Pace gave UVA a versatile back and lots of yards in opener

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Maybe Kobe Pace should seek out an NIL deal with a peanut butter and jelly company after Saturday night’s season-opener.

While many of his teammates went for the barbecue delivered to the locker room during the two-hour storm delay, Pace opted for another choice.

“No barbecue,” Pace said. “I ate two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

If that’s where Pace gets his energy and the PB&J fuels his running game, then look for that to become a trend among running backs. Pace ripped through Richmond’s defense for 93 yards rushing on 11 attempts (8.5 avg.) and a touchdown, plus showed his versatility with more than 50 yards receiving.

With UVA hoping to develop a reliable ground attack this season, Pace, Xavier Brown, Jack Griese and QB Anthony Colandrea made a strong showing in the opener, as the backfield stacked up 200 yards rushing.

“That’s what we look for, that’s what we need to get the job done,” Pace said after the game. “I feel like we made huge steps over the offseason. That’s all we worked on. We worked on being explosive. That’s what we are. We’re a fit team. That’s what we go by and we took those steps today.”

One of the more brilliant play calls in the game was a second-and-19 screen pass to Pace, which he hauled in and took it 52 yards to the Richmond 32, eventually resulting in one of Will Bettridge’s three field goals on the night for a 20-0 early second-quarter lead.

“It shocked me a little bit because it was so wide open,” Pace said of the screen pass. “There was so much green grass in front of me, that I was shocked, because when we run that play in practice, I’m used to having the defense right there swarming me.”

Pace said he used to run that same screen play at Clemson, so he knew everything he needed to about the design of the play.

“I knew how it was going to work, so I felt like we ran it at the right time.”

Pace came close to recording his third 100-yard rushing game of his career. The other two came at Clemson, including a career-high 191-yard game a couple of seasons ago before he became injured. Of the 37 UVA rushes, he had 11. While the coaching staff is content on having fresh legs in the backfield, if Pace wants to become the workhorse of the group, he’ll have to separate himself from the rest of his competition through performance.

“We want to run the ball and we ain’t scared to tell people that we’re gonna run it … that’s our motto,” Pace said. “It helps a lot to have the other backs because I know they’re ready whenever I need a breather or go down. I know those guys are going to have my back.”

Pace was certainly the big dog when he emerged from the locker room, sparked by peanut butter and jelly, after the storm break. He carried the ball for four straight plays, 54 yards, capped off by a 3-yard TD run for a 27-7 lead, and reestablished Virginia’s dominance after the delay.

“We wanted to push the tempo when we got back out there and I feel like that’s what we did. I feel like we executed,” Pace said. “It felt good, but it’s not all about me … it’s about those guys up front that helped me get to that next level.”

The running back was quick to credit his offensive linemen, who have been under a magnifying glass since training camp opened a month ago. While the line returns essentially intact, they haven’t proven they can dominate the line of scrimmage and open holes for Pace & Co.

“We do this every day in practice, so it doesn’t surprise me,” Pace said. “We want to go out there and we don’t want to intimidate guys, we want to dominate them.”

Virginia hopes to produce a 1,000-yard rusher this season as it leans on a good ground game. Since Alvin Pearman went over 1,000 yards in 2004, only two Cavalier backs have reached that plateau: Kevin Parks in 2013 and Jordan Ellis in 2018.

Certainly Pace would like to break that drought and help Virginia return to a dominant running game. He’s going to have to put together a decent performance this weekend at Wake Forest to keep that momentum going.

Make sure to pack the PB&J.