[caption id="attachment_348" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Virginia's defense celebrates after stopping Idaho's two point conversion attempt in OT. Photo / Susan Birckhead"]
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As the old saying goes, a win is a win. Coach London remarked after the game, 'Good gracious...That was probably an ugly football game right there, but in the end, what matters is we found a way to win.' Good gracious is right. For Virginia fans, there was little to feel good about following a narrow 21-20 overtime victory against the Idaho Vandals - one of the worst teams in FBS this year. A bizarre rotation at quarterback, offensive turnovers, and careless mistakes - which have been seen all too often this year - almost led to what surely would have been one of the worst losses in recent history for the Cavalier football team. Instead, Virginia will head into a much needed bye week with a 3-2 record and a long list of adjustments to be made.
Quarterback Carousel
[caption id="attachment_349" align="alignright" width="300" caption="After a hot start, Mike Rocco struggled to stay in rhythm on Saturday due to the QB carousel. Photo / Susan Birckhead"]
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Rocco or Watford? Watford or Rocco (said in my best Ace Ventura impersonation)? Virginia's coaching staff has officially created a quarterback controversy in Charlottesville. For 5 games now, we have seen Mike Rocco get the start and build some momentum only to turn the reigns over to David Watford due to a scripted game plan. Even more bizarre this past Saturday was the handling of these two players during the fourth quarter - where the coaches ultimately landed on Watford, who would end up leading the Cavaliers to victory in overtime. What is very apparent is that both Rocco and Watford are struggling to find a groove in coach Lazor's pass-heavy offense, with both quarterbacks commenting on the need to find a rhythm when asked by reporters about the quarterback rotation during the post-game press conference. On the surface, it appears that each guy brings a unique skill set to the offense - with Rocco being the more efficient passer and Watford presenting a running threat. That is not the way they are being used, however. The Cavaliers need to start rolling Watford out of the pocket and running some option looks to take full advantage of his skill set. As for Rocco, he's a passer - which means you cannot just pull the kid out of the game because your script tells you too. If he's in a groove - which he was after leading Virginia on 2 consecutive scoring drives early in the game - leave the kid in there and let him ride it out. As is often the case, a team with 2 quarterbacks is a team with no quarterback. The coaching staff needs to evaluate what they are trying to do on offense over the next two weeks and come out against Georgia Tech with a more stable plan as to how how to handle the quarterback position for the rest of the year.
Opportunistic Defense
[caption id="attachment_351" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Chase Minnifield returned to form on Saturday. Photo / Virginia Media Relations / Matt Riley"]
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It wasn't all bad for the Cavaliers last Saturday, as the defense played a much better game against the Vandals. The Virginia defense held Idaho to 296 yards on the day and, more importantly, made some of the opportunistic plays that have been sorely needed by this Virginia team. Chase Minnifield made a great play on an under thrown ball in the fourth quarter- finally getting him into the interception column in a year where he has struggled to live up to lofty expectations. Dom Joseph then redeemed himself late in the fourth quarter after giving up a 44 yard reception, making a critical interception in the end zone that should have sealed the game for the Cavaliers (more on that later). Matt Conrath, who has found the transition from defensive end to tackle difficult at times, had one of his best outings against the Vandals, notching 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble on the day. While there were still some head scratchers, most notably the Cavalier safeties letting a receiver get behind them in the end zone during overtime, it is clear that the defense made some very positive strides on Saturday. Despite 3 offensive turnovers and numerous special teams gaffes, the defense held Idaho to only six points in regulation - a performance they should be able to build on heading into full time ACC play. During the course of the bye week, the defense needs to focus on consistency, keeping receivers in front of them, and getting Cam Johnson back at full health as Coach Reid and his defensive staff set their sights on how to slow down a powerful Georgia Tech offense.
Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes
[caption id="attachment_352" align="alignright" width="163" caption="Coach Poindexter's special teams units have been mistake-prone this season. Photo / Virginia Media Relations"]
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Let's see, where to start here. For what is turning into a recurring theme - or nightmare - Virginia's offense continued to turn the ball over on Saturday. Despite racking up nearly 500 total yards, Virginia was only able to get 21 points on the scoreboard against Idaho - 7 of which came in extra time. Two fumbles and an interception will do that to an offense. While it's certainly encouraging to see the offense average 439 yards per game thus far on the season, it's equally frustrating to watch the Virginia offense average nearly 3 turnovers per game. Virginia needs to make ball protection it's number one priority entering ACC play in two weeks time. And then there's special teams play, where - for the second straight game - the Cavaliers did all they could to give the game away in the phase of the game. The most obvious blunder was a blocked punt with 4 minutes to go in regulation that resulted in Idaho pulling even with Virginia following a successful two point conversion. Mistakes like that, in the most critical of moments, simply cannot happen against inferior competition. Speaking of punts, Virginia continues to struggle executing their blocking schemes on punt returns - with the Cavaliers only returning one of nine Idaho punts. To further compound these issues, Virginia's return men are also having an extremely difficult time judging when to come up and catch a punt - often giving Virginia's offense terrible field position as a result. As if that wasn't enough, Virginia lined up offsides on the very first punt of the game, resulting in an automatic first down for the Vandals. To further exacerbate the situation, Virginia's usually reliable field goal unit had a terrible outing on Saturday, with kicker Robert Randolph having his first kick blocked and then just missing his second attempt of the day from 36 yards - all in the fourth quarter of play. In summary, Virginia's special teams play sucked on Saturday and has turned into an achilles heel for Virginia. With so many mistakes being made, there's only one place to look - starting at the top with Coach Poindexter. For 'Dex, the bye week may not be enough time to totally clean up the myriad of problems facing the special teams units, but Virginia fans certainly expect to see at least the basic fundamentals - blocking, lining up in the line of scrimmage, and fielding punts - successfully executed against the Yellow Jackets.
Blocking Woes
Virginia continued to struggle upfront on Saturday against a weak Idaho offensive line, giving up 3 sacks to the Vandals - all on critical third down plays for the Cavaliers. Most concerning, however, is that the mules continue to unsuccessfully execute blocking assignments on short yardage plays. Looking at the stat line, you would expect that the offensive line is performing at a very high level - and on first and second downs, you would be correct with that assessment. It's those pivotal third down opportunities, however, where Virginia's big uglies fail to hold up under pressure. This is a major contributing factor in the unfortunate correlation between the yards Virginia racks up and the lack of points on the scoreboard. Over the next two weeks, Virginia needs to take a long look at breakdowns along the offensive line of scrimmage on third downs.
Adjusting Expectations
[caption id="attachment_350" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Coach London and his staff have a lot to work on during the upcoming bye week. Photo / Virginia Media Relations / Matt Riley"]
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If Saturday's game taught Virginia fans anything, its that we need to adjust our expectations for the rest of this season and likely next year as well. With a lot of excitement surrounding the London regime (new uniforms, TV shows, recruiting success), many believed this would be the year the Cavaliers finally got back into post-season play. Now, there is certainly a chance that Virginia gets to that sixth win this season - but if what we have seen thus far is any indication of things to come, the Virginia football program still has a rough couple of years ahead of themselves before consistently finding themselves in post-season play. While some of the perplexing mistakes we are seeing on the field can certainly be attributed to the fact that 26 Cavaliers have see the collegiate playing field for the first time this year, a lot of what we are seeing is happening due a very young coaching staff - many of whom are only in their second years as a Division I FBS coach in their respective positions. What is certain is that with 5 games left on the schedule, no win is going to be easy - in fact, Virginia may not be favored in another game this season at their current pace. And that's okay...after all, no one said that the rebuilding effort at Virginia was going to be an easy task. For a team that only has 9 FBS wins in the last three seasons, Virginia fans are going to have to take a win for what it is...a win. What is not okay, however, is continuing to make the same mistakes on the field and on the sidelines (look no further than the coaching staff's handling of the final first half offensive series in the past two games). Virginia fans should not realistically expect this team to make post-season play, but their is no reason that the Cavalier faithful shouldn't see continual improvement on the field over the course of the season. Through 5 games, that has not been the case. With the bye week looming, the Virginia coaching staff will have some time to reevaluate and adjust. I'm cautiously optimistic that they will be able to correct some of the simple mistakes that have plagued the Cavaliers to this point in the season, and show the fans improvement across the board when Al Groh returns to Charlottesville in two weeks.
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