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

Matt Newton | 2 Hours Ago

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Virginia suffered a lopsided, but expected 35-14 loss to No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend. As we break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their loss to the Irish on Saturday, let's hand out some report card grades for various players, position groups, and other categories to help evaluate Virginia's performance in week 12.

Anthony Colandrea: F

We hesitate to assign this cruel of a grade considering the opponent Virginia was facing, but it doesn't get much worse than this in terms of quarterback play. Anthony Colandrea took the Cavaliers out of the game in the first half with his three interceptions. And it's not like it was a fluky poor performance against a very good opponent, as Colandrea's play has been regressing over the last few weeks with seven interceptions to one touchdown pass over the last three games. The turnovers are more acceptable if Colandrea is also delivering those great highlight plays that come with him being a gunslinger, but those haven't been there recently, so it's just all the bad with none of the good. Colandrea had a 38% completion percentage, completing eight of his 21 passing attempts for 69 yards. Tony Elliott says he doesn't want a quarterback controversy, but maybe there should be.

Tony Muskett: B

Speaking of quarterback controversy, Tony Muskett played the entire second half and did not light it up in the passing game, but played clean football against a solid Notre Dame defense that was focused on defending the pass. Muskett was 9/14 for 103 yards, including a 38-yard completion to Malachi Fields. He led UVA's only two scoring drives of the game and used his legs to score rushing touchdowns of 18 and two yards to help Virginia "win" the second half and make the final score look a little more respectable.

A backup quarterback playing well against another team's backups in garbage time is not by itself grounds for a quarterback change, but the combination of Colandrea's downward trajectory and Muskett's quality play in his garbage time appearances makes it worth considering as Tony Elliott and the Cavaliers try to maximize their chances of picking up that pivotal sixth win in these last two weeks of the season.

Overall Offense: D

As the UVA defense continued to keep the Cavaliers in the game in the first half by forcing several Notre Dame three-and-outs, it became more and more frustrating to watch the Virginia offense squander all of those opportunities to draw even and really make it a game. Things only got worse as the Cavaliers went from punting on every drive to turning the ball over on every drive. Virginia's pair of scoring drives in the second half led by Tony Muskett notwithstanding, this was a poor performance by the UVA offensive unit all the way around and deserves a poor grade even when you factor in the great Notre Dame defense the Cavaliers were facing.

Jonas Sanker: A

Jonas Sanker's excellent senior campaign continues. A three-time winner of the ACC Defensive Back of the Week award, Sanker made a solid case to take home that distinction again with a great showing against the Irish on Saturday. Sanker led the Cavaliers with a career-high 13 tackles, including eight unassisted tackles, and had two tackles for loss, one sack, and a fumble recovery on a muffed punt. Virginia's defense played well on Saturday and Sanker was a big reason for that.

Overall Defense: B

Of the 35 points Notre Dame scored in the game, 21 of them came on scoring drives that started inside the 35-yard line. The UVA defense simply cannot be held at fault for giving up points in those short field situations after Virginia's offensive or special teams miscues. Impressively, the Cavaliers held the Fighting Irish to 1/12 on third downs in the game and forced Notre Dame to go three-and-out five times in the first half alone. The Irish got loose for a few big plays and Virginia couldn't stop the run, but this was a great showing from the UVA defensive unit that was worthy of this being a closer game than it was.

Special Teams: C-

A week after the UVA special teams unit earned an A for playing a very clean game at Pitt plus a crucial blocked field goal by Jonas Sanker, that unit was an adventure at best against Notre Dame. The game started with Chris Tyree muffing the opening kickoff, leading directly to the Irish taking an early 7-0 lead. Daniel Sparks nearly had a punt blocked and Ethan Davies muffed a punt but UVA recovered it. There were a few positives: Jonas Sanker making another big play, recovering a muffed Notre Dame punt and the Irish missing a couple of field goals. But the Cavaliers too often played way too close to the line of disastrous miscues and went over that line on the first play of the game to put themselves in an early hole.

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