UVA’s offensive game plan lit up scoreboard again

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia’s offensive coaches put together a near-perfect gameplan on how to beat Stanford on Saturday night in the Cavaliers’ 48-20 win.

In fact, it was so good that Tony Elliott intensely scolded his team during the second half for taking its foot off the gas.

“In this sport, the good teams, when there’s blood in the water, they go after it,” Elliott explained his dissatisfaction. “That was kind of my message to the guys. I said, ‘We have blood in the water right there at the end of the second quarter.’ When we have people up against the ropes, keep going and keep playing to a standard and not be satisfied.”

Virginia was up 28-7 with 9:05 to play in the first half, but let up, driving from its own 14 to the Stanford 7 and had a touchdown called back because of a holding penalty and ended up missing a field goal. Instead of going up 35-7, the Cavaliers allowed Stanford to score for a 28-14 halftime result.

Elliott was delighted UVA scored the first four times it had its hands on the ball, thanks to brilliant game-planning and execution.

The coaching staff, through film study, recognized that Frank Reich’s Stanford team was built around a strong ground game. However, if Virginia could get off to a fast start, putting points on the board in a fast and furious manner, it would put pressure on Reich’s team to try and come from behind, i.e. putting the ball in the air.

No wonder the very first play call of the game was a flea flicker that would have been an easy touchdown of 65 yards to speedy wide receiver Trell Harris, but quarterback Chandler Morris, who got some pressure, said he didn’t get the ball out in time and underthrew his target.

“We should have scored on that first play, I just didn’t get the ball out soon enough,” said Morris, who still ended up throwing for 380 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus one ran one in.

Harris, all smiles after the game, when he reported back to the huddle, told Morris, “We’re good … no worries.”

The two went on to hook up for three TD passes the first three possessions from 3, 75 and 27 yards out. Part of the plan was to match Harris up with safeties as much as possible, and that worked to near perfection. Stanford’s defense had a difficult time defending Harris, who was only targeted six times and hauled in four passes for 145 yards.

That first Morris pass, the flea flicker? Yeah, it didn’t unsettle the sixth-year veteran at all. He went on to complete his next 11 straight passes for 262 yards and three scores.

“Chandler is calm in the huddle,” Harris said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him yell. He’s an old head, he’s calm and he keeps the offense calm.”

And, yes, Stanford had to trash its gameplan and go to its passing game in order to try to keep contact. Didn’t work, even if UVA wasn’t as bloodthirsty as their coach had hoped. Certainly that will have to change as the Cavaliers progress through their schedule, which has stiffer tests coming up against No. 8 Florida State (Friday night at Scott Stadium), followed by a road trip to presently undefeated Louisville, a team in the “Others receiving votes,” category.

While Virginia used its pass weapons to get off to a good start, all the while the Cavaliers continued to develop a solid and improving rushing attack, which produced 200 yards for the third straight game, something no UVA offense has done since Al Groh’s 2004 team, which featured a pair of future NFL running backs in Alvin Pearman (now a professor at Stanford) and Wali Lundy.

“The best offenses I’ve been around can effectively run the football,” Elliott said. “That’s where it starts and that creates some of the play-actions that creates some more of the intermediate throws and then also some of the deep shots. We’re going to need to be able to do both down the stretch.”

Of course, the offensive line has a lot to do with all of that and UVA’s wide bodies have performed up to expectations thus far, the first time since 2019 that the Cavaliers have boasted an O-line they could count on. The old coaches will tell you, if you control the line of scrimmage on offense, you can do whatever you want.

George Welsh was a firm believer in that, learning from Joe Paterno, also a disciple of that philosophy. They’re both in the Hall of Fame.

Morris said after Saturday night’s game that opposing defenses have more guys they have to cover, a beautiful thing when there’s a plethora of playmakers. It’s essentially choose your own poison. UVA entered the weekend with nine receivers averaging at least 10 yards per reception. Eleven receivers caught passes against Stanford.

None of them were a thorn in Stanford’s saddle more than Harris, who reminded everyone during last week’s practices that he missed being in the end zone. He spent enough time there Saturday night that he could claim residency.

“We have a lot of speed on our offense and there’s no jealousy, no envy,” Harris said. “We celebrate each other’s success and we just fight for each other. There’s a lot of skilled guys. We’re super close and we’ve played a lot of ball.”

Now, if they can just get this shark thing, blood-in-the-water deal down pat, then watch out.