Could this be Virginia’s highest-scoring offense ever?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tonight will be my 40th year of covering Virginia football, and I will be in the Scott Stadium press box wondering if the Cavaliers offense will live up to all the preseason hype.

There is a strong possibility that this offense, led by its peppery, red-headed southpaw quarterback Brennan Armstrong, could become the highest scoring Virginia offense in modern program history. That distinction is presently held by Bryce Perkins’ 2019 team, which scored 449 points (14 games), which translated into 32.1 points per game and 56 touchdowns.

While Perkins had weapons, it was more about Perkins’ amazing play-making skills.

I should interject that while that was an exciting offense to cover, the 1990 squad, led by Shawn Moore, Herman Moore, Terry Kirby and others, was the best Virginia offense I covered. That team scored 442 points, only a touchdown less than the 2019 team, in only 12 games, averaging 40.2 points per contest and 56 TDs. It should also be pointed out that several of those games were essentially over at halftime or early third quarter when George Welsh and offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill would call off the dogs.

In a 69-10 season-opening rout at Kansas, UVA could have scored 100. In a 56-14 win over Navy and a 69-10 whomping of Duke, the Cavaliers didn’t score _ by design _ in the fourth quarter.

When Virginia opens the season tonight against William & Mary, it could signal a points explosion that may erase all the offensive records of the past. Having said that, Bronco Mendenhall and OC Robert Anae, may choose to keep things on the vanilla side and not show next week’s opponent, Illinois, too much of the offense. The Cavaliers also may devote a lot of the evening working on what should be their best running attack in years.

But the potential is there.

Mendenhall wasn’t shy about sharing his intentions on the offensive side of the ball when asked about it in preseason.

“Yeah, we’re going to score a lot of points,” Mendenhall said. “That’s the number one driver of who wins in college football.”

The abbreviated 2020 season isn’t a great example but it’s the most recent. When Virginia scored 30 or more points, the Cavaliers were unbeaten, 5-0. When UVA gave up more than 35 points, it was 1-3, giving up 41 to No. 1 Clemson, 38 to NC State, 40 to Wake Forest and there was that nasty loss in Blacksburg where the Wahoos surrendered 33. Oh, the one game they won while giving up 41 was a shootout victory over North Carolina.

It would appear that Mendenhall declared his offense was going to score a lot of points because it will need to score a lot of points. While the defense was banged up much of the season last year, the Cavaliers can’t afford to give up 35 points and expect to win.

Where does that leave things in terms of the season, defending the Coastal from ‘19?

It’s my opinion that there are going to be a lot of good offenses in the Coastal. The team that fields a championship defense is going to come out on top.

Still, either way, Virginia is going to have to light up the scoreboard.

Keytaon Thompson, who I believe could very well be the MVP of the offense this season, told us a few weeks ago, something that stuck.

“I think this offense will be really creative, something you guys have never seen before,” Thompson said.

That quote intrigues me, because I’ve seen a lot of football.

We all know that Armstrong is a threat running and throwing. He’ll be smarter, better.

He will be protected by an offensive line that has a collective 122 starts. Consider that Virginia’s pass protection on 3+ stop dropbacks last season was the best among all Power 5 schools with a lowest pressure rate of 22.6 percent.

Behind the Big Uglies should be UVA’s best group of running backs in more than a decade. Mendenhall said it will be a photo finish on who will start at tailback among at least four backs, although don’t be surprised to see Wayne Taulapapa in the starting role again because he is the most reliable, has a nose for the end zone, and is a really good pass blocker. However, several backs will likely see significant action.

The best player on the team, Bronco said, is 6-7 tight end Jalani Woods, who could be a terror. He’s Tony Pouljan upgraded. Remember, he picked “0” as his number because “nobody is going to stop me.”

You’ve got Billy Kemp IV, the leading receiver last year, who slays linebackers and defensive backs. He is usually a thorn in the saddle of most every defense.

There’s Dontayvion Wicks, who we’ve heard teammates and coaches raving about, but we didn’t see him last year because of an injury. Also, Ra’Shaun Henry, who had a great spring after coming on strong late last season when Lavel Davis Jr., was out for a couple of games.

Then, there’s “Mr. Football,” Keytaon Thompson.

“He came as a quarterback and he ended up as Mr. Football,” Anae said recently. “You look at those ACC player voting, first team, second team at the end of the year. There’s not a Mr. Football category. If there was, he would be first team all-conference, Mr. Football.”

Thompson is a former quarterback for Mississippi State, who transferred to UVA before last season an competed with Armstrong for the starting job, a competition that Mendenhall rated “neck and neck,” until Thompson suffered an injury to his shoulder, which prevented him from throwing the football.

Instead of wasting his talent, Anae put Thompson at wide receiver, gave him a taste of running back, even ran him as a “wildcat” quarterback at times and used him on some trick plays.

All that was without a lot of rehearsal. Now, Mr. Football has had a year to work on those skills and scares his own defense to death.

Think about the possibilities. Thompson and Woods are both former quarterbacks (Woods came to Oklahoma State as a dual-threat Qb before moving to tight end). Both see what Armstrong sees in terms of reading coverages, finding mismatches and the like.

Sometimes they may line up side-by-side and the possibilities are endless. Both can catch, run and, yes, throw.

Oh, and also remember that because UVA didn’t have a reliable running game last year, Armstrong couldn’t really use the play-action portion of the playbook. That should no longer be the case

The 1990 squad could do almost anything on offense, line up in the traditional pro offense, had plays out of the Pistol, even had some option. They had great running backs, a lethal passing game, particularly Moore-to-Moore, who led the nation in hookups that season.

George Welsh and his offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill had a big, dominant offensive line that allowed them to do pretty much anything they wanted as they marched their way to the nation’s No. 1 ranking in October.

Welsh called it the greatest offense he had ever been associated with in all his years at Penn State, Navy and UVA.

What will Mendenhall and Anae say about this year’s offense when all is said and done? We’ll get a peek tonight.