No. 24 SMU is ranked for a reason. It is a quality football team. However, for nearly the entire game, Virginia was holding its own and was just a play or two away from taking the lead.
Ultimately, the Cavaliers left Dallas, Texas with a 23-13 loss in frustrating fashion. They had ample chances to change the entire course of their season. Now they head back to the drawing board. Here are position grades from the game:
Quarterback: D
Beau Pribula was directly responsible for a seven-point swing. Virginia was marching down the field early, on the precipice of a touchdown, and then Pribula fumbled on a read option play. No defender hit him. By afternoon's end, Pribula threw for just 137 yards — plus 25 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown on just 2.5 yards per carry.
Pribula did not throw a passing touchdown. In two ACC losses, his team has averaged 10 points per game.
Running backs: B
This grade is inherently unfair. In the first half, the Cavaliers rushed for 82 yards — on pace for a solid outing, especially for Jekail Middlebrook (over 70 total yards). But then their offensive coordinator shifted away from the run game after two straight three-and-outs to open the second half.
Had Des Kitchings found ways to get these backs involved, they would almost certainly have tallied more than 39 yards in the last two quarters. Middlebrook was averaging 4.2 yards per carry while Xay Davis averaged 4.9 — both solid numbers.
Wide receivers: F
Five catches for 78 yards. That is what the collective group of wide receivers produced Saturday. Those with catches (Da'Shawn Martin, Jacquon Gibson and Ty'Lyric Coleman) did average over 10 yards per catch, but Virginia also had two extremely consequential drops. One of them was on the Cavaliers' final offensive play.
It is important to note that Virginia was missing top receivers Rico Flores Jr. and Kam Courtney, but this was still a mediocre performance even with that in mind.
Tight ends: D+
Lukas Ungar, in limited action, was flagged for a false start (mental error). Dakota Twitty did not catch a pass. Connor Cox did not catch a pass. The blocking all around was decent, but largely boosted by a strong performance from John Rogers, who might be the most productive tight end on the team right now. Rogers had three catches for 28 yards, mainly out of the flat. He also paved the way for Pribula's rushing touchdown.
Offensive line: B
This was a solid game by Virginia's offensive line. The only mistakes were one holding penalty and one tackle for loss. Factoring out Pribula's scrambles, the team averaged about 4.4 yards per carry. That is a solid afternoon. It is not this line's fault that Pribula often runs into trouble instead of throwing the ball away.
Defensive line: B-/C+
This is a difficult group to grade. They were facing one of the best offensive lines in the country (on the road), missing starting defensive tackle Jason Hammond. One Cavalier, Matthew Fobbs-White, stepped up. Big time.
Fobbs-White recorded six tackles, two tackles for loss (one sack) and a whopping five quarterback hits. He was inches away from a four-sack day. But while Fobbs-White starred, the rest of the defensive line did not. The others combined for 13 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hit.
Meanwhile, SMU ran the ball with ease. There was also a mindless penalty committed by Billy Koudelka that resulted in a free three points for the Mustangs right before halftime.
Fobbs-White's performance elevates this group, as do the circumstances of their matchup. However, this was not a great outing by the defensive line.
Linebackers: D
SMU had nine plays of 15-plus yards. Over half of them were due to linebackers taking the wrong angle, losing in coverage, not generating pressure on a blitz or simply missing tackles on a running back.
The coverage issue is particularly concerning. When linebackers struggle in coverage, Virginia is forced to substitute them for additional defensive backs — which could aid opponents in their run game.
Other than a few stops, the only production from Virginia's linebackers was one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit and one pass breakup.
Defensive backs: B
Simply looking at the fact that Virginia held SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings to a "meh" outing by his standards, the Cavaliers defense was solid. However, there were a few big plays that were due to mental lapses by these cornerbacks and safeties.
Jam Jackson was caught between pursuing Jennings and sticking with receiver Yannick Smith (his man in coverage). Jackson didn't make a decision, so Jennings made one for him. Jennings tossed a ball right over Jackson's head and right into the arms of Smith, who took off for a gain of 59 yards on second-and-long.
Then there was another play that broke the game open late in the third quarter. Jennings was under pressure and was able to find receiver Jalen Hale. Instead of stopping him, Justin Ross and Jaylen Jones missed tackles, another defender overpursued and and Montino Williams could not made the tackle at the pylon. Hale had a 37-yard touchdown.
Without that first big play (and if the second one was stopped at the catch point), Jennings might have thrown for under 200 yards and just one touchdown. It is also worth mentioning that Virginia was missing two (or perhaps three) starters in the defensive backfield. This was a good performance other than a few bad plays.
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