Is Virginia’s pass defense ready for challenge of containing Carolina’s QB?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The biggest question about Virginia’s football team headed into the season was how far had the Cavaliers’ defense come, and specifically could the secondary come through in the clutch.

After opening 2-0 and dominating William & Mary’s and Illinois’ offenses, UVA ranks high among the nation’s best defenses statistically. Question is, how ya’ gonna do against the big boys?

Remember that W&M and Illinois were playing backup quarterbacks against Virginia. Come Saturday, the Cavaliers will face one of the nation’s elite passers in North Carolina’s Sam Howell.

Last year, in Charlottesville, Howell passed for 443 yards (23 for 28, no interceptions). Dyami Brown caught 11 of those passes for 240 yards as Virginia outlasted the Tar Heels in a scoring battle, 44-41.

Brown is gone. So are running backs Michael Carter and Javote Williams, meaning the Tar Heels have lost some offensive punch, although they did put up 50+ on Georgia State last weekend. They still have Howell, who is a superb passer, but has added more of a run threat to his repertoire, having gained more than 100 yards in his last game (63 of it was on one run).

Virginia’s defense is healthy, which it wasn’t so much last year when the two teams met. Question is, will all the returning experience be good enough to stop one of the country’s best QBs.

Bronco Mendenhall said Monday that he likes where his team was heading into Carolina game week. What about the secondary, satisfied thus far?

“I don’t think I’m ever satisfied with anything and my team knows that,” Mendenhall said. “I do my best to promote confidence while making sure they know there’s always something to work on. I’m not easy to satisfy.

“But I am pleased with how we played and what we’ve done in week one and week two, really all across the board. I would say so far, so good. Is it exactly how I want it? No. Is anything? Never has been. But I like where we are.”

North Carolina coach Mack Brown remembered how Virginia’s run defense held the Heels’ running game to 93 yards in last year’s track meet. That was 93 yards on 33 rushes.

“We haven’t done good against [Virginia’s defense],” in the red zone,” Brown said. “They’re a multiple defense. They give you a lot of problems.”

UVA has shifted mostly to a 3-3-5 defensive alignment this season as opposed to its traditional 3-4, in an attempt to solve some of its breakdowns from a year ago when the Cavaliers gave up 35 or more points on four occasions. Part of that was due to so many defensive personnel missing multiple games or playing injured, or in some cases, out of position by necessity.

“I think [Virginia] did a really good job of identifying the weaknesses of their defense last year,” said UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who has been studying those adjustments. “[Virginia] did a very intensive study and they’re doing a really good job of not giving that stuff away, to take away from what people were picking on them last year.

“I would guess that they are much more talented in the safety room. They’re good at safety, good at nickel. Blount is really good. They have improved their defensive scheme.”

Saturday night’s game (7:30 p.m., ACC Network) could very well boil down to which team can make a stop at the most critical time.

UVA defensive coordinator Nick Howell has seen what Carolina’s Howell can do, and it’s concerning.

“He is experienced and he knows where to throw the ball,” UVA’s Howell said. “When you know where to throw the ball, you have a better chance in executing the play. He does that very well. You can see that pre-snap and you can see that post-snap. They are making reads based on what you do, and he does a good job.”

Howell said that Longo is a smart offensive coordinator and attempts to have counters for anything a defense may throw at the Heels. Disguising what Virginia is doing defensively isn’t easy against an experienced quarterback and an offense like Longo’s.

“Over time, that guy over there has done a really good job coaching,” Howell said of Longo. “Their scheme is hard. We try to not show what we’re doing, but they have answers … if you do this, they do that; if you do this, they are going to do something different.”

Howell said that of course UVA is going to try to hit the Carolina quarterback and take him out of his rhythm as much as possible (the Cavaliers sacked him five times last season), but it’s a matter of executing.

While UNC lost firepower from last year’s offense, it’s still the same offense and with Howell back.

“Right now, they are like anybody, it’s chemistry and timing, although it didn’t seem to be a problem last week when they scored 50 points,” Howell said. “It’s hard to score that against the scout team. So they are really, really good. Their scheme is hard to defend.”