As Virginia embarks on its first road trip of the season to Illinois this weekend, the Cavaliers have a lot of questions they’ll need to answer in order to beat the Fighting Illini on Saturday in Champaign. Here are the four biggest questions for the UVA football game in Illinois:
1. Can Virginia stop the race?
After supplementing roster depth at the position with four transfers this offseason, the rebuilt defensive line was supposed to be a strength of Virginia’s defense this season. The Cavaliers didn’t get off to a great start Saturday against Richmond. The stats won’t jump off the page: Richmond had 170 rushing yards on 35 attempts for an average of 4.9 yards per rushing attempt. However, the vision test provided much more alarming results. As was the case throughout the 2021 season, there were several running plays in which Richmond running backs got five yards past the line of scrimmage before meeting resistance. UVA has to be more disruptive early on and better at plugging gaps in the running game.
Illinois will bring in a much bigger and more physical offensive line, shutting down the focal point of the Illini offense: running back Chase Brown. After collecting 151 rushing yards against Wyoming, Brown had 199 yards on 36 carries against Indiana last week. If Illinois can run the ball consistently, it could spell trouble for the Cavaliers, since that will mean more time with UVA’s offense on the sidelines. The Illini love to run the ball. Virginia has no choice but to stop them.
2. Can Virginia establish its own running game?
Similarly, the Cavaliers hope to take another big positive step in establishing their own running game. The start of the season was a strong start to that end, as both Perris Jones and Brennan Armstrong eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark against Richmond. Virginia is also set to get Miami transfer Cody Brown and fifth-year Ronnie Walker Jr. back from injury this week, so we could potentially see some different faces in the backfield on Saturday. Illinois will have trouble containing UVA’s catchers, as it did in last season’s matchup. But, if Virginia can also launch the threat of a running game on Illini, it will determine whether the Hoos can dominate this matchup for the second straight season.
3. Is UVA’s offensive line moving forward or backward in its performance against Richmond?
Virginia’s offensive line put in a useful performance against Richmond last week. Brennan Armstrong was fired once and rushed twice. Not bad, but the Cavaliers were hardly tested to the max by an FCS opponent. Fighting Illini will have bigger, stronger athletes up front and UVA’s offensive line will have to be consistent to keep Armstrong’s jersey clean. Virginia receivers can’t hurt the Illinois defense if Armstrong has his back.
Four players — McKale Boley, Logan Taylor, Derek Devine and Ty Furnish — made their first career starts against Richmond last weekend. The unit performed quite well, especially considering it was the first time all five (including Dartmouth transfer John Paul Flores) had played together in a game setting. Garett Tujague’s offensive line needs to continue to develop and the game in Illinois will be a big test. The good news is that the Cavaliers should get senior tackle Jonathan Leech back from injury this week. Barring a problem, he should take the place of real freshman McKale Boley in the starting lineup.
Watch the video below to hear Tony Elliott comment on the performance of UVA’s offensive line against Richmond and his expectations for the group heading into the Illinois game:
4. How does Virginia handle adversity and a hostile environment?
The Cavaliers were able to give Tony Elliott a win in his head coaching debut against Richmond, but that game against an FCS opponent lacked any semblance of real pressure. That won’t be the case when UVA plays a quality opponent from Illinois in front of a hostile environment in Champaign on Saturday. The Illini are currently favored by 4.5 points, which takes into account the home field advantage factor. Tony Elliott has been blasting the Illinois fight song at full volume during practice this week in an attempt to get his players so used to the sound that they don’t even notice it when it’s played in-game.
The effectiveness of that strategy is up for debate, but at the very least, the Cavaliers have had to learn to maintain communication in a noisy and distracting environment during practice. Virginia had some miscommunication against Richmond last week, including a couple of illegal substitution penalties. Such mistakes become more likely and more costly in a noisy road environment, so it’s a good thing the Hoos are working on that this week.
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The Illini are going to want revenge for last year’s 42-14 loss at Virginia and are also coming off a painfully close loss at Indiana last week. The motivation that Illinois brings to this game is not lost on Tony Elliott, who made sure to instill in his team that they must match that level of intensity if UVA is to win on the road. Win or lose, we’ll learn something about the toughness of this Virginia team this weekend.
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