Virginia’s first loss of the season left the Cavaliers with a clear assignment: sort through the breakdowns, learn from them, and move on fast.
That was the message Monday from offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and defensive coordinator John Rudzinski after Virginia’s Saturday night loss to West Virginia, a game that offered chances on both sides but ended with the Cavaliers coming up short. Virginia moved the ball, but the offense couldn’t finish enough drives. The defense, meanwhile, gave up explosive plays that helped West Virginia pile up 437 yards of total offense.
Now comes Delaware, and Virginia’s coordinators are not treating one loss like a reason to overhaul everything. The goal is sharper than that.
Make the corrections. Keep the process intact.
Get a response.
For Kitchings, the film showed an offense that had enough success to create real frustration. Virginia ran the ball well enough to keep itself in favorable situations, but too many of those possessions stalled when the Cavaliers reached manageable third downs.
“We had some third-and-shorts that we didn't convert,” Kitchings said. “We had a free hitter on a third down. We had another third down and medium where we have to improve because we've done a pretty good job of getting ourselves into that down and distance, and we've converted consistently in that down and distance.
“It showed up Saturday night because it wasn't necessarily like we're in a third-and-13 that was hard to attain. It was a third-and-two, and the linebacker came through the A gap.
It was another third down - I can't exactly remember because I'm trying to flush that one behind me a little bit. But that was the difference in those drives because we still had runs getting us five, runs getting us four.
So we were in a third-and-three, a third-and-two. We just didn't convert those.”
That was the pain point: Virginia kept creating the kind of downs and distances an offense wants, then failed to cash in. Kitchings’ view was that the Cavaliers can’t let those missed chances stick with them beyond one week, especially with a team like Delaware next on the schedule.
Rudzinski’s message on defense followed the same line. Own the mistakes, learn from them, and get back to the routine Virginia believes has put it in position to win.
The coordinators’ shared emphasis Monday wasn’t on panic. It was on cleanup.
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