Wahoos sputter a bit but end up shutting out Tribe in season-opener

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Virginia 43, William and Mary 0

Virginia got off to a slow start in its opener Saturday but ultimately cruised to an adequate drubbing of in-state foe William and Mary at Scott Stadium.

Offensive coordinator Robert Anae played around with his toys a little too much early on, but his offense ended up generating 545 yards by the end of the night.

The Cavaliers’ defense stopped William and Mary without giving up a first down on its first drive, and Billy Kemp IV set up the ‘Hoos (1-0) on the Tribe’s 24-yard line with a career-long 55-yard punt return. But the offense was unable to take advantage. Kemp dropped a pass, and then Brennan Armstrong threw a ball into traffic that was knocked away on third down. UVa had to settle for a 39-yard field goal to go up 3-0, the first FG of Justin Duenkel’s career. Duenkel also hit a 25-yarder in the third quarter.
Armstrong missed a couple of throws early but settled in as the game went along and completed 21 of 31 passes for 339 yards and two TDs. The 339-yard outing was his second best behind his 383-yard performance against Abilene Christian last year. Armstrong also ran for two short TDs, including Virginia’s first of the season, at the 9-minute mark of the second quarter. I thought Anae and Armstrong did a good job, for the most part, of keeping Armstrong out of harm’s way — he didn’t run the ball too often. There was no need to expose Armstrong to extra hits against W&M (0-1).

The traditional running game looked pretty good. A melange of players got opportunities. Among players listed as running backs, Wayne Taulapapa led the way with five carries for 48 yards. Also, Harvard transfer Devin Darrington had 18 yards on three attempts, Ronnie Walker Jr. tallied 9 yards and TD on his lone carry, and Mike Hollins recorded 5 yards on two carries. Walker’s score came on an impressive run in which he barreled through a few defenders and showed excellent ball security. Overall, UVa rushed for 206 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. There were a couple of instances, though, when UVa was unable to gain first downs in short-yardage situations, something you don’t like to see against an FCS team, so there’s room for the offensive line to continue to improve. Virginia went 0 for 2 on fourth-down conversions.

Brennan Armstrong recorded four total touchdowns against William and Mary. (Erin Edgerton/The Daily Progress)

The team’s leading rusher was actually backup QB Iraken Armstead, who racked up 54 yards on five attempts, including a 20-yarder late in the game when he just barely stepped out of bounds. He had a shot to score had he been able to stay between the lines.

Armstead attempted one pass, an intermediate sideline throw to Artie Henry. Henry caught the ball but was out of bounds, but I thought Armstead’s delivery looked good. Armstead has impressive size and athleticism, and if his passing has taken a step up, he provides UVa with a solid backup option.

Keytaon Thompson was kept busy. The “football player” led the team with five catches for 66 yards, and he also racked up 43 yards rushing on four attempts. Another guy who earned football player position status on the depth chart for this coming week’s game against Illinois is true freshman Jacob Rodriguez. He wasn’t listed on the depth chart for W&M, but he was a surprise entrant in the box score, collecting four carries for 31 yards. Rodriguez has good size for a true freshman, and I liked what I saw out of his running ability. There was a mishap early in the game when Armstrong flipped the ball to Rodriguez, who fumbled, but the referees correctly called it an incomplete pass.


Like Kemp, Thompson did drop a pass in the third quarter, and it would’ve been a TD. Dontayvion Wicks also dropped a pass in the first quarter. But otherwise, Wicks had a great game, and it was clear he will be heavily involved in the passing game as we were predicting in the preseason. Wicks recorded four catches for a team-leading 94 yards.

Ra’Shaun Henry and Demick Starling caught Armstrong’s passing TDs. Henry’s came late in the second quarter on a pretty fade to the back corner of the end zone. It was a nice throw by Armstrong and good concentration by Henry, who was covered pretty tightly. Henry also caught a 27-yard pass to open the fourth quarter. On that play, Armstrong did an excellent job of standing strong in the pocket and delivering an accurate pass while getting sandwiched by two Tribe defenders. Starling grabbed maybe Armstrong’s prettiest pass all game, when he used his speed to get behind W&M’s secondary. Armstrong found him in stride for a 65-yard TD on the team’s second drive of the second half.

Virginia also appeared to throw a few screen passes to running backs. Screens have not been a big part of the plan before, so that was good to see. Taulapapa had a 14-yard gain on one, and Walker had another one go for 9 yards.

Touted transfer Jelani Woods caught one pass for 5 yards early in the second quarter before leaving the game with an injury. Bronco Mendenhall said Monday he was good to go for the matchup with Illinois.
Unsurprisingly, Nick Jackson led the defense with 12 tackles, and Joey Blount added eight. Hunter Stewart, making his first career start, came away with six tackles, including 1.5 for losses. Mendenhall told his defensive staff he came away impressed with Stewart.
Noah Taylor had six tackles and half a sack, when he teamed up with Fentrell Cypress II to take down running back DreSean Kendrick as he was getting ready to throw the ball after QB Darius Wilson had tossed it to him behind the line of scrimmage. W&M used a similar trick play for a big gain earlier on that drive. Mandy Alonso had UVa’s only other sack when he brought down Wilson on the first play of W&M’s second drive. I would have liked to have seen the pass rush be stronger against an FCS opponent, but then again, I suppose W&M didn't pass all that often.

For the most part, Wilson and the Tribe offense found the going tough, and the Virginia defense allowed only 183 yards. It was the Cavaliers’ first shutout since they blanked South Carolina in the 2018 Belk Bowl. But the Tribe did get into Virginia territory a few times. They missed one field goal, and another field goal was blocked by Nick Grant. On that particular drive, W&M got into the red zone. Had the Tribe scored a TD, it would’ve been 17-7 midway through the third quarter. While it was a stout defensive performance, I didn’t think the defense was nasty, and I want to see the defense get nasty. Or at least I think the defense will need to get to that level to beat some of the teams on the schedule.

Noting defensive positioning, Grant lined up as a safety rather than at CB, and Cypress saw a lot of time at CB, where he is now listed as an “or” with Darrius Bratton. Before the W&M game, Cypress was not even listed on the depth chart. Louisville transfer Anthony Johnson is listed as the other starting CB. De’Vante Cross is listed as the nickelback rather than a safety. Those changes are noted on the new depth chart this week.
Regarding special teams, beyond Duenkel’s two FGs, Kemp had the long punt return, and Hollins had a TD kickoff return called back for a block in the back, so there were good moments in the return game to build off of. Florida transfer Jacob Finn also did a nice job punting, with a long of 52 yards.

This was more or less a solid opening victory. It’s tough to discern just how good the team can be when shutting out an FCS opponent. I am cautiously optimistic about the defense, and it is clear that the offense has a lot of weapons. I think Anae will have to know which ones to deploy at the right times, and sometimes, that may mean less playing time for certain guys. It will be a puzzle each week to figure out how to attack the opposing defense. Anae can be very creative, but sometimes he should dial it back and just run the offense.
I think early on in this game, the offense was shaking off some rust, and everyone was just kind of getting their feet wet, both the players and the coaches. There may have been more first-game nerves than usual, given the return of the crowd.

It may take some time to get rolling, but a tougher test awaits next week with Big Ten team Illinois visiting. The Illini own a win over Nebraska at the end of August, but this past weekend, they lost to Texas-San Antonio, 37-30. So while they will certainly be a step up from W&M, they are no juggernaut. Still, the ‘Hoos are going to want to play a clean, solid game, and if they do that, they will be in good position to get to 2-0.

Virginia doesn’t want to add to this ACC statistic, tweeted out by ESPN’s David Hale at halftime of the Ole Miss-Louisville game Monday night:

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