Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott greets his players coming off the field during the second half against the Syracuse Orange at JMA Wireless Dome. — Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Five Observations From Virginia's Loss at Syracuse

What we learned about the Cavaliers in their 22-20 loss to the Orange in the ACC opener

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Sep 24, 2022 1:31 PM EDT

In this story:

Friday night's ACC-opener was a tale of two halves for Virginia, particularly on the offensive end. While the defense played well from beginning to end, UVA's offensive unit laid an egg in the first half before coming alive for three touchdowns in the second half. Unfortunately for the Wahoos, that was too little, too late as Syracuse defeated Virginia 22-20 and this game ended up serving as another learning opportunity for the Cavaliers, who discovered that only showing up for half of the game is not going to get the job done, especially on the road against a good conference opponent.

With that in mind, here's our five observations from Virginia's loss at Syracuse:

1. John Rudzinski has done an incredible job with the UVA defense.

Before this week, it was still just a little bit too early to say for sure. But now, it's safe to say that the hiring of John Rudzinski from Air Force might have been the most crucial move Tony Elliott has made since taking the UVA job last December. Virginia's defense didn't deliver the best performance in the season-opener against Richmond, sparking some doubt about the team's ability to improve from last season. But since then, the UVA defensive unit has been stellar, only yielding two touchdowns to Illinois, followed by one-touchdown games against Old Dominion and Syracuse. What was undoubtedly the weakness of the program coming into this season has transformed into the strength of the team under Rudzinski and the defensive coaching staff.

On Friday night at the Dome, the Cavaliers were stout, especially against the run. Syracuse totaled only 75 rushing yards and All-American running back Sean Tucker was held to only 60 yards on 21 carries. An Orange offense that hadn't turned the ball over a single time this season had four turnovers against UVA, as Jonas Sanker came up with an interception and Lex Long, Kam Butler, and Jonathan Horton each forced a fumble.

Even more important was Virginia's defensive execution when Syracuse moved the ball into the red zone. On five trips to the red zone, the Orange scored only one touchdown and had to settle for four field goals. That one touchdown came on the first drive of the game after Trebor Pena returned the opening kickoff 57 yards into UVA territory. This solid defensive performance from Virginia also came without the services of injured defensive backs Antonio Clary and Coen King and UVA also lost the leader of its defense, Nick Jackson, to a targeting penalty early in the second half. The defense is giving UVA a chance to win games; it's up to the offense to seize those opportunities.

2. What has happened to Brennan Armstrong?

Yes, he is dealing with a new offensive system, more than a few dropped passes by his receivers, and a makeshift offensive line that is allowing a lot of pressure to get through. But even so, Brennan Armstrong has simply been off too much and too often this season for it to be called an anomaly. So far this season, Armstrong is 73/140 (52.1%) for 848 yards and only three touchdowns to four interceptions, a stunning drop-off from his record-breaking 2021 campaign. The struggles continued against Syracuse, as Armstrong went 19/38 for just 138 yards and a touchdown, his first TD pass since week 1. He is making poor decisions in the pocket, forcing throws into tight coverage, missing open receivers, and not taking care of the football.

Early in the fourth quarter, the UVA defense forced a turnover, giving the Cavaliers the ball at the Syracuse 36-yard line. On the first play of that drive, Armstrong stared down his intended receiver for a few seconds before lofting a high-arcing pass into double coverage that was easily intercepted. He has also continued to struggle to secure the ball when he tucks it in and runs - which he does a lot. Armstrong had another fumble against Syracuse and this time, it was a collision with his own blocker Lavel Davis Jr. that popped the ball free. On the final drive with a chance to win the game, Armstrong made a couple of poor decisions on third and fourth down that cost the Cavaliers the game. Needing just four yards to move the chains, Armstrong had a clear running lane which he could have taken for a first down, but instead tried to force a pass to Grant Misch that was nearly intercepted. On fourth down, Armstrong again tried to force a ball into a well-covered Lavel Davis Jr. when Keytaon Thompson was wide-open at the marker for a sure-thing first down.

Much respect to what Armstrong has accomplished and he is clearly a talented quarterback, but these are just bad plays that you wouldn't expect to see from such a veteran player. The UVA offense has a lot of problems, but it starts with the decision-making of the one player who starts with the ball in his hands on every play. Brennan Armstrong must be better.

3. Virginia's ground game was the key to the second-half resurgence.

While the passing game struggled, UVA's commitment to the running game was pivotal to the success of the offense in the second half. The Virginia offensive line did well to open up some running lanes for Perris Jones, who had himself a nice evening with 87 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. A few seven-yard runs from Jones helped the Cavaliers move down the field on their first scoring drive to open the third quarter. That drive was capped by a one-yard touchdown run for Keytaon Thompson, a player who Virginia should consider involving more in the run game especially in the red zone. After a Syracuse turnover gave UVA the ball back at the Syracuse 13-yard line, Virginia punched the ball in on the ground again with a four-yard run from Jones.

One interesting note is UVA's distribution of carries against Syracuse. Jones led the way with 13 rushing attempts, followed by Brennan Armstrong with 11 carries. Mike Hollins had just two carries, but one of those was a nice 19-yard pickup on a run that started from inside the UVA five-yard line. Tony Elliott's comments on Xavier Brown this week made it seem like he was in line to get a lot of touches against Cuse, but the freshman running back had just one carry, which he stumbled on for only one yard. Overall, though, the Virginia run game was a bright spot, totaling 149 yards and two touchdowns on 5.1 yards per rushing attempt.

4. Virginia's special teams unit is a mess.

Brendan Farrell might be the first player to ever win the conference's Specialist of the Week award only to lose his job the next week. In Farrell's defense, he was put in a tough spot, as Tony Elliott asked him to hit two field goals in the first quarter that were both beyond his previous career longs. Farrell missed attempts from 50 and 48 yards on back-to-back drives and neither were particularly close and he was then pulled from the game as freshman Will Bettridge handled placekicking duties after that.

Some UVA fans had been asking for Bettridge to replace Farrell since he hasn't exactly been automatic from closer ranges either. The only reason Farrell's game-winning field goal against ODU was needed was because he missed a field goal on the previous possession. Bettridge did not have to attempt a field goal against Syracuse and he went 2/3 on extra points, as he had one blocked. Virginia's coverage unit also messed up to start the game, giving up a 57-yard return to Trebor Pena that set up Syracuse's first and only touchdown of the game.

The UVA special teams unit did do some good things. Daniel Sparks was solid with four punts averaging 48 yards, including one 59-yard punt, and three of his four punts went inside the 20-yard line. Jonathan Horton also forced a fumble on a Syracuse kickoff return. But overall, UVA lost the special teams battle, leaving at least seven points on the board on field goals and PATs alone. With Virginia's kicking unit where it is right now, Tony Elliott should think twice about attempting any more field goals from 45+.

5. Virginia's red zone execution was better, but turnovers are still a problem and so are penalties.

Execution in the red zone was a major talking point this week after UVA amassed 513 yards of total offense against ODU, but scored only 16 points. On seven trips to the red zone, the Cavaliers scored only one touchdown, kicked three field goals, and came up empty three times.

Against Syracuse, Virginia was much better in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on each of its three trips inside the Cuse 20-yard line. However, the problem was that the Cavaliers struggled to even reach the red zone, not getting that far into Syracuse territory until the second half. UVA did not crack the red zone once in the first half, despite having two drives that started on Syracuse's side of the 50.

The other major issue was turnovers, which was a problem again this week, as Armstrong threw an interception and fumbled the ball. He probably should have had one or two more passes intercepted, if we're being honest. It was only because of the UVA defense's ability to force turnovers that Virginia actually won the turnover battle 4-2.

Another problem emerged against Syracuse and that was penalties. Virginia was called for 12 penalties totaling 106 yards. The UVA offense was penalized five times: three false starts, a holding, and an illegal substitution. The Virginia defense had seven penalties accepted for 76 yards, including two offsides, an illegal block in the back, and a targeting penalty on Nick Jackson that will also hold him out of the first half of the Duke game next week. The most costly penalty of all was a facemask on Hunter Stewart that wiped away a third-down sack of Garrett Shrader and kept alive the Syracuse drive that ultimately ended with the game-winning field goal.

Virginia showed toughness and resilience to not roll over and accept defeat after a deplorable first half. The potential remains for these Cavaliers to develop into a good team, as a more complete performance from the UVA offense would have resulted in a road win against a solid Syracuse team. Virginia now has the defense it longed for last season when the offense was firing on all cylinders. If the offense can catch up, there's still time for UVA to win some games this season, but time is running out for Tony Elliott, Des Kitchings, and Brennan Armstrong to figure it out.

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