UVA Football: Five Takeaways From Virginia's 24-20 Loss to Louisville

Matt Newton | 1 Hour Ago

Oct 12, 2024; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Cavaliers running back Xavier Brown (0) carries the ball to score a touchdown against the Louisville Cardinals during the second half at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images / Amber Searls-Imagn Images

Virginia had a chance to win the game on a two-minute drive at the end of the fourth quarter, but turned the ball over on downs as Louisville handed the Cavaliers their first conference loss of the season by a score of 24-20 on Saturday evening at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Here are our five takeaways from the game and what it all means for the rest of the UVA football season:

Malachi Fields continues to prove himself as an NFL-caliber wide receiver

Missing their two other starting wide receivers (Trell Harris and Chris Tyree) for the second week in a row, the Cavaliers had no other choice but to lean heavily on Malachi Fields, who once again proved to be an NFL-caliber pass-catcher despite having the bulk of the attention of the Louisville defense focused on him. Fields caught nine passes for 129 yards on 17 targets, routinely making himself an open target for Anthony Colandrea despite the Cardinals knowing the ball was likely coming his way. Fields is up to 541 receiving yards on the season and is averaging 82.4 yards per game. When Virginia gets Trell Harris and Chris Tyree back from their respective injuries, Fields should have more room to operate that should be mean great things for the UVA passing offense.

A defense that bends, but doesn't break

We're purposefully starting with some of the things that we liked before we get to the more negative takeaways from this loss. Yes, the UVA defense failed to get the critical stop on Louisville's go-ahead touchdown and couldn't prevent the Cardinals from ending the game with a first down. But it's also true that, like the Boston College game, the Cavaliers' defense kept them in the game when things weren't clicking for the offense. Virginia held Louisville to 3/10 on third downs and 0/1 on fourth downs. The Cardinals were able to get their run game going and hit on a couple of passing big plays, but the defense made key stops, held Louisville to a season-low 24 points, and gave UVA a chance to win this game.

The red zone continues to be a place of nightmares for the UVA offense

Sigh. We talked about it all week after the Boston College game as a pivotal key for the Cavaliers to improve going into the Louisville game. Now, we must update UVA's red zone efficiency stats for the season: Virginia has gone to the red zone 27 times this season and has scored touchdowns on only 10 of those trips. On Saturday against Louisville, UVA went to the red zone four times and scored 13 total points on those trips, finding the end zone only once. The one empty trip was the worst, as the Cavaliers turned down an easy chip shot field goal from the three-yard line that would have given them a halftime lead and would have, with 20/20 hindsight, resulted in Virginia only needing a field goal at the end of the game to win rather than a touchdown. At times, the Cavalier offense shows shades of brilliance, in particular with big plays like the Xavier Brown 46-yard catch and run, but once the ball reaches the opponent's 20-yard line, things just seem to get 10x more difficult for Des Kitchings' offense. That has to change if Virginia is going to find two more wins in the remaining six games.

Special teams relapse

We've applauded the Virginia special teams unit for its relatively clean play through the first five games this season. There hadn't been any catastrophic miscues that resulted in the drastic momentum swings that were the bane of the Cavaliers' existence in their many one-score losses last season. Then came a major relapse on Saturday. Daniel Sparks got away with a low line drive punt earlier in the game and then tried it again in the third quarter, sending a rugby-style punt directly into a player a few yards in front of him. The punt wound up going backwards to the UVA 14-yard line and the Cardinals scored a touchdown on the next play. In a game that was ultimately decided by four points, that's a miscue that simply cannot happen.

It wasn't the only special teams error, as Jonas Sanker also returned a punt from deep in his own end zone and was tackled well short of the 20-yard line. It's still a safe bet that Virginia's special teams are much better than they were last year, but entirely eliminating the kind of game-changing plays like the Sparks punt, which was effectively a blocked punt, needs to remain the top priority.

Freshmen playmakers

Let's end on a positive note. With Trell Harris and Chris Tyree down, Virginia needed someone other than Malachi Fields (or Tyler Neville) to step up in the receiving game. Enter Kam Courtney, a true freshman who has been playing significant snaps since the injury to Suderian Harrison and who has started the last two games with Tyree out. Courtney has started making some plays and Saturday was something of a breakout game for him, as he hauled in five passes for 42 yards, including a 27-yard catch on the drive that ended with Xavier Brown's touchdown and back-to-back eight-yard receptions on UVA's last offensive possession of the game.

The play of the game for Virginia on the defensive end was true freshman Ethan Minter's leaping interception in the fourth quarter. Had the Cavaliers gone on to win the game, that pick might have been the play of the game for Virginia. Minter played quarterback in high school, converted to a defensive back when he arrived at UVA, and played big snaps at safety on Saturday with Antonio Clary out, none bigger than his incredible interception. The future is bright for Ethan Minter and Kam Courtney.

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