‘Hoos follow recent tradition and detonate Duke

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Virginia 48, Duke 0

Former Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen once infamously said, “Duke is Duke. They are on TV more than ‘Leave It to Beaver’ reruns.”

During Gillen’s era, the Blue Devils were usually beating the Wahoos badly. Well, just as often it seems lately, Virginia is humiliating Duke on the gridiron.

On Saturday during the Homecomings game at Scott Stadium, UVa shut out Duke in its most complete performance of the season. The Cavaliers (5-2, 3-2 ACC) have beaten the Blue Devils (3-4, 0-3) seven straight times, with an average margin of victory of 20.4 points. Four consecutive victories and five of the seven have been by double digits.

It’s the first time since 2008 that Virginia recorded two shutouts in a season (William and Mary and Duke; Richmond and Maryland in ’08). In case you are wondering, the last time Virginia shut out two ACC opponents in one season was 2006 (North Carolina and Duke). The 34 first-half points were the most scored in a half in an ACC game since the ‘Hoos put up 35 on UNC by halftime in 2004, though the margin was bigger Saturday (34-0 vs. 35-10 versus the Heels).
The gaudy statistics are just overwhelming and go on and on. It was a dominating effort. Luck was not as involved in this beatdown as it was in the wins over Miami and Louisville. But luck did play a role in at least getting things rolling for the ‘Hoos.

With UVa up 3-0, Duke drove down to the 7-yard line on its first drive. QB Gunnar Holmberg had Jake Bobo open across the middle, but the throw was a little too hot for him to handle. Had the Blue Devils scored to go up 7-3, the ultimate result may have been about the same, but at least the tone of the start of the game would’ve been different.

So after the incompletion, Duke lined up for a short field goal with kicker Matt Alswanger, whom coach David Cutcliffe promoted after Charlie Ham struggled at Georgia Tech the week before. It didn’t help. The hex on UVa opponent kickers continued. Alswanger hit the left upright from 25 yards away, an even shorter distance than Miami’s attempt at the end of that game. Going back to that contest against the Hurricanes, kickers are 4 for 8 on field goals against Virginia.

Photo: De'Vante Cross (2) celebrates his interception with Nick Jackson (6), Noah Taylor (7), and Joey Blount (29). (Associated Press)

Another lucky moment came on Virginia’s second drive. Brennan Armstrong threw a pass that bounded off Duke cornerback Jeremiah Lewis and into the waiting and sure hands of Billy Kemp IV for a big gain. Had Lewis made the pick, he had a lot of real estate in front of him. That wasn’t a pretty pass, but later on the drive, Armstrong lofted what was a pretty pass to the back of the end zone for Dontayvion Wicks for Virginia’s first TD. It was clear that UVa didn’t need Wicks’ services to beat the Blue Devils, but it was good to see him on the field after taking that nasty hit at Louisville.

Duke wasn’t good at making its own luck either. The Blue Devils had the Cavaliers stopped on their third drive, but a roughing-the-punter penalty extended it, and UVa made Duke pay with another TD, this one coming on a short dive by Keytaon Thompson, who also had a 19-yard bulldozing run earlier on the drive to get into the red zone.

Armstrong added a 7-yard rushing TD of his own on Virginia’s next drive, an all-out sprint and dive to the pylon. All told, Armstrong completed 25 of his 45 passes for 364 yards and two TDs. He also rushed for 34 yards and was sacked three times. Armstrong’s numbers are eye-popping. He’s second nationally in passing yards per game (403.4 vs. 438.7 for Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe) and quickly climbing in UVa’s record book. He now sits in seventh place on the school’s career passing list with 5,199 yards. On Saturday, he passed Marques Hagans (4,877), Marc Verica (4,992), and Aaron Brooks (5,118). Also, the junior from Ohio has tallied 5,922 yards of total offense in his career, sixth most in program history. Armstrong didn’t play in the fourth quarter as Jay Woolfork and Ira Armstead got some work in.
Duke has given the ball away to Virginia at a crazy rate during its losing streak in the series, a trend that continued Saturday. Midway through the second quarter, Holmberg airmailed a third-down pass that went straight to De’Vante Cross. UVa made a field goal on the ensuing drive. And not long before halftime, a Holmberg pass ricocheted off Jalon Calhoun and to Joey Blount for another INT. Blount was back in action after missing the Louisville game.

Following Blount’s pick, Virginia promptly went 51 yards on eight plays in 45 seconds, with Armstrong finding Jelani Woods for a 7-yard TD. I feel like Woods would be a good rebounder for Tony Bennett. It’s like he is boxing out defenders when catching passes. It’s like watching a big brother shake off his little brother.

Virginia hadn’t intercepted a pass since the North Carolina game. It hadn’t intercepted multiple passes in a game since … the 2020 opener versus Duke, of course. The picks weren’t Duke’s only turnovers. Linebacker Josh Ahern and safety Antonio Clary sandwiched Calhoun at the beginning of the fourth quarter, jarring the ball loose, and Clary jumped on it. And the play at the end of the game at the goal line typified The Duke Football Experience Vs. Virginia. Trying to avoid the shutout, backup QB Riley Leonard had trouble with the snap, and LB T.C. Harrison recovered the fumble.

Duke has had an astounding 29 turnovers during its seven-game losing streak to UVa.

The Cavaliers’ second-half TDs were scored by RBs Devin Darrington and Ronnie Walker. Darrington in particular looked explosive and determined, picking up 60 yards on just five carries in the game, including a 34-yard burst right up the middle of the defense during the drive that he finished with a 7-yard TD run. Walker’s score was the last for Virginia and came on a 2-yard plunge at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Running back Mike Hollins was injured and did not suit up. Also, during Monday’s news conference, Bronco Mendenhall said that defensive lineman Adeeb Atariwa is out for the season. He appeared in the W&M and Wake Forest games this season.

“[Atariwa’s] last injury will be season-ending, and so — wow, and a significant loss for us because he is such a good player and a great person,” Mendenhall said. “But he’s also really, really motivated academically, and that was a huge reason for him to come to UVa, so I’m not concerned about his future at all off the field, but he’s certainly being missed on the field, but we don’t anticipate his return this year.”

Wicks had seven receptions for 125 yards. Kemp recorded six catches for 65 yards. Woods tallied five catches for 58 yards. Thompson posted three receptions for 47 yards. Demick Starling had two catches for 25 yards, and Ra’Shaun Henry had one grab for 25 yards. Starling hadn’t caught a pass since the Illinois game. Malachi Fields also had one reception for 19 yards.

Defensively, Nick Jackson led the way with 11 tackles, including four for losses, and a sack. Nick Grant had seven tackles. True freshman linebacker West Weeks has had a noticeably growing role over the past few games – he posted five tackles and a pass deflection. Loads of young players got playing time near the end of the game, which was great to see.
Duke came in with the ACC’s second-best rushing attack, averaging 218 yards, but the ‘Hoos did a great job holding it down, limiting the Devils to 110 yards. RB Mataeo Durant entered as the ACC’s No. 2 rusher but left with just 82 yards, the second time this season he was held under 100 yards. Duke recorded 325 total yards.

Brendan Farrell got to break the rock after making both of his field goals. After the Miami game, Mendenhall had said he was leaning toward choosing Farrell to break the rock then, but the players chose Mandy Alonso for that honor.
Farrell has done a solid job stepping in for the injured Justin Duenkel. He’s 6 for 7, missing only once, which was an attempt of more than 50 yards. He’s perfect on extra points. At this point, I wonder if Farrell will keep the job.

After walking the high wire in the wins over the ‘Canes and Cardinals, this was a nice change of pace for Virginia fans. A dominating win feels really good and is a good sign for the team moving forward. It has to be encouraging for the players as well. Now they just have to keep it going, something they didn’t do after the easy victories over W&M and Illinois.

The road gets tougher from here on out. Next week, Georgia Tech comes to Charlottesville. They have been inconsistent, but the Yellow Jackets do have something on their resume Virginia wasn’t close to getting: a blowout win over the Tar Heels. So that should be enough to get the players to pay attention this week and not get too high off this win. After GT, the daunting four-game closing stretch begins. This is the perfect time for the ‘Hoos to be rounding into their final form, whatever that may be. They need to be hitting on all cylinders soon if they hope to be contending for the Coastal title in November. Let’s hope they wrap up bowl eligibility next week versus the Jackets.

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