‘Exceptional’ Armstrong leads Wahoos over Eagles in fourth straight win

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Virginia 43, Boston College 32 

COVID continues to postpone and cancel regular-season games. Bowls are dropping off the schedule like flies. College basketball season has started, and the hardwood ‘Hoos — off to a roller-coaster start of a season — are, unsurprisingly, taking some attention away from the gridiron ‘Hoos. The calendar is rapidly advancing toward Christmas. By all accounts, it feels like college football is winding down.

But don’t tell that to the players in the Virginia locker room, who look energized, are playing well, and won their fourth straight game Saturday by beating Boston College at Scott Stadium on senior day.

“I feel like this whole season has been like whatever happens, happens. … Our defense got a little banged up … what else can you do? We just keep rolling through it,” record-setting quarterback Brennan Armstrong said after the victory. “Season’s been hard, everything’s been tough, mentally, physically, so we just keep rolling.”

Injured senior linebacker Charles Snowden was chosen to break the rock after the game. Watching him pump up the ‘Hoos during the game from the end zone with one leg, listening to him afterward, watching his teammates’ reactions — does this look like a team ready for the season to end?
After a 1-4 start, UVa is 5-4 and 4-4 in the ACC. The players should be commended for sticking with it during a grueling and unusual season.

“Everything that we do in our program, my passion is to prepare them for their lives and for the world, and it’s so easy to stop when things get hard. It’s easier to opt out than opt in,” coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “They have just opted in, and then they’ve stayed in. And that is powerful for just hardships that come in life. And I’ve tried to teach, and I’ve really worked hard to help them know how powerful it is to just keep going.”

Behind 287 passing yards and 130 rushing yards from Armstrong (417 total) — the first UVa QB to post consecutive games of more than 400 total yards — and a trio of interceptions, the Cavaliers pulled away from the Eagles. For those wondering, Bryce Perkins did record more than 400 yards of offense twice last season, just not consecutively: at North Carolina and versus Virginia Tech.
“I knew we hadn’t beaten BC at all in history, so I was like all right, we can check it off the books, something we’ve never done before, and our seniors going out with a win, so that was just, not pressure on my shoulders, but I wanted to do that for them, I wanted the team to get the win, so I’m happy we did that,” said Armstrong, who led the offense to 549 yards, its best output of the season after 518 against Abilene Christian.
It was the Wahoos’ first win in seven tries versus the Eagles, (6-5, 5-5), who wrapped up their first season under coach Jeff Hafley. BC was picked to finish in the bottom of the conference (tied for 12th by the Hoos Place gang), but after a solid campaign, it is going to place firmly in the middle of the pack.

Hafley’s hands were kind of tied behind his back Saturday, as he was missing his top quarterback, Notre Dame transfer Phil Jurkovec, and top running back, David Bailey, because of injuries.

But that didn’t stop the Eagles offense from trying to get into a shootout with the Cavaliers.

Backup QB Dennis Grosel, who started seven games in 2019, completed 32 of 46 passes for 520 yards and four TDs, tying Doug Flutie’s single-game school record for passing yards as the UVa secondary continued its struggles.

But as good as Grosel was in a gutty performance, his three picks ended up costing BC in its upset attempt. The first interception came in the second quarter and really ended up being a momentum-changer for Virginia. The Eagles were up 7-6 and driving for another score when a senior stepped up and made a big play.

On first-and-10 at UVa’s 19-yard line, Adeeb Atariwa, Matt Gahm, and Elliott Brown applied pressure on Grosel, causing him to backpedal. He lofted a pass toward the end zone that was intended for tight end Hunter Long, but De’Vante Cross positioned himself under the ball, jumped up high, and grabbed it out of the air. Grosel had floated a couple of earlier passes, but the secondary had done nothing until then to punish him for it. It was Cross’ second pick of the season and fifth of his career.
Eight plays and 95 yards later, the ‘Hoos recorded their first TD when Armstrong found Ra’Shaun Henry down the middle of the field for a 47-yard score. Henry crossed up a BC defender badly on the play, causing him to fall down. Up 13-7, Virginia never trailed again.

Cross wasn’t the only senior to make big plays for the defense. In fact, the other two picks were recorded by fourth-years as well. The second one came at an important time, too.

BC had closed to within 20-17 and was on the Virginia 43 early in the third quarter. Nick Grant did not have a good first half, getting turned around on pass routes and sometimes just tripping on blades of grass. But he made a big play this time. As Grosel launched a pass to the goal line, Grant jumped up with Zay Flowers and wrestled the ball away for the pick, his second of 2020 and fourth in his career.

Two plays later, Armstrong did his best impression of Perkins during last year’s senior day win over the Hokies with a 60-yard scamper toward the end zone, and the Cavaliers went up 27-17.

The final pick with four minutes left did not lead to points like the other two, but it did occur as BC was close to scoring again. D’Angelo Amos stepped in front of a pass for the easy theft at the 4-yard line. It was the JMU transfer’s second interception of the season.

Despite the Eagles finding some success through the air, Virginia’s defense did do a good job of rendering BC’s rushing attack punchless, allowing Bailey’s backup, Travis Levy, to gain just 31 yards on 11 carries. It also was able to put pressure on Grosel throughout most of the game, recording four sacks, with seniors coming away with all of them: Gahm, Cross, Atariwa, and Mandy Alonso. Additionally, Gahm had another tackle for loss, and Amos had one as well. All told, the Eagles wound up with minus-7 yards rushing.
UVa was even more shorthanded than expected on defense, with linebacker Noah Taylor and lineman Jahmeer Carter out because of COVID issues. But senior safety Joey Blount was back from injury, and he contributed four tackles. Considering the circumstances, and it is sort of weird to say this since BC racked up 513 yards, it was actually a solid performance.

“There’s up to six defensive linemen that are out. Five of the starting front seven that have played most of the year [were] out. As you saw, Noah Taylor wasn’t with us tonight or Jahmeer Carter,” Mendenhall said. “We moved Tommy Christ back over from [offensive line to defensive line]. We played not only Su [Olasunkonmi Agunloye], but Jordan Redmond contributed at a high level. And so they’ve just done a really nice job of putting the next person in. Hunter Stewart is now helping us at outside linebacker. Matt Gahm stepped up and Elliott Brown. And so there’s new faces and new names with a similar result in the front seven. That was really helpful in helping us make, or as the game went, for Boston College just to be one dimensional and get enough pressure on the quarterback and enough sacks. And for us, in the secondary, to make just enough plays in terms of turnovers or stops to have the success we wanted.”

But the story of the day was Armstrong, who has seemed to progress rapidly as the season has gone along.

“I think I’m getting better every game. That just goes with preparation, just playing a lot more,” the redshirt sophomore from Ohio said. “I’m finally getting the hang of it, getting into games, feeling it out, knowing what I got to do, knowing what I got to improve on. That’s kind of what I expected after I got a full season-ish in, was to get better and better through each game, and I think I’ve done that, so I’m seeing a lot of improvement.”

He did throw one pick as he was getting hit at the end of the first half, and that led to a field goal for the Eagles.

“I just kind of put that little two-minute scenario behind me, and I knew we had to put more points on the board in the second half, and that’s what we did,” he said.

Armstrong completed 19 of his 27 passes for that one TD to Henry and added the long scoring run. He was the first UVa player to rush for 100 yards this season.
It’s tough not to see the improvement in Armstrong and how well he is playing right now and not think of Perkins’ exceptional 2018 and ’19 campaigns. Armstrong is already comparing favorably to his predecessor. This season, Armstrong is averaging 232.3 passing yards and 66.1 rushing yards per game, and that is counting the partial N.C. State game. Over his two seasons, Perkins averaged 230.3 passing yards and 62.7 rushing yards. Um, wow.

“Brennan Armstrong continues to be exceptional and continues to get better and better and better,” Mendenhall said. “To have had the start we had without Brennan, and then obviously when he’s come back and to see where the team has gone, he certainly deserves a lot of credit.”

Mendenhall was referring to the N.C. State game Oct. 10, when Armstrong was knocked out in the second quarter with a concussion. He missed the following contest against Wake Forest, too. During Saturday’s broadcast, the sideline reporter said Armstrong indicated that was a turning point in the season for him. Once he came back healthy, he said he felt more grateful to just be playing football with his teammates.

Keytaon Thompson rushed for 86 yards and two TDs, including a long jaunt of his own for 43 yards. Senior Shane Simpson had five carries for 19 yards and a 73-yard kick return, the longest of the season for Virginia.

Henry finished with three catches for 95 yards. Tight end Tony Poljan recorded three catches for 45 yards. They are both seniors. Billy Kemp IV (luckily, he is just a junior) led the team with six catches, and they went for 54 yards. Unfortunately, Kemp, who is tied for third in the ACC with 58 catches, only has one TD in 2020. Star true freshman Lavel Davis Jr. had three catches for 66 yards. He almost scored, getting stopped just short of the goal line on a dangerous hit by Kam Arnold, who was ejected. Davis went back to the locker room, but he did come back to the sideline. He leads the ACC by a large margin with 25.9 yards per catch.

The ‘Hoos, especially on offense, are playing their best football of the season. But more than anything, aside from the victories, the players have done what they’ve been asked to do exceptionally well. They have followed the COVID protocols, experiencing minimal issues with the virus. After a rough start in terms of wins and losses, it is great to see their hard work rewarded with victories.

“Certainly, having success helps [with that message of perseverance],” Mendenhall said. “And so, man, to have that happen now — and I made the same promise to this team as I made way back when I became the head coach — and that was that it wasn’t a matter of if, it was when … that this team, this season, that we would start to have success. And that was during that hard stretch, and I believe that. I knew that. But, those words are pretty hollow until you see it. But they trusted. … It just is so fun to see them put that all together and realize that hard work and determination and dedication and resiliency and perseverance does matter, and it does win.”

Next Saturday, Virginia travels to Virginia Tech for a primetime showdown. In 2019, the Cavaliers topped the Hokies for the first time since 2003, winning the Coastal crown in the process. But that was last season. There’s not as much on the line in 2020, but it is still Wahoos-Hokies, and after crafting its own unique story, this year’s team is ready to pen its perfect ending.

“Us putting together what we have in this second part of the season, I think that gives us more confidence than anything, just knowing that we are rolling now,” Armstrong said. “Last year’s win was huge. We’re trying to go do something we haven’t done before [under Mendenhall] — beat them at their place. And I think we got a lot of confidence going into that game. … We’re just gonna go out there and finish it off strong.”

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