Trell Harris used one word to describe Virginia’s offense through the first four weeks of its campaign.
“Electric,” Harris, the wide receiver, said after he hauled in four catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns during the Cavaliers’ 48-20 blowout win over Stanford on Saturday night at Scott Stadium.
He’s just the most recent member of the Hoos to put together a game-breaking performance, too, and that was one lesson learned from UVa’s demolition of the Cardinal.
The Cavaliers have a collection of talented skill players who are proving one by one that they can dominate a particular contest or change the trajectory of a bout.
“I tell those guys, ‘Sometimes, it’s your night and when you’re hot, you’re hot,’” quarterback Chandler Morris, who threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another, said.
Harris, of course, was the star that Morris kept going back to on Saturday.
All three touchdowns from Morris to Harris came in the opening quarter as the Cavaliers built a 21-7 lead. He had a 3-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass followed by a 75-yard touchdown reception and a 27-yard touchdown grab, and on both of those long scoring plays, Harris got behind the Cardinal’s defense.
In doing so, Harris became the third different UVa player to score three touchdowns in a game this season.
Two weeks ago in Raleigh, running back J’Mari Taylor rushed for 150 yards and three scores against N.C. State. Last week, running back Harrison Waylee tallied 151 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground against FCS William & Mary.
“We’re all together,” Harris said. “We all trust each other and whoever has the hot hand, keep giving him the [ball] and everybody else will do their job.”
To open the year against Coastal Carolina, wide receiver Cam Ross was a standout on offense with seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown.
The production from varying receivers and running backs make the Cavaliers that much tougher to defend, according to Morris. He completed throws to eight different pass-catchers against the Cardinal.
Harris said it wasn’t until after halftime on Saturday that Stanford switched to a cover 3 defense to protect against his down-field speed.
“But that’s when we were able to exploit them in other ways,” Harris said.
Like when tight end Sage Ennis was wide open on a 13-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter to grow UVa’s advantage to 35-14.
Saturday marked the third straight game in which the Cavaliers tallied more than 500 yards of total offense and more than 200 rushing yards. This season, five different Hoos have at least one rushing touchdown and six Cavaliers have at least one receiving touchdown.
“It unfolds how it unfolds based on what the defense decides to take away,” fourth-year UVa coach Tony Elliott said.
“You want to start with the run,” Elliott continued, “Even though, I’m a wide [receiver] by trade, I still want to run the ball. The best offenses I’ve been around, can effectively run the football and that’s where it starts and where it creates some of the play-action to create some more intermediate throws and deep shots. We’re going to have to be able to do both down the stretch.”
For now, though, the Cavaliers feel they are playing well on offense and their confidence is up.
“We’ve just got to keep building off of it,” Morris said.
Here’s what else I learned about the Hoos in their blowout win over Stanford.
Pass rush started to show up
UVa had its most productive pass-rushing effort of the season.
The Cavaliers tallied five sacks against the Cardinal, and were regularly in the backfield.
“It’s a huge confidence boost,” defensive tackle Jason Hammond said, “and we came into this game knowing we haven’t done much in the passing game, but it was a priority for us.”
Hammond had a sack while defensive end Daniel Rickert had two, defensive end Cazeem Moore had one and defensive tackle Jacob Holmes and defensive Mitchell Melton shared a sack.
Melton had a pair of quarterback hurries as well.
Hammond credited the D-Line’s uptick in results to the return of linebacker Kam Robinson.
Robinson was UVa’s leader in sacks last year with five sacks, and the Hoos didn’t waste anytime bringing him on a blitz on Saturday.
On the first third down that the Cavaliers faced, Robinson blitzed and pressured Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson to get rid of the ball quickly, forcing an incomplete pass.
From then through the rest of the tilt, Stanford had to identify where Robinson lined up on the field, according to Hammond.
“It takes a lot of pressure off of us,” Hammond said. “We get a lot more one-on-ones and maximum iso [situations]. Stanford went max iso a lot and Kam Robinson is off the [edge], so when they have to account for Kam Robinson, it frees up a lot of us. Having him and knowing how dominant he is in the pass rush game or in coverage, it gives us a chance to go get the quarterback.”
O-Line looks different without Wilson
Elliott will be waiting patiently on Sunday to figure out the exact extent of center Brady Wilson’s injury.
Wilson exited in the third quarter due to what Elliott said he hoped is “not more than a calf strain.” Elliott said he wouldn’t know the extent of the injury until after doctors could evaluate Wilson again on Sunday.
The Cavaliers’ in-game solution against the Cardinal was to slide right guard Drake Metcalf to center and use Kevin Wigenton at right guard.
Metcalf, who played center earlier in his career with Stanford and with Central Florida, snapped the ball fine. Wigenton was flagged for a couple of penalties.
“That’s the impact when you have to move a guy in [to center] from [another] position and bring somebody else in,” Elliott said.
Defense has deep-ball issues
This week when UVa returns to practice, the Cavaliers’ defense will certainly be trying to determine how to better defend the long pass play.
The Hoos gave up a 68-yard touchdown and a 60-yard gain through the air on plays that Stanford wide receiver Bryce Farrell sprinted beyond UVa’s secondary to get open and catch a long pass.
The previous Saturday, the Cavaliers yielded a 79-yard touchdown pass against William & Mary.
That has to get cleaned up before Florida State comes to town on Friday night.
Greg Madia
gmadia@dailyprogress.com
@GregMadia on X
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Greg Madia
UVa Sports Reporter
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