By now, nearly two weeks removed from the 34-8 season-opening win against NC State, Virginia football fans have heard the appreciation for the defense’s performance. The Hoos, after all, were a menace to the tune of 168 yards allowed and 2 turnovers forced.
While the over-arching dominance for the defense has been lauded, one play maybe slipped under the radar a little bit given the lopsided nature of the game. That play came when Jaylen Jones made one of the Hoos’ 2 sacks on the day in the third quarter. Caleb Hardy had the other sack in the first half.
With NC State in a 2nd-and-12 situation at the UVA 13-yard line, Jones rushed the pocket from his SPUR safety spot but got upended in route. After he tumbled to the ground, however, he quickly rolled through with momentum and sprung back to his feet. A second later, the 6’1”, 205-pounder took down CJ Bailey for a 9-yard loss. It’s teed up in the highlights.
NCSU, unfortunately, converted the 3rd-and-21 follow-up snap and scored its only points of the day on the drive, so the effort by Jones got lost in the shuffle. It’s exactly the kind of effort that is fueling this year’s defense, though. With a lot of players and a lot of experience on the defense, there’s competition to make plays and there’s the desire to roll fresh defenders into the game to keep pressure on opponents.
Virginia Defensive Coordinator John Rudzinski said the baseline expectation for anyone that’s in the game is to full tilt with effort. It’s what long-time UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett would refer to as your ‘entry ticket’ to be able to play at this level.
“Guys are fighting for their reps. They’re fighting for time,” Rudzinski said. “They know that’s the one thing that should be non-negotiable as far as how hard are you going to play. We’re going to have an empty the tank type of mentality at every snap and if we’ve got to get somebody fresh in there to go because somebody doesn’t have anymore in the tank, we’re going to get somebody fresh in there. He’s just another one of those guys we’re fortunate to coach that’s going to go 100% on each and every snap.”
Don’t expect that mentality to change this week even with the Hoos entering as heavy favorites against Norfolk State. When 7 p.m. rolls around at Scott Stadium, expect the defense to come with that same edge against the Spartans.
Check out more trends, keys, and picks ahead of the season’s second game.
3 Trends To Know
1. Tony Elliott Is Undefeated After An A Bye Week. With the Week 0 game against NC State on the schedule, Virginia had an early season bye week built in even though the game moved from Brazil to Charlottesville. It marked the earliest week in program history. So far, UVA coach Tony Elliott has put those bye week opportunities to good use in his tenure. The Hoos are 6-0 under Elliott immediately after a bye week. That includes two victories last season, a 22-20 win against Washington State and a 27-7 win against Virginia Tech.
2. Will Bettridge Near The Top Of The List. Virginia kicker Will Bettridge has scored in all 46 games of his career to date, including this year’s season opener when he had 2 field goals and 4 extra points during the Hoos’ big win. Bettridge’s longevity and consistency has put him on the verge of becoming the program’s all-time scoring leader. With 327 career points, he needs 6 points to surpass Connor Hughes. Others in the top 10 of that list include Wali Lundy (312), Gene Mayer (293), Rafael Garcia (272), Thomas Jones (240), Brian Delaney (236), Robert Randolph (225), Ian Frye (218), Frank Quayle (2010), and Tiki Barber (210).
3. Turnover Generation. As noted in the introduction, Virginia forced 2 turnovers against NC State in the season opener. Fisher Camac deflected a pass that became a Brandyn Hillman interception and Hillman knocked out a fumble that Landon Danley recovered. That pushed UVA’s total to 20 turnovers forced in its last 12 games. The defense has at least 1 turnover in 11 of the 12 games.
3 Keys To The Game
1. Take Care Of The Ball. Continuing on the turnovers theme, one thing that could make this game more challenging would be to commit turnovers. The Cavaliers went turnover free against NC State so they won the margin +2. Norfolk State, meanwhile, has forced 5 turnovers in two games. The safety duo of Josiah Davis (INT in second quarter) and Jordan Saunders (forced fumble and recovery in fourth quarter) against ODU, which was part of what let the Spartans hang around into the fourth quarter of that game.
2. Deal With Shifting Fronts. NSU will show a lot to the Cavalier offense in this game, mixing it up with different fronts. That means there will be 8 men in the box at times, but in varying formations. The Virginia offensive line and quarterbacks must do a good job of identifying what’s happening to get run plays blocked correctly and to make certain the pocket is clean on passing plays. If the Hoos can do that, there will be opportunities to break off chunk yards in this game.
3. Stop Another Bailey. In the season opener, the UVA defense made life tough on NC State quarterback CJ Bailey. He managed just 84 yards on 12-of-23 passing with 1 interception and added only 33 yards rushing with it. Virginia did a good job of containing him around the pocket and mixed things up in coverage enough to cause problems.
Now comes Bailey 2.0. Norfolk State quarterback Deljay Bailey enters the game with 213 passing yards and 3 touchdowns plus 68 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. He has completed 67.5% of his passes and throw only 1 interception. Bailey started his career at Ole Miss with a redshirt year in 2023 and then played at Grambling State and Itawamba Community College in the JUCO ranks. So he has experience.
If the Cavaliers can shut down the run and force favorable down-and-distance situations, then they can challenge a different Bailey again this week.
3 Virginia Picks
1. Jekail Middlebrook Scores His First Virginia Touchdown. Running back Jekail Middlebrook posted 15 carries for 64 yards in his UVA debut, a decent 4.3 yards per carry against an ACC foe. This week, Middlebrook will get into the end zone for the first time as a Cavalier after scoring 8 touchdowns at Middle Tennessee State prior to his transfer.
2. Jason Hammond Gets First Sack Of Season. Defensive tackle Jason Hammond posted 32 tackles with 2.5 sacks last season for the Hoos. He had a tackle for loss negated by an NC State penalty and a quarterback hurry in the opener. This week, he gets into the sacks column.
3. Winner: Virginia 59, Norfolk State 13. If Virginia runs the ball heavily again, it may be tougher to get to the high 50’s on the scoreboard but Old Dominion ripped off 3 plays of 20+ yards last week and this UVA offense has the ability to bust open big gains. I think more explosive touchdowns - two touchdowns of 40+ yards against NC State - are possible in this one so I think the Hoos put up a big number. Season To Date: 1-0.
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