No. 21 BYU 41, Virginia 33
Virginia lost in its first road game of the season Saturday at BYU. The game was another mix of positives and negatives that have so far characterized Virginia's season.
What I liked
The offense was surprisingly effective against one of the better defenses in the country, piling up 519 yards and 33 points -- the first time the much-maligned Steven Fairchild offense has gone over 27 points in 14 games against FBS competition. BYU's rush defense was ranked No. 3 in the country coming into the game and the Cavaliers gained 192 yards on the ground. Khalek Shepherd, who is looking pretty good during his senior season, led the team with 14 carries and 73 yards. He also had
one rushing TD. Kevin Parks managed just 24 yards on 11 carries and Taquan Mizzell recorded 16 yards. Even Greyson Lambert got in on the action, tallying 49 yards. He had a really nice carry on the second play of the game where he showcased some speed on a 37-yard scamper down to the BYU one-yard line. I am glad that Shepherd was getting a lot of runs in the game because he has probably been our best-looking RB so far this season, even better than Parks, but he had been buried behind him and Mizzell. Fourteen carries could show a willingness to give him more work.
Lambert had a pretty nice passing game, completing 21 of 35 passes for 188 yards and just one pick. He got hit throughout the day and showed a lot of toughness. He does not care about getting hit, unlike David Watford last season who you could see would shy away from hits. He hurt his ankle late in the game and is uncertain for this Saturday vs. Kent State. Matt Johns came in and once again did a nice job in relief, completing 14 of 23 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Miles Gooch, who came into the season with, I believe, three catches to his name, had another awesome day at wide receiver, hauling in six passes for 65 yards. Canaan Severin tallied four catches for 58 yards and Doni Dowling had three receptions for 46 yards. Kyle Dockins caught one pass that went for 11 yards and a touchdown.
Ian Frye was superb at kicker under trying circumstances. At halftime, he learned that his dad, who was in the stands, had suffered a heart attack. He got to see him but his parents encouraged him to stay with teammates and keep his head in the game. Frye did just that, making all four of his field goals on the day, including a big 46-yarder that got Virginia to within eight points early in the fourth quarter. Frye stayed behind until Monday and then came home. His dad is in a hospital in Provo, Utah, and is recovering well.
What I didn't like
Virginia came into the game as one of the best teams in the country on kickoff coverage. I think I heard on the Mike London-Dave Koehn (the team's radio play-by-play guy) radio interview Monday that the Cavaliers now rank 90th in that category, thanks to Adam Hine, who took one return 33 yards and another 99 for a touchdown. He went right down the middle on the TD run and the coverage for Virginia looked awful. The Cavaliers' coverage had gotten better the past couple seasons and that was a bad flash to the past. Hopefully it gets straightened out in practice. It was obviously a huge turning point in the game since Virginia lost by eight points.
The defense did not get any turnovers for the first time this season and allowed 34 points, though it was put into some bad positions by the offense from time to time. Overall, the defense still did pretty well in the yards department, allowing just 332.
I do not like to complain about the reffing and I pride myself on looking objectively at the reffing. I am usually saying "good call" even when a flag goes against my team and fellow fans are booing. However, the reffing was not good during this game. BYU was penalized 12 times for 133 yards and I think it could have been more as the Cougars seemed to have a penchant for hitting after the whistle had been blown. Also the refs appeared to miss a huge call -- I forget which quarter -- but it looked like a player on the left end of the BYU offensive line, either the tight end or left tackle, moved before the snap. They blew the whistle but said no flag because the player was shifting and it was not offsides. It was one of the stranger sequences I think I've seen on a football field.
Though the offense moved the ball, it bogged down in the red zone and still needs to get better there. This was a problem last year, too, as there were some games where you looked at the offensive stats and couldn't believe the team didn't have more points. Virginia kicked four field goals and two of those were 23 and 22 yards, meaning Virginia was very close to the end zone. Got to punch those possessions into the end zone. One time, the Cavaliers were inside the one-yard line and the 'Hoos were going for the touchdown. An offsides penalty pushed UVa back and London smartly decided to kick the field goal instead, Can't afford to have mental breakdowns in crucial situations like that. A TD there would have put Virginia up 14-3. Instead, the FG just made it 10-3.
Takeaways
BYU is a quality team that could run the table and go undefeated. There were several mistakes Virginia made throughout the game but the players kept fighting and didn't give up and made the final score more than respectable. A couple plays here and there made the difference. Virginia was not too far from beating a second straight ranked team.
It was yet another promising step in the right direction. I continue to hold my breath during games, waiting for the team to look like it did last year. That hasn't happened yet and that is worth celebrating but there is a lot of work to be done if this team wants to go bowling. That starts this Saturday by shaking off the loss and getting to 3-2 by blowing out an 0-3 Kent State team that shouldn't give Virginia much of a problem. If the Cavaliers are for real and are going to be competing in the upper half of the ACC Coastal Division, this is one of those games where they need to take care of business early and have a workman-like attitude.
Virginia lost in its first road game of the season Saturday at BYU. The game was another mix of positives and negatives that have so far characterized Virginia's season.
What I liked
The offense was surprisingly effective against one of the better defenses in the country, piling up 519 yards and 33 points -- the first time the much-maligned Steven Fairchild offense has gone over 27 points in 14 games against FBS competition. BYU's rush defense was ranked No. 3 in the country coming into the game and the Cavaliers gained 192 yards on the ground. Khalek Shepherd, who is looking pretty good during his senior season, led the team with 14 carries and 73 yards. He also had
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| RB/PR Khalek Shepherd |
Lambert had a pretty nice passing game, completing 21 of 35 passes for 188 yards and just one pick. He got hit throughout the day and showed a lot of toughness. He does not care about getting hit, unlike David Watford last season who you could see would shy away from hits. He hurt his ankle late in the game and is uncertain for this Saturday vs. Kent State. Matt Johns came in and once again did a nice job in relief, completing 14 of 23 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Miles Gooch, who came into the season with, I believe, three catches to his name, had another awesome day at wide receiver, hauling in six passes for 65 yards. Canaan Severin tallied four catches for 58 yards and Doni Dowling had three receptions for 46 yards. Kyle Dockins caught one pass that went for 11 yards and a touchdown.
Ian Frye was superb at kicker under trying circumstances. At halftime, he learned that his dad, who was in the stands, had suffered a heart attack. He got to see him but his parents encouraged him to stay with teammates and keep his head in the game. Frye did just that, making all four of his field goals on the day, including a big 46-yarder that got Virginia to within eight points early in the fourth quarter. Frye stayed behind until Monday and then came home. His dad is in a hospital in Provo, Utah, and is recovering well.
What I didn't like
Virginia came into the game as one of the best teams in the country on kickoff coverage. I think I heard on the Mike London-Dave Koehn (the team's radio play-by-play guy) radio interview Monday that the Cavaliers now rank 90th in that category, thanks to Adam Hine, who took one return 33 yards and another 99 for a touchdown. He went right down the middle on the TD run and the coverage for Virginia looked awful. The Cavaliers' coverage had gotten better the past couple seasons and that was a bad flash to the past. Hopefully it gets straightened out in practice. It was obviously a huge turning point in the game since Virginia lost by eight points.
The defense did not get any turnovers for the first time this season and allowed 34 points, though it was put into some bad positions by the offense from time to time. Overall, the defense still did pretty well in the yards department, allowing just 332.
I do not like to complain about the reffing and I pride myself on looking objectively at the reffing. I am usually saying "good call" even when a flag goes against my team and fellow fans are booing. However, the reffing was not good during this game. BYU was penalized 12 times for 133 yards and I think it could have been more as the Cougars seemed to have a penchant for hitting after the whistle had been blown. Also the refs appeared to miss a huge call -- I forget which quarter -- but it looked like a player on the left end of the BYU offensive line, either the tight end or left tackle, moved before the snap. They blew the whistle but said no flag because the player was shifting and it was not offsides. It was one of the stranger sequences I think I've seen on a football field.
Though the offense moved the ball, it bogged down in the red zone and still needs to get better there. This was a problem last year, too, as there were some games where you looked at the offensive stats and couldn't believe the team didn't have more points. Virginia kicked four field goals and two of those were 23 and 22 yards, meaning Virginia was very close to the end zone. Got to punch those possessions into the end zone. One time, the Cavaliers were inside the one-yard line and the 'Hoos were going for the touchdown. An offsides penalty pushed UVa back and London smartly decided to kick the field goal instead, Can't afford to have mental breakdowns in crucial situations like that. A TD there would have put Virginia up 14-3. Instead, the FG just made it 10-3.
Takeaways
BYU is a quality team that could run the table and go undefeated. There were several mistakes Virginia made throughout the game but the players kept fighting and didn't give up and made the final score more than respectable. A couple plays here and there made the difference. Virginia was not too far from beating a second straight ranked team.
It was yet another promising step in the right direction. I continue to hold my breath during games, waiting for the team to look like it did last year. That hasn't happened yet and that is worth celebrating but there is a lot of work to be done if this team wants to go bowling. That starts this Saturday by shaking off the loss and getting to 3-2 by blowing out an 0-3 Kent State team that shouldn't give Virginia much of a problem. If the Cavaliers are for real and are going to be competing in the upper half of the ACC Coastal Division, this is one of those games where they need to take care of business early and have a workman-like attitude.
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