UVA Football Report Card: Handing Out Grades for Virginia vs. Clemson

Matt Newton | Oct 20, 2024

Alexander Hicks-Imagn Images

In Tony Elliott's return to Clemson, Virginia suffered a 48-31 defeat to the tenth-ranked Tigers on Saturday afternoon, falling to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in ACC play. As we break down what we saw from the Hoos in their loss at Clemson and what it means moving forward, let's hand out some report card grades for various players, position groups, and other categories to help evaluate Virginia's performance in week 8.

One administrative note before we begin: we're not going to go overboard on downgrading UVA's performance on Saturday. Despite the Cavaliers taking a 10-3 lead in the second quarter, there really wasn't a chance that they were going to walk away from Death Valley with a win. These programs just aren't close to being on the same level right now and that's okay. So, we're going to give the Hoos some slack when it comes to their performance against a Tigers squad that is rolling right now. We'll call it a grading curve.

Offense

Anthony Colandrea: B-
The good? Colandrea threw zero interceptions for the fourth-straight game and threw a pair of touchdown passes, cashing in on Kam Robinson's pick with the touchdown to Dakota Twitty and connecting with Malachi Fields on a nice deep ball early in the fourth quarter. The bad? Colandrea completed less than 58% of his passes, threw for just 159 passing yards (second-fewest of the season), was sacked four times (which we consider a quarterback stat in addition to being an offensive line stat), and lost a fumble which led to the Tigers taking their biggest lead of the game. Clemson was probably the toughest defense Colandrea has faced in his career thus far, and while it wasn't a terrible game by any means, it wasn't close to his best either.

Tony Muskett: A
We are not at all insinuating that Muskett would have played better than Colandrea, but he deserves props for executing at a very high level late in the game, albeit against a Clemson defense primarily made up of backups at that point. Entering the game with less than five minutes to go, Muskett led the Cavaliers on two touchdown drives, triggering an entertaining end-game storyline where it seemed Tony Elliott and Dabo Swinney became fiercely competitive about covering the spread (more on that later). Muskett completed six of his seven passing attempts for 119 yards and two touchdowns, including a wide-open pass to Ethan Davies for a 65-yard catch and run. Colandrea's job is secure, but Muskett being ready to go at a moment's notice is a good thing for Virginia.

Five Takeaways From Virginia Football's 48-31 Loss to Clemson

Passing/Receiving Game: C
Muskett's productivity against the Clemson second and third teamers in the last few minutes of the game inflated the stats, but Virginia's receivers struggled to get separation throughout the game, even on short routes, and Colandrea faced consistent pressure from Clemson's pass rush so long-developing deep routes weren't really an option. 12 different UVA players caught a pass, but there were no standout performances. Malachi Fields led the way with 65 yards on three receptions, with 44 of those yards coming on a single catch, and Chris Tyree had four receptions for 23 yards. Dakota Twitty's touchdown catch in the second quarter and the long strike to Fields were bright spots in an otherwise mediocre day for the UVA passing game.

Ground Game: D
The games against Richmond (200 rushing yards) and Coastal Carolina (384 rushing yards) seem to be a blip in what is likely turning out to be another tough season for Virginia's ground attack. I don't think anyone expected the Cavaliers to be able to run the ball consistently against Clemson's formidable front seven, and that was proven to be the case right away as UVA ran the ball on three-straight plays for seven, zero, and two yards on its first possession of the game. Virginia posted a season-low 68 rushing yards on 29 attempts, averaging just 2.3 yards per carry.

Overall Offense: C+

Defense

Run Defense: C
Clemson racked up 194 rushing yards, scored three rushing touchdowns, averaged 5.1 yards per carry and each of the five Tigers who got touches in the ground game averaged at least 4.3 yards per rush. Phil Mafah led the way with 78 yards on 18 carries. The UVA defense held up pretty well in the first half, holding Clemson to 55 yards on the ground. But as the Tigers seized control of time of possession, the Cavaliers wore down and Clemson began to have more success running the football.

Third Down Defense: D
Speaking of time of possession, the Cavaliers struggled to get off the field on third down, as the Tigers converted 9/15 third downs (60%) and 2/2 fourth downs. Virginia was 5/13 on third downs by contrast. Those were the plays where the game was won/lost.

Pass Defense: C
Most of Clemson's success on third downs came from passing the ball in short and medium yardage situations. The Tigers passed 10 times on third down, completing nine of those passes for 114 yards. UVA gave up 345 yards through the air and, though Kam Robinson's interception was a big moment to help Virginia hang around in the first half, Cade Klubnik otherwise carved up the Cavaliers for 308 passing yards and three touchdowns. Klubnik also operated with a clean pocket, as Virginia failed to record a sack and hurried Klubnik only three times. Clemson had seven passing plays of more than 20 yards and four passing plays of more than 30 yards.

Overall Defense: C

Special Teams: A
After a major special teams miscue arguably cost Virginia the game against Louisville in week 7, the Cavaliers played fairly clean special teams at Clemson. Daniel Sparks punted six times, averaging 45.3 yards per punt and booting four punts of more than 50 yards. Will Bettridge hit his only field goal, a 20-yard chip shot in the first quarter. Virginia had no significant returns, but allowed no big returns by Clemson either. Special teams were not a contributing factor in the loss and that means the Hoos get an A in that category.

Extra Credit: Covering the Spread
Good teams win, great teams cover. After Tony Muskett hit Sackett Wood for a eight-yard touchdown with two minutes to go, Dabo Swinney reinserted his starting quarterback Cade Klubnik, who threw a 34-yard touchdown to T.J. Moore to push the Clemson lead to 48-25, covering the 20.5-point spread. Muskett then found a wide-open Ethan Davies for a 65-yard touchdown, giving us the final score of 48-31 with the Cavaliers covering the spread. I don't think Tony Elliott or Dabo Swinney cared about the specific point spread, but it did seem as if these two old friends cared quite a bit about what the final score looked like in a game that was decided well before the final moments of the fourth quarter.

More Virginia Football News

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Five Takeaways From Virginia Football's 48-31 Loss to Clemson

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