Virginia football went up big on William & Mary early and never looked back. What’d we learn from the Cavaliers’ blowout win?
It wasn’t pretty throughout — just ask Bryce Perkins after throwing two picks — but Virginia smacked William & Mary around in a warmup battle on Friday night, 52-17.
There are mistakes that must be fixed, but the Cavaliers looked like a complete team, allowing a few big plays throughout the game, but holding the Tribe to just 193 total yards and picking off a pass in the process and returning it for a score.
Virginia now heads into a big Week 3 matchup with ACC foe Florida State so let’s take a look at what we learned from its Week 2 win.
3. Virginia’s defense is nasty
This defense is going to be a problem in 2019 for some folks. Virginia held Pitt in check a week ago and then did the same with William & Mary, outside of a few big plays.
The Tribe actually had three plays account for at least 38 yards — which shouldn’t happen against an FCS foe — but they still totaled just 193 on the night. The Cavaliers made life miserable on both quarterbacks as they combined to complete just 5-of-13 passes for 130 yards and an interception.
The Cavaliers halted any run game the Tribe wanted to put together, holding them to just 63 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries — 41 yards came on one run.
William & Mary had just eight first downs to Virginia’s 25 and was just 1-of-11 on third downs. That’s exactly what you want to see as a defensive coordinator because stopping teams on third down wins games.
This defense is nasty and helped lead to the big win.