Virginia Football Report Card: Handing Out Grades for UVA's Win Over Richmond

Matt Newton | Sep 2, 2024

Kobe Pace racked up 144 all-purpose yards and scored one touchdown in Virginia's season-opening win over Richmond. / Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia took care of business in its season opener on Saturday night, jumping out to a 20-0 lead and then weathering a storm delay that lasted more than two hours before finishing the job and securing a comfortable 34-13 victory over Richmond.

As we break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their first game of 2024 and what it means for the rest of the season, let's hand out some report card grades for various players, position groups, and other categories to help evaluate Virginia's performance in week 1.

Offense

Anthony Colandrea: A
In his first game as Virginia's full-time starter, Colandrea did not disappoint. The sophomore completed 17 of his 23 passing attempts (73.9%) for 297 yards and two touchdowns and was also effective scrambling, rushing for 49 yards and another score. His rushing yards would have looked even better on paper if it wasn't for what was perhaps his only mistake of the game, a 20-yard sack he took early in the second quarter. Other than that, Colandrea did exactly what everyone has wanted to see from him, making smart decisions and the right plays while also connecting on five passes of more than 30 yards. Given Tony Muskett's struggles in a small sample size late in the game, it seems Tony Elliott made the right choice in who to start at quarterback.

Receivers: B+
Virginia's receiving corps had a very good game overall. Malachi Fields had five catches for 100 yards, his first career 100-yard receiving game, including an incredible diving effort on the right sideline to snag a 41-yard pass from Colandrea. Kent State transfer Trell Harris also had a nice 35-yard touchdown catch on UVA's third offensive snap of the game. The main reason for the B+ is that Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree, who the Cavaliers desperately need to have a big impact this year, did not record a single catch, dropping all three passes that came his way. It's likely, and Tyree and the Hoos are certainly hoping, that this was a one-game anomaly and more a product of the weather than anything else, but it's certainly concerning. Look for Colandrea to target Tyree early on the road at Wake Forest next Saturday.

Running Backs: A
In our pregame wish list, we asked for 150 rushing yards from the Cavaliers because they were 3-0 last season when they reached that mark. Well, they gave us 200 rushing yards, 5.4 yards per rushing attempt, and two rushing touchdowns. Those are A-worthy marks for sure. Kobe Pace averaged 8.5 yards per rush and racked up 93 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, including a 43-yard run that came as part of a 100% Kobe Pace, four-play, 54-yard touchdown drive to slam the door after the weather delay. Xavier Brown also looked good, rushing eight times for 44 yards (5.5 yards per attempt) and looking very healthy after missing some time in fall camp with an injury. Jack Griese didn't do much on the ground, but he made a fantastic play in the first quarter, leaking out on a wheel route and catching a pass from Colandrea in stride for 57 yards and a touchdown, exhibiting great balance to stay in bounds and great speed to outrun the defense. Obviously, we'll have to see this production from the running backs against better competition before making any grand statements about Virginia finally having a run game, but this was a good start.

Offensive Line: B+
Of course, the offensive line deserves a lot of credit for Virginia's success in running the football. Even with McKale Boley missing the game (Tony Elliott says he's day-to-day), the Cavaliers still got good push up front on running plays and kept Anthony Colandrea fairly clean. Colandrea was sacked twice, but at least one of those was more the young quarterback's fault for not throwing the ball away. Virginia racked up 497 yards of total offense, 200 of which were on the ground. Of UVA's three penalties (all on the offense), two were on the offensive line for a hold and a false start. Not too shabby.

Overall Offense Grade: A-

Sure, some UVA fans (especially the ones who came back to Scott Stadium after the weather delay) would have liked to have seen more points. But Virginia checked the necessary boxes in this game by scoring on the first five drives of the game, hitting on some big plays, keeping the penalties and turnovers to a minimum (no turnovers until Muskett's interception late in the game), and showing some signs of that balanced offense Tony Elliott and Des Kitchings have been looking for.

Defense

Run Defense: B+
Richmond averaged 3.9 yards per rushing attempt. That's pretty good for Virginia's defensive line, but somewhat expected and therefore less impressive due to the simple fact that the competitive difference between FBS and FCS programs is shown most apparently on the line of scrimmage. The Cavaliers got pushed around on Richmond's lone touchdown drive of the game, giving up runs of 18 and seven yards and then three more six-yard runs to set up the eventual touchdown. They also gave up a 43-yard run in the fourth quarter that would have been a touchdown if not for a great chase-down effort by Dre Walker. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot of room for the Spiders on the ground.

Pass Defense: A
Virginia's pass defense was pretty good in this game, giving up just 110 total passing yards. Richmond had only three completions of 15 or more yards and none went for more than 20 yards. The Spiders elected (or were forced) to throw the ball short, resulting in an average of 8.5 yards per completion. The competition in the secondary seems to have paid off for Virginia's defensive backs. Antonio Clary and Jonas Sanker (eight tackles each) look ready to be one of the best safety tandems in the ACC and UVA's array of cornerbacks are evidently still battling for those coveted starting spots. We're not ready to compare that group to 2022, when the Cavaliers had two All-ACC corners in Anthony Johnson and Fentrell Cypress, but it could be vastly improved from last year.

Defensive Line: C+
Though the Cavaliers did a nice job stopping the run and keeping things under control, the lack of sacks and consistent pressure on the quarterback is worrisome. Virginia had just one sack and it came late in the fourth quarter. UVA only registered two quarterback hurries and while Richmond did a lot to prevent UVA's pass rush from getting home by throwing lots of quick passes, scheming for extra protection, and using screens, it's still concerning that the Cavaliers couldn't adjust and get to the quarterback even one or two more times.

Overall Defense: A-

It wasn't perfect, but there was a lot to like about UVA's defensive performance in this game. The Cavaliers got off the field on third down, holding Richmond to 3/15 on third downs. UVA forced a couple of fumbles, recovering one of them. And though the sacks weren't there, Virginia did record seven tackles for loss. There weren't a lot of noticeable missed tackles. For the first game of the season, Virginia was pretty good at getting the ball carrier on the ground at first contact. That would be a very refreshing trend for the Cavaliers if it persists throughout the season.

Special Teams: A-

UVA's special teams were nearly flawless in this game. The one exception was a missed field goal right before halftime. The snap and hold appeared to be good, but Will Bettridge miss-hit it and sent it wide left. Bettridge was solid otherwise, connecting on field goals of 21 and 33 yards and each of his four extra points. Daniel Sparks delivered two booming punts with an average of 54.5 yards, starting to look like the 2022 version of himself that earned an All-ACC selection. Sparks also did well on kickoffs, putting five of his seven kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. The other two that were returned did not make it out to the 25-yard line.

Virginia had no glaring mistakes on returns and committed no special teams penalties. Antonio Clary served as a punt returner for the first time since the 2021 season, returning two punts for 12 total yards, including a nine-yard return. He looked sure-handed on the ones he fair caught as well. Xavier Brown returned a kickoff 37 yards after the weather delay and set up the all-Kobe Pace touchdown drive that essentially snuffed out any chance of a Richmond comeback.

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