The grades are in.
Nick Jackson makes a tackle during the Virginia win. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

After a sluggish start, the Virginia football team’s offense got into gear with 10:59 left in the second quarter and proceeded to score five touchdowns and a field goal over its final seven chartable drives. With the defense pitching a shutout on the other side of the ball, the Hoos took care of business against William & Mary on Saturday by a 43-0 score.

Overview

Offense: 95.1 (A)

  • Highlights: All four offensive operations scored over 98.6% on first down passing; all four operations scored over 95.75 on third down conversion offense; all four operations scored 100% on total first down offense; the offensive line and running backs led in red zone offense.
  • Not so bright: The biggest blight on the offensive side was that only four of Virginia’s 11 chartable drives were clean (41%) - see below for explanation.
In The Sabre’s preseason roundtable for the “50 Thoughts” series, I was given the question: “what phases of the starting QB’s game are the staff working on hardest?” I said, “I see the staff’s next developmental phases for Brennan Armstrong to be on the cerebral side in terms of reading defenses and becoming a more sophisticated decision maker at quarterback.” I think we saw this Saturday. He displayed more patience and allowed plays to develop and receivers to get more pattern depth instead of abandoning the pocket. I added that hopefully this would lead to more explosive plays, and it did Saturday as the Hoos posted 24 10-yard plus plays. We also saw some vertical shots and I expect that part of the offense to emerge as well. More on the passing offense is below in the “One More Thing” segment.