The Result: Virginia was thoroughly embarrassed on Saturday, getting throttled 41-14 by UNC at home on Saturday. UVa entered the game as a favorite, but were beaten soundly by a Tar Heels team that hadn’t won a game since September 14th, and hadn’t won a road game since August. The loss is UVa’s third in a row, and drops them to 4-4 after a 4-1 start, and 2-3 in ACC play, heading into their second off week.

The Turning Point: UVa’s two red zone trips in the first half set them up for a long day. UVa had 1st and Goal at the UNC 1 in the first quarter, but an errant snap put the Hoos back at the 12, and they had to settle for a field goal. On the second red zone trip, UVa had 1st and 10 at the UNC 12, and didn’t gain a single yard, and had to kick the field goal. Despite putting two drives together deep into Carolina territory, UVa ended up down 24-6 at half, in part because they couldn’t finish those two drives inside the Tar Heels’ 20.

The Stat That Tells the Story: UVa allowed 10 sacks on Saturday, and didn’t have one of their own. That margin would be incredibly difficult for any team to overcome, and speaks to the domination at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Wahoo of the Week: We’re not awarding one this week. We could give it to a backup who did something late in the game, but nobody earned it when the game was in the balance.

Offense:

UVa had every opportunity to get their offense back on track this week, against a Carolina defense that has been far from good this year. The Tar Heels gave up 70 points to JMU on their home field just over a month ago. On Saturday, UVa made UNC’s defense look like the 1985 Chicago Bears.

UVa had just over 70 yards at halftime, and were outgained 428 to 288 on the day. Of those 288 yards, 129 came in garbage time with backups in and the game’s competitive portion long over. Virginia couldn’t really move the ball, and when they did, progress was upended by sacks. Yes, UVa had some injuries on the offensive line, but allowing 10 sacks to this UNC defense, who entered the game with just 15 on the season, was egregious.

Anthony Colandrea was not good on Saturday, and in fairness to him, pressure had a lot to do with that. Still, he often didn’t make the throw he needed to make, or get out of danger. On top of that, he threw two interceptions on late throws into the middle of the field, including one in the fourth quarter that was embarrassingly returned for a touchdown while UVa’s offensive linemen jogged in pursuit of the ball carrier.

UVa’s red zone offense continued to sputter. They had two red zone trips early in the game with a chance to do some damage, and had to settle for a pair of field goals. The errant snap on the first red zone trip could be chalked up to the injuries on the offensive line, but the rest of the red zone performance, across the two possessions was poor.

UVa rushed for just seven yards in the loss. UNC was 88th nationally in run defense entering the game.

Tony Muskett was once again decent in relief, and while Colandrea didn’t lose the game on his own, it might be fair to wonder if Muskett should get some snaps at this point. Since Trell Harris got hurt, UVa hasn’t had any explosiveness on offense, the area where Colandrea excelled as a quarterback. If UVa is only able and interested in moving the chains, wouldn’t Muskett be better at doing that?

It’s a good time for the offense to have a bye week, because they have a lot of work to do. Their performance on Saturday was flat out embarrassing.

Grade: F

Defense:

Virginia’s offense was terrible on Saturday, and the defense really wasn’t much better. After getting a stop on Carolina’s first drive, UVa didn’t do much to slow down the Heels the rest of the way. UNC finished with 428 total yards, 293 through the air (with a backup QB) and 135 on the ground. UNC was 7-for-14 on third down and a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone, with three touchdowns and one field goal. UVa also got no pressure on UNC’s Jacolby Criswell, not coming up with a single sack, and forcing just four TFL’s for 13 yards.

UVa started the day doing a pretty good job against talented UNC tailback Omarrion Hampton, but he still ended up with 105 yards and two touchdowns. UVa’s pass defense got shredded, allowing 15.4 yards per completion. UVa also struggled to defend underneath throws and screens, allowing them to turn into big plays, including UNC’s first touchdown of the day.

If there was a standout on Saturday, it was defensive tackle Anthony Britton, who had a productive day with 10 tackles and half of a TFL. Jonas Sanker was once again a factor, finishing with seven stops, including a team-high six solo stops.

UVa’s defense, like their offense, were dominated on Saturday in a must-win game. It was a poor performance for John Rudzinski’s group, who never really locked in and got stops when they needed them.

Grade: F

Special Teams:

While offense and defense were terrible, special teams were okay, and at least didn’t really get in the way. UVa’s punt and kicking efforts were fine, with Daniel Sparks averaging 44.8 yards per punt on four attempts, and Will Bettridge making both of his short field goal tries. There were no kickoff issues, either. UVa had a couple of short returns from Chris Tyree, Ethan Davies and Dakota Twitty, but not much else to report here.

UVa’s special teams stayed out of the way on Saturday, but unfortunately the offense and defense didn’t show up to play.

Grade: C

Coaching Staff:

Saturday’s loss was a pathetic effort from a team that wasn’t prepared in their most-winnable remaining game on the slate. The fans showed up, better than they have in other games lately, but it didn’t matter, as they watched a listless effort against a Carolina team that just seemed far more interested in winning the game. The offensive line injuries were a blow, but the staff didn’t do a good job mitigating that weakness. Instead, they got a front-row seat to 60 minutes of ineptitude against a rival that came in winless in ACC play.

UVa showed signs of progress this season, up to this week, and their loss to UNC seemed to undermine a lot of the growth that we’ve seen. This was a game that a well-coached and motivated team finds a way to win, especially after two straight losses and with a tough slate of games ahead. And if UVa had fought and lost close, it’s not ideal, but it happens. Saturday wasn’t even close to that. UVa was completely outclassed against a program that hadn’t won in six weeks.

Things aren’t going to get any easier after the bye week, with a bunch of quality opponents to close out the year. The staff is going to have to find a way to get the team locked in and ready to go, because efforts like the one we saw Saturday will result in a 4-8 finish after a 4-1 start.

Grade: F