Virginia’s offensive line knows exactly where the damage came from after Saturday’s trip to Florida State: pass protection that broke down far too often.
The Cavaliers gave up 10 sacks in the blowout loss, and that number has put an experienced group under the microscope. The line has been strong enough in spots this season to give Virginia confidence, but the problems against the Seminoles were too loud to ignore.
“It’s difficult,” fifth-year coach Tony Elliott said, describing what happens when protection starts to unravel. “because you’re starting in a one-on-one and then the next thing you are blocking a ,defender. Two players removed from you] But ,the offensive linemen. all got to be on the same level and communicating”
Said Boley: “They were getting wide-c: ,defensive linemen. to occupy the tackles and then they’d get our guards to set to ‘em, which would cause a twist on the inside and that’s something we’ve got to pick up on quicker as an ~-line.”
The scale of the issue showed up in the numbers. Virginia’s game at Florida State featured the most combined career starts on the Cavaliers’ offensive line - between Boley, left guard Noah Josey, center Drake Metcalf, right guard Makilan Thomas and right tackle Monroe Mills - at 179.
Most of the unit has a future in pro football, too. Boley, Mills and Thomas could be late Day 2 or early Day 3 NFL draft picks springtime based on current projections. Josey is a potential Day 3 pick as well.
Even with that experience and the high-skill level of the ~-line, it was clearly bothered by what they encountered against the Seminoles.
Early in the second quarter, a stunt between Florida State’s defensive tackles pushed Thomas into Metcalf and then Metcalf stepped on Thomas’ foot. At that point, Metcalf began to stumble backward, giving Kevin Wynn an easy path to Pribula while running through a falling Metcalf.
On the very next play, Metcalf and Josey didn’t properly execute switching defenders to block when Florida State stunted with two defensive linemen. That resulted in another sack for the Seminoles. Josey got turned around and Florida State’s Mandrell Desir smothered Pribula.
“Guys get picked, right, or shoulders get turned,” Elliott said. “If shoulders get turned too much, you can’t recover”
Both of those plays came with the score still close and the game’s worst breakdowns had not yet piled up. Still, Elliott and Boley both said those mistakes against twists can be fixed, especially since Florida State ran the same stunts during the first quarter when Virginia put together a scoring drive and had no trouble protecting Pribula then.
“It’s just five guys having to be on the same page and winning one-on-one battles,” Elliott said, “but then quickly being able to exchange defenders. and work together and have great synergy”
Said Boley: “The first thing we talked about is, ‘That’s not us.’ We , we realized it’s a lot little things we have to focus on.”
The 17 sacks this season is already more than the 16 sacks all of last year.
The good news for the Cavaliers is Syracuse won’t stunt its defensive linemen like Florida State does.
But Syracuse, Boley said, will challenge Virginia’s offensive front in other ways.
Orange defensive ends Keyshawn Johnson, Tumise Adeyeye and David Omopariola have combined for nine tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.
“They trust their guys are going to make plays,” Boley said. “They just unleash them, straight rush them and let them do what they need to do”
Boley said the trio of Syracuse edge rushers are “explosive.”
“All three of those guys are great, play with high motors, strong, physical,” Boley said, “and I think this is one of the better groups in the ACC. People may not see that from the outside, but if you watch the film, this is a talented group”
Elliott trusts his ~-line will be ready, though, and bounce back after last week’s disappointment against Florida State.
“I still believe we got the best offensive line in the league,” Elliott said. “We didn’t play well at Florida State., right?
We didn’t, but I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We got what we need”
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The continuity matters in a way it did not a year ago, when Odom was still trying to piece together a foundation. Virginia is set to open Nov. 3 against Drexel, and the early sense around the program is that experience and cohesion could help the Cavaliers avoid some of the growing pains that cost them before. Whether that translates into the kind of season they believe they can have will depend on more than optimism, but for now the roster looks far steadier than it did when the last campaign slipped away. [Read more 🡒]