Tony Muskett led Virginia to 2 touchdowns at Notre Dame. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
The Virginia football team hit the road Saturday looking for a second straight win as an underdog against a ranked opponent. It took only one play to turn that quest into an uphill battle against No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend, though. The Hoos hung tough after that initial miscue, but things eventually unraveled with more turnovers and the Irish pulled away to a 35-14 win.
The Cavaliers actually won the second half 14-7, thanks in part to a garbage time touchdown in the final minute, but five first half turnovers had made hopes of winning challenging long before that. Chris Tyree muffed the opening kickoff to set up the first ND touchdown and an immediate 7-0 deficit. The offense had 3 interceptions and a fumble in the second quarter to add to the issues and the Irish took a comfortable 28-0 advantage into intermission. That lead was never threatened in the second half, but Virginia did keep pushing.
"That's what I told them in the postgame breakdown, I appreciate their effort. They're not going to quit, they're going to fight. That's part of our DNA and that's where it starts," UVA coach Tony Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "You've got to have the resilience to just keep battling regardless of circumstances. So proud of the effort to play all the way to the end, but we've just got a lot of coaching to do, a lot of teaching to do, and a lot of improving to do."
There's certainly plenty of work to do in terms of competing with some of the tougher teams on the schedule. Over the last month, Clemson, North Carolina, and Notre Dame all toppled Virginia by at least 17 points. The latest tussle with the Irish seemed somewhat more competitive the previous two, but remained far from close on the scoreboard. Here are some takeaways from the loss that dropped the Hoos to 5-5 with two games to play.
Anthony Colandrea's Slump Continues
While Virginia snapped its three-game losing streak at Pittsburgh last week, quarterback Anthony Colandrea still had some consistency issues. The Notre Dame game Saturday just added to what's become a seven-week slump with what turned out to be his worst performance in those six games.
Against the Irish, Colandrea completed 8 of 21 passes for only 69 yards. He tossed 3 interceptions. Colandrea's final two interceptions in South Bend were rough. One was a pass attempt on a crossing route where he never saw the downfield defender and threw it right to him. The final one was an ill-advised throw into a traffic area where he scrambled, threw late, and missed his target.
"Didn't see one of the guys when he was throwing, I think when No. 8 picked it off. The one going to the left throwing back to the right, he's trying to make a play and I know he's capable, but in that situation you just want to throw it out of bounds," Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. He added: "I hate it for him because as a young guy, he's got to go through this adversity. But one thing I know about AC is he'll respond. He'll bounce back. He's a competitor. He'll go back to work and we've seen him play at a high level so we know he's capable. We've just got to help him through this adversity, but he'll respond the right way."
In some ways, the struggle Saturday is understandable. Notre Dame entered the game ranked No. 1 nationally in completion percentage allowed at 47.8%, No. 2 in pass defense at 148.6 yards per game, No. 3 (tie) in yards per attempt allowed at 5.4, and No. 17 (tie) in interceptions with 12. The trend has come against multiple opponents, though.
Over the last six games, he's done one or more of the following: thrown for fewer than 200 yards, completed fewer than 60% of his passes, or tossed multiple interceptions. Take a look at the breakdown game by game.
- Boston College: 179 yards, 57.7% (15-26), 0 INTs, 1 TD
- Louisville: 279 yards, 57.8% (26-45), 1 INT, 1 TD
- Clemson: 159 yards, 57.7% (15-26), 0 INTs, 2 TDs
- North Carolina: 156 yards, 57.1% (16-28), 2 INTs, 0 TDs
- Pittsburgh: 143 yards, 66.7% (16-24), 2 INTs, 1 TD
- Notre Dame: 69 yards, 38.1% (8-21), 3 INTs, 0 TDs
Adding up those six games, Colandrea has completed 96 of 170 passes for a 56.5% completion rate. That's led to 985 yards or 164.2 yards per game. He has 8 interceptions vs. 5 touchdowns. If those were season-long numbers prior to Saturday's games, the completion percentage would rank last in the ACC, the interceptions would be third from the bottom, and the average passing yards per game would be 16th or near last among regular QBs. The Hoos posted a 2-4 record in those contests.
The coaches pulled Colandrea after halftime at ND with Tony Muskett getting the start in the second half. Muskett led a pair of touchdown drives. He finished 9-14 passing for 103 yards. He posted 5 carries for 9 yards and 2 TDs rushing on those scoring drives. That included an 18-yard rushing touchdown, but he lost yardage on 2 sacks. (Of note, Notre Dame got only those 2 sacks when it came into the game averaging 2.89 per game.) Muskett has directed the offense to points in all three of his extended appearances in recent weeks, including multiple touchdown drives against both Clemson and Notre Dame. That brings quarterback discussions back to the surface for fans and observers.
"We're definitely going to have to go back and evaluate the game and see what gives us the best opportunity the next two weeks," Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "I told [Tony Muskett] to keep preparing, be ready. In fairness to AC too, we're going to evaluate it and let those guys go compete. We've got two good quality quarterbacks that we believe both of them can give us a chance. We've got to do a great job as coaches just to figure out what the best path forward is. No decision is made tonight. No decision is going to be made until we can sit down and just really evaluate all the circumstances and the entire situation."
Virginia linebacker Trey McDonald made an interception. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
Virginia Defense Didn't Survive Sudden Change Situations & Gave Up An Explosive Touchdown, But Got Another Interception
UVA's start to this game was the inverse of its road win at Coastal Carolina. In that one, the Chanticleers fumbled the opening kickoff and the Hoos capitalized with a touchdown. This time, Chris Tyree muffed the catch on the opening kickoff and the Irish flipped that turnover into a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Virginia's defense hung in there for a long stretch, though. The Hoos forced a 3-and-out on four straight possessions (and five out of six in sequence) after that first TD. That included one scenario where UVA went for it on fourth down at its own 46-yard and came up short, leaving the defense on a short field. ND gained only 1 yard total on those three plays. The score still stood 7-0 approximately five minutes into the second quarter.
The biggest knock for the defense on the day came in sudden change situations. A string of turnovers by the offense put the defense in a bind and it couldn't get stops most of the time after those miscues. That led to a flurry of points. In addition to Colandrea's interceptions, Kobe Pace had a fumble in the second quarter. The Irish scored touchdowns after three of the four turnovers, but the defense held for a field goal try that missed on the fourth one. Late in the game, the defense forced another kick attempt after a long drive that also missed.
"I thought early on, we were playing well on defense. We were getting stops, getting off the field, and actually the sudden change on the first play of the game, without the penalty there for the [Kam Robinson] late hit on the quarterback, we're getting ready to hold ... right out of the gate," Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "There were multiple stops that gave us a chance. ... The defense gave us a chance. I told them it was going to take all three phases and for the first part of the game, I thought the defense was holding their own."
Other than the four touchdowns that followed turnovers, the one blemish on the defensive scorecard came in the third quarter. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love sliced through an opening and then sprinted 76 yards for a touchdown. The Cavaliers have allowed a touchdown of 25+ yards in six games this season. Notre Dame (76), Boston College (29), Coastal Carolina (29), and Maryland (26) each had a single long score, while North Carolina (37, 31) and Clemson (36, 40, 34) had multiples. That means the majority of the problems here (6 of 9 explosive touchdowns allowed) have occurred in three of the last four games, coinciding in part with Antonio Clary's injury at safety.
In one bit of good news, the Cavaliers did get an interception from linebacker Trey McDonald, the first of his career, early in the third quarter. That gave the UVA defense at least 1 Interception in six of its last seven games. That string started at Coastal Carolina and UNC is the only game without a pick since. Virginia also held Notre Dame to 4-16 on third and fourth down tries (1-12 on third, 3-4 on fourth).
Physical Game, Team Health For Final Games
While Virginia competed and hung tough with the playoff contender Irish, the game did cause some physical wear and tear. Multiple times throughout the game, UVA players needed brief assistance and walked off the field slowly. The extent of those injuries are unknown currently, but some of the team's key contributors were among the concerning names.
That included safety Jonas Sanker, who continued his excellent season with a career-high 13 tackles. He returned to the game after limping off at one point, but the Cavaliers certainly would benefit from a healthy Sanker for the final weeks. Running back Xavier Brown also got assistance after one play. He finished with 11 carries for 52 yards. Defensive lineman Terrell Jones, offensive lineman Blake Steen, safety Corey Thomas Jr., and linebacker James Jackson, who made his return to the lineup after missing three straight games, were some of the others that were examined in the loss.
With Southern Methodist, another team ranked in the top 15 of the playoff standings, coming to Charlottesville next week for a noon game, that's not an ideal group to be nursing any bumps and bruises or significant injuries. The Hoos also have their annual rivalry game with Virginia Tech looming on Nov. 30 in Blacksburg. Virginia needs one more win to reach bowl eligibility. Elliott said while he thinks the Wahoos can compete with anyone on the schedule, the margin for error remains small so games with 5 turnovers, injuries, and poor execution are challenging.
"When we play our best, not perfect, but when we play our best game, I think we can compete with anybody out there ... but the margin for error is very, very small," Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "That's what we've got to focus on - not who the opponent it is, but focus on what we can control and then just having the discipline and commitment to go one play at a time. ... We've got to get healthy. We lost a couple of guys tonight so we've got to get back to full strength."
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