries, Jones rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown and also caught a touchdown pass out of the back field. Jones displayed excellent vision, finding the holes when they were available, and ran with aggression even when the holes weren't there. He was also solid in pass protection, showing that he could be a three-down back. 

Jones is the first UVA running back to rush for 100 yards in a game since Jordan Ellis in the 2018 Belk Bowl. Virginia's rushing attack was effective, albeit against subpar competition, and the Cavaliers put up 259 yards on the ground, the most since they had 262 rushing yards against Boston College in December 2020. It remains to be seen how capable UVA's running game will be as the competition gets better and how committed the Cavaliers will be to the ground game as the season goes on. 

2. The offensive line was good, not great

The UVA running game will go as far as the offensive line will take it this season. It's unwise to make grand conclusions off of one game against an FCS opponent, but the state of the offensive line doesn't seem nearly as bad as some naysayers were indicating this offseason. The O-Line facilitated some effective running plays and kept Brennan Armstrong clean for the most part. Armstrong was sacked one time and hurried twice, but the Cavaliers seemed to prioritize quick passing strikes and Armstrong scrambled quite a bit. With a new starting five on the O-Line, chemistry and timing were a concern, but it certainly didn't seem to be a major issue. UVA offensive linemen were called for four penalties in the game. 

3. Some solid contributions from first years

The biggest question mark on the offensive line was McKale Boley, who became the first true freshman to start at tackle at Virginia since D'Brickashaw Ferguson in 2002. It's never ideal to have a freshman starting on the offensive line, but Jonathan Leech is hurt and Boley earned the spot in fall camp. Boley held up his end for the most part. He was flagged for one penalty, a holding call on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Other than that, we didn't really notice he was there, which is exactly what you want from your offensive line.

The other true freshman to get playing time was running back Xavier Brown, who got four carries at the very end of the game. Brown rushed for 25 yards, including a 12-yard run where he showed a really nice burst of speed. As the running back competition continues to shake out this season, it is notable that the third running back to get an opportunity for live playing experience - behind Perris Jones and Mike Hollins - was Xavier Brown. Miami transfer Cody Brown did not participate in warm-ups before the game. 

4. Grading the defense

On the other side of the ball, this marked the first opportunity for the UVA defense to show improvement from last season's catastrophe. Virginia's performance in the first game was a mixed bag. The tackling was decent - at least marginally improved over last season. There were some issues with the run defense, as Richmond's running backs had several carries where they didn't meet a tackler until they were already five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Tony Elliott said he was expecting more from his defensive line, one of the deepest units on the roster after the additions of four transfers this offseason. 

Virginia was not really tested from a big play standpoint, so it remains to be seen how they will fare in that area as the season progresses. UVA seemed content to let Richmond throw check-down passes and the Spiders were able to effectively move down the field that way in the first half. Virginia was much better defensively in the second half, as Richmond's only points came after a UVA fumble gave the Spiders a short field. The Cavaliers made a couple of big fourth-down stops that halted drives that likely would have ended in points for Richmond.

5. Josh Ahern impresses in the second half

One of those big defensive stops came courtesy of junior linebacker Josh Ahern, who missed the first half of the game due to a targeting penalty against him in the Virginia Tech game last season. When Ahern returned to the field, he made an immediate impact, finishing with five total tackles, including four solo stops, and a sack. Ahern intercepted Richmond quarterback Reece Udinski, but the takeaway was wiped away due to an illegal substitution penalty. 

Most notably, Ahern was the driving force behind a big defensive stand at the end of the third quarter. With Virginia holding a 28-17 lead and Richmond threatening to score to cut it to a one-possession game, Ahern made back-to-back tackles on third and fourth down, stopping running back Aaron Dykes for no gain both times to end Richmond's drive. The UVA defense had a different intensity level with Ahern on the field in the second half.

6. Sloppiness in all three phases

Maybe it should have been expected in a season-opener with a new coaching staff, but the sloppiness of the Cavaliers was still disappointing to see. Even the Virginia offense, with all its returning veterans, had a few costly miscues. Dontayvion Wicks fumbled the ball early in the third quarter, leading to a Richmond touchdown. On UVA's next drive, Brennan Armstrong was hit as the threw and had his pass intercepted, giving the Spiders another short field to work with. Dartmouth transfer John Paul Flores, one of the few offensive linemen on the roster with significant starting experience, was penalized three times - one holding penalty, one false start, and one personal foul for getting his hands up into the face of a Richmond pass rusher. On defense, Josh Ahern's interception was called back due to an illegal substitution penalty and UVA was called for another illegal substitution a few plays later. These issues should work themselves out with more reps, especially the substitution penalties, but the turnovers will prove more and more costly as the season goes on. 

7. Lavel Davis Jr. is back

The first touchdown of the UVA football season also announced the return of Lavel Davis Jr., who missed the entirety of the 2021 season with a torn ACL. After exploding onto the scene as a true freshman in 2020, Davis was quick to remind everyone of his big-play potential on his first reception in the first quarter, taking it 56-yards for a touchdown. In his nine-game career, Davis now has 24 receptions for 604 yards and six touchdowns. Of those 24 catches, 12 of them have gone for at least 20 yards. 

By last season's standards, this was a timid performance for the UVA passing game with only 246 passing yards. Virginia had only one game last season with less passing yards - the 196 yard passing game against Notre Dame when Brennan Armstrong was out. Part of that can be attributed to UVA running the ball more and getting adjusted to a new offensive system, but UVA's wide receivers were less productive than usual and there were a couple of drops by the usually sure-handed Lavel Davis Jr. and Dontayvion Wicks. 

8. There's work to do

"So there's gonna be a lot to clean up, but I think the guys having a chance to see themselves being successful in situations is just going to help us going forward," Tony Elliott said in his postgame press conference. Coordinators Des Kitchings and John Rudzinski and the UVA players echoed that sentiment in their postgame comments as well. Every football season is a race to improve and there is certainly a great deal for the Cavaliers to work on moving forward, but it is good to see that they have identified those areas and are hungry to make the adjustments right away. 

With a challenging road game against a capable Illinois team on the horizon, those changes need to come sooner rather than later for the UVA football team.

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