Copyright Augusta Free Press
I have not been shied away the past three-plus years from offering criticism of Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, dating back to how he couldn’t figure out how to use the guys from the Top 5 offense that he inherited from Bob Anae. I point that out to now point out to you that, to me, the criticism Kitchings has been getting the past couple of weeks on the socials and the message boards – and my colleagues in the press box – is unwarranted. ICYMI ‘Hoos 17, UNC 16: Not sure how, but #16 UVA wins, again, in OT, again Team of destiny? #16 UVA wins another one by the skin of its teeth Bill Belichick on the decision to go for two: ‘Trying to win the game’ UVA Football Notebook: ‘Hoos win with more complementary football One thing I try not to do when offering analysis is criticize the granular detail of a particular play call, because it registers with me that, for starters, I don’t know the game plan going in, and how a particular play call might fit into an overall plan. Nor do any of us on the outside know important details like: the health of guys being asked to run a particular play. Just because you saw the QB make the throw in Week 1 doesn’t mean he can make that same throw in Week 10. Same for a running back making a cut, a wide receiver running a route, linemen being asked to execute a blocking scheme. OK, that’s my Ted Talk on Football Philosophy. Seriously, what people who write online about “not liking that play call” usually mean is, “I don’t like that the play didn’t work.” A lot of plays haven’t been working of late for a Virginia offense that has averaged 265.7 yards per game the past three weeks, after averaging 539.6 yards per game the first five. It’s hard for me to assume that the guy who was calling the plays for the offense that was averaging 539.6 yards per game suddenly doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that’s why it’s been averaging 265.7 yards per game over the past three. Reality check: the QB, Chandler Morris, is walking wounded. Morris injured his left shoulder in the season opener, and he’s battled through, and will have to continue to battle through. “How healthy is he right now? Yeah. I mean, it’s October, getting ready to go into November, and we got, none of these guys are 100 percent healthy. They’re all dealing they’re all dealing with stuff. But he’s battling,” head coach Tony Elliott said after the 17-16 OT win over North Carolina on Saturday. Morris was 20-of-35 for 200 yards and a TD, and an ugly third-quarter INT on which he had to make a tackle on the sidelines that had him landing hard on that already mangled left shoulder. It was probably his worst game in a UVA uniform, but Morris made the play of the game in OT – checking out of a play call on third-and-7 at the UNC 10 to go with an option run, and when the option pitch to J’Mari Taylor wasn’t there, he took it himself for a 7-yard gain that moved the chains. He landed hard on the tackle, yep, on the left shoulder. “He’s a warrior,” Elliott said, understatement of the year, “and he’s going to do everything he possibly can to be to be ready to go, and I know that that at the end of the day, there’s nobody in that locker room that wants to play their best more than Chandler.” So, you got a gimpy QB, an offensive line that has been shuffling guys all over the place the past few weeks because of injury issues. I think the biggest issue Saturday was not having receiver Cam Ross, who has 28 catches this season out of the slot. His absence was felt most on third-and-shorts – a go-to play for Kitchings in short-yardage passing situations has been to use Ross on crossing routes either as a target or decoy. Not having Ross allowed the UNC D to sit back in a short zone, negating the crossers, and we saw Morris have to eat the ball on a couple of those plays and take the sack, with no options to get the ball to. This isn’t the OC all the sudden becoming a bad play-caller. “It’s a game of inches, and we got to get our rhythm back. We’ve had to kind of plug-and-play with some guys. Continuity is a big thing,” Elliott said. I don’t know that Morris gets back to 100 percent, or anywhere near it, until sometime in the spring. I’d assume Ross, who had been expected to be in the lineup for UNC this past weekend, to be back … soon. “I’m not panicking, right, because we’re finding ways to win, right,” Elliott said. “At the end of the day, we’re finding ways to win. And I know that the group that got off to the fast start is the same group that’s in that locker room, and we’ll evaluate this game and see that the areas where we can improve. You know, like last week, we protected the quarterback really, really well, this week we didn’t. We didn’t do that as much. And so, we’ll get back to work and get ready to go.”
