Five Things We Learned From Virginia’s 23-13 Loss to Pittsburgh on Friday Night

By Jerry Ratcliffe

1 Bryce Perkins Can’t Do It Alone.

The junior college transfer quarterback is good, very good, but he needs help. Pitt’s defense broke through Virginia’s protection more often than expected, forcing Perkins to make difficult decisions on whether to scramble for yardage, take a sack, or throw the ball away. He was sacked five times, a couple of which he admitted he should have thrown the ball away.

Perkins actually gained 47 yards on runs, some designed, some not, but 54 yards in sacks resulted in a minus-7 yards rushing for the QB.

He completed 17 of 24 passes for 205 yards, one touchdown (42 yards) to Terrell Jana, and no interceptions. Not bad numbers passing. Still, he took a lot of hard hits by Pitt’s aggressive defense. In fact, Perkins told sportswriters after the game that he had a bruised tricep on his left arm, appeared to have it wrapped up under a jacket.

Perkins threw passes to eight receivers, which should help the offense going forward by getting little-used targets such as Jana, Chris Sharp, Tanner Cowley and Tavares Kelly involved.

Perkins can do a lot of good things for Virginia but not without the running game stepping up and the offensive line providing better protection.

2 Virginia Can’t Win Without Running The Ball.

Bronco Mendenhall said after the game that, “We never did find rhythm offensively, from beginning to end.”

There was no rhythm offensively because the Cavaliers could not run the football against a shaky Pitt run defense, ranked No. 77 in the country entering the game. The Panthers were giving up 170 yards per game on the ground and 4.47 yards per carry.

UVa? It appeared the Cavaliers’ offensive line took a step backward after putting up good running game numbers during a three-game winning streak over Miami, Duke, and Carolina.

Virginia managed only 44 yards rushing (some of that was impacted by -54 yards in losses on sacks), which was a season low. The Cavaliers had only 1.7 yards per carry, and running back Jordan Ellis was held to 46 yards (22 of that on one run) on 10 carries.

Did offensive coordinator Robert Anae give up on the run too early (UVa ran the ball only nine times the second half), or did he lose confidence in his offensive line after a first half that saw the Cavaliers gain only 24 yards on the ground on 15 carries?

Either way, Virginia’s offensive line did not open holes for Ellis and struggled to protect QB Bryce Perkins as well.

The Cavaliers can’t win if they can’t run the ball. During that string of ACC victories, UVa successfully gained yardage by running and had more than 40 rushing attempts in each of those three wins: 41-139 vs. Miami; 44-178 vs. Duke; and 43-208 vs. UNC.

3 Defense Must Up Its Toughness Against Physical Running Games.

In all three losses this season, UVa’s defense couldn’t stop the run: Indiana, N.C. State, and Pitt.

The Panthers were the most physical of the three and they dominated the line of scrimmage. Yes, four UVa starters were knocked out of the game, and previously injured middle linebacker Jordan Mack returned to replace Rob Snyder, who did not dress out for the game due to injury.

Still, the Cavaliers are going to face at least one more physical running game at Georgia Tech in two weeks. The Yellow Jackets have rushed for more than 400 yards four weeks in a row.

We’re not sure what Snyder’s injury might be. We do know that Joey Blount (high ankle sprain) and Mandy Alonso left the game on crutches, while corner Juan Thornhill was wearing a protective boot. Brenton Nelson was injured as well, but that information was mentioned by Mendenhall in his post-game press conference.

That’s five starters injured. Virginia hosts nonconference Liberty next Saturday.

The Cavaliers have not fared well against the more physical teams they’ve faced the past two years: Boston College, Virginia Tech, Navy, Indiana, N.C. State, and Pittsburgh. If Virginia wants to compete for a division title or a conference title, then it must get tougher.

“It was the first thing that I mentioned to our team when we got ready to play Pitt,” Mendenhall said. “The first thing I mentioned was the physical nature of the game and what that would be like, knowing that would be the determining factor of whether we had a chance to win.”

4  Down But Not Out

Even though the loss to Pittsburgh knocked Virginia out of the driver’s seat in the Coastal Division, the Cavaliers could still win the division and play for the ACC Championship.

Pitt, now 4-1 in ACC play, will have to lose two more conference games (the Panthers still have to play Virginia Tech in Pittsburgh, then travel to Wake Forest and Miami), while Virginia will have to beat both Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech on the road.

5 More Weapons Emerging But What About ‘O?’

We’ve heard for weeks that getting more receivers involved in Virginia’s passing game will help open up the offense and that seemed to be the case against Duke and UNC, but not against Pitt.

Terrell Jana had three catches for 71 yards, including a 42-yard TD catch. Tavares Kelly had two catches for 17 yards, while Tanner Cowley, Joe Reed, Evan Butts and Chris Sharp each had a reception. Maybe that ‘s not enough to make a huge difference.

UVa’s record-breaking receiver Olamide Zaccheaus told me two weeks ago that more receivers stepping up won’t necessarily take pressure off him and Hasise Dubois, but that it would allow Perkins to be more of a threat and loosen up the defense so that the running game could be more effective. That wasn’t the case against Pitt.

Speaking of Zaccheaus, isn’t there some more creative ways that Anae can think of to get more touches for Virginia’s playmaker?

Zaccheaus had a mere five touches against Pitt in a crucial Coastal Division battle. ‘O’ as he’s called by teammates and coaches, only had four receptions for 31 yards, and one rushing attempt for 5 yards.

If you’re playing to control your own destiny in a big game, shouldn’t your best playmaker (other than Perkins) get more than five touches?