UVA’s Nation-Leading Sack Attack Faces Toughest Challenge Yet

By Scott Ratcliffe

Sacking opposing quarterbacks was an issue for the Virginia defense in 2018 and as a result, there was a heavy emphasis on a more effective pass rush in the offseason.

Only a third of the way through the 2019 Virginia football season, the 18th-ranked Cavaliers have nearly matched their sack total from a year ago, and have more than doubled their average of sacks per game from 2.0 to 5.0.

UVA (4-0, 2-0 ACC) leads the conference — and is tied for No. 1 in the nation with Florida — with 20 sacks through four games. That’s almost equal to last year’s number of 26 (in 13 games).

Chris Peace, now with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, notched 7.5 of those on his own in 2018, which left the Wahoo defense with some big shoes to fill heading into the season. Linebackers Jordan Mack and Charles Snowden only had 2.5 each a year ago, good for second-highest on the squad, while Zane Zandier, Bryce Hall and Eli Hanback each registered a pair.

Since the NCAA began officially tracking quarterback sacks in the 1980s, the Virginia single-season record is 40 (1996, 2007). This year’s group is on pace to blow that number out of the water.

In 2019, Mack is leading the charge, pacing the ‘Hoos with 5.0 QB takedowns already, through just four contests. In fact, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior has more sacks than any other linebacker in the country (sixth amongst all FBS players), and joins Ohio State lineman Chase Young as the only two defenders with at least a half of a sack in each of their six games, the nation’s longest such streak.

The UVA linebackers alone have delivered 14 of the 20 sacks, which is more than all but four FBS teams have altogether.

Snowden and Noah Taylor have each recorded three sacks this season, while Zandier and Joey Blount have added a pair of their own. Hall, Hanback, Aaron Faumui and Richard Burney all have one, while Nick Grant and Elliott Brown have each notched a half-sack.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall hasn’t seen any issues with blitzing opposing quarterbacks with frequency in 2019.

“To this point, it fits our personnel, it fits our identity, and it fits the teams we’ve been playing against,” Mendenhall said of the heavy pressure. “Facts are our friends and numbers are validators. I like the rankings at times when it comes to statistics. Again, I’m always contextual with against who and how did that happen. So there is always more to the story.”

It’s all a result of creating as much “havoc” as possible for opposing backfields, and it’s obviously working.

So, what’s the secret?

Mendenhall credited Co-Defensive Coordinators Nick Howell (secondary coach) and Kelly Poppinga (outside linebackers) — along with defensive line coach Vic So’oto and inside linebackers coach Shane Hunter — for the uptick in the sack category and the overall success of the unit thus far, noting that they themselves played in the same system under him and therefore have the knowledge and expertise necessary to pass everything along to the defensive group.

“I give them all the credit…,” Mendenhall said Monday. “Every defensive staff member has been a graduate assistant and so our system is what they know, and they know it inside and out. They’re just doing a really nice job of adapting it to our existing personnel, and knowing then, studying through the numbers of what will really impact and give us a better chance to win, and we identified that minus-yardage plays and/or havoc plays would be helpful.
“So they’re doing a nice job of leveraging what the numbers have said with the personnel we have and the scheme we know to deliver on that to this point.”

Snowden was named Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week after posting a career-high 15 tackles (3.5 for loss) and a pair of sacks, including one on fourth down in the fourth quarter against Old Dominion that all but sealed the game. He described how applying heavy pressure on the pass rush and just being as disruptive as possible on every play has become a staple for the Wahoo defense — creating ‘havoc’ to steal a term from the VCU men’s basketball team.

“Those havoc plays are crucial for us,” said Snowden, who racked up several on his own against ODU Saturday. “It’s better when the [opposing] offense is going backwards rather than forwards, and so kind of bringing that pressure helps us bring that havoc — it kind of gets the guys going, gets the excitement, the momentum, the energy — it helps our defense.”

Mendenhall loves having a guy with the length and athleticism of Snowden on the edge helping to anchor the defense, as evidenced by the fact that UVA was the only school to offer the 6-7, 235-pound high-school basketball standout a football scholarship.

“We like long, tall, athletic outside backers in [the 3-4 defense]…,” said the coach, who compared Snowden to former BYU and current NFL standouts Kyle Van Noy and Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah. “He fit all the measurables.”

Hall also explained how those havoc plays also translate to himself and the rest of the defensive backs.

“Any time our guys are getting after the quarterback, we don’t have to cover as long and the ball is getting forced out before its intended time,” said Hall, “and that opens up plays to be made in the secondary.”

Notre Dame’s offensive line has only yielded four sacks in its first three games and quarterback Ian Book has the ability to scramble, but Irish coach Brian Kelly has encouraged him to be more patient in the pocket.

“They’re long and athletic on the edge,” Kelly said of the Cavalier defense. “Jordan Mack at the inside backer, one of the best inside backers we’re going to see, instinctive. You’re talking about Snowden at the outside backer position… they have great depth at the defensive line… we have got our hands full.”

The Wahoo front seven’s challenge is to apply as much pressure — and havoc — as possible Saturday afternoon.