Anae on UVA’s fast-paced offense: “Hang on to your hats, boys”

By Jerry Ratcliffe

If you liked the fast pace of Virginia’s offense against Duke in last Saturday’s opener, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

That’s what Cavalier offensive coordinator Robert Anae said following practice on Wednesday morning about running a play every 25 seconds. UVA ran off 84 plays against the Blue Devils, more than in any game a year ago.

Part of that was by design. Part of it was because the Cavaliers had extra possessions due to forcing seven Duke turnovers, the most that head coach Bronco Mendenhall could ever remember being part of.

“Every year is new and we are working on our new identity, and this is part of our new identity,” Anae said about the greyhound pace. “We’re just starting this, so hang on to your hats, boys. Hopefully we go faster and you just sit there and go, ‘Wow, man, what’s going on down there?’”

While the Cavaliers managed to rattle off a high volume of plays against Duke, there’s no telling how that strategy will fare against top-ranked Clemson in Death Valley this coming Saturday night, although UVA should be capable of pulling off the faster pace against any other opponent this season.

“Well, like anything, if it works, it’s great,” Anae said. “If it doesn’t, then you go back to the drawing board. We can hardly wait for Saturday for game two with this group.”

Mendenhall said earlier in the week that the pace, regardless of how many possessions UVA had, was by design.

“We certainly thought in that particular game, even though it was our opener, we thought we had conditioned well, we thought it might be to our advantage,” Mendenhall said. “We thought it might be something the opponent wouldn’t expect, and we thought it might give us just an edge in terms of tempo … playing fast, executing fast, getting rhythm momentum and confidence.

“Our intent was to be aggressive rather than tentative, even though we have a new quarterback. That was a way that we thought symbolically we could tell [QB Brennan Armstrong] we have confidence in him, and even put a little bit more on his plate, but we thought he can handle it.”

Former NFL coach and present day television game analyst Tony Dungy said Sunday that the best way to help a young, inexperienced quarterback is to have a strong running game.

Virginia did just that against Duke, with Wayne Taulapapa and Shane Simpson rushing for more than 100 yards behind an experienced offensive line.

Both Mendenhall and Anae agreed with Dungy’s philosophy.

“Tony Dungy is someone I admire and so, I listen when he speaks, and he’s accurate,” said Mendenhall, who is a big fan of Dungy’s book ‘Uncommon.’ “We did a really nice job down the stretch with Wayne and Shane running the football, and also, Brennan helped himself with his legs. It just added more balance and it tired Duke. It took a different physical toll as the run game is different than the pass game and just allowed us to find more rhythm.

“So, I agree with [Dungy’s] statement and I think we showed signs of that on Saturday.”

Anae agreed with Dungy, but expanded the statement.

“Yeah, [a running attack] always helps any quarterback, young or old,” Anae said. “You’ve got a solid running game that you hit your opponent when they’re probably expecting a pass and you’re running the ball, and they’re doing the same thing on defense.

“When they think you’re going to run the ball, they call a run ‘D.’ When they thing you’re going to throw it, they call a pass defense. We’re trying to mix that thing around ourselves on the offensive side as well. So, yeah, it always helps the entire flow, and if you do that long enough and well enough, it’s gonna show on the scoreboard.”

Mendenhall added that part of the thought process in going faster was Armstrong’s personality, energy, which has been described by quarterbacks coach Jason Beck as “go, go, go.”

“That influenced [the decision],” Mendenhall said. “As we continue to learn about Brennan and try to find the best way to maximize his ability, that’s just one of the things that, in the opener, we thought was going to be effective.

“Now we’re going to have a chance to reevaluate and look at it and then decide wherein that lies going into weeks two and further on. Brennan is aggressive and he’s comfortable going fast and making decisions quickly. That doesn’t mean that’s all we’ll do, it doesn’t mean it’s primarily what we’ll do, but we thought it would give him his best chance in his first college start.”

Anae said he was impressed by his offense the first time out of the gate, and although Armstrong was slow at the start, he battled back, showed resiliency and finished strong.

The coordinator said he called short throws early to build Armstrong’s confidence and then opened things up as the game went along. Armstrong was only 11 of 25 passing for 101 yards in the first half with one interception and no touchdowns. His longest two passes were for 18 and 15 yards.

He finished the game 24 of 45 (13 of 20, 168 yards and two TDs in the second half) for 269 yards and one pick. His longest pass of the day was 39 yards to freshman wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., who hauled in both TD passes.