In honor of Fall Break and a Virginia football bye week, I’m taking my own break this week. No argument will be presented in this column, but rather some informational tidbits.
Last week, I wrote about how this historically bad Virginia defense is ranking near the bottom of many FBS stat categories through four weeks. This week, I take a look at where the Cavaliers rank near the top.
I went to ESPN’s college football stats page and clicked through every single column of every category listed, all so you don’t have to. I then took note of every instance where Virginia or a Virginia player ranked in the top 25 in the country.
Many of the places the Cavaliers rank high are certainly impressive, but there are also some categories where leading the pack is not exactly desirable.
So, without further ado, here’s the list, accompanied by a hot take.
The good
-- Virginia is the best team in the country in average yards per punt return with an average of 26 yards per return on six attempts. Cornerback Maurice Canady ranks third in the nation in average yards per punt return at 25.2. His stats are helped out by a 74 yard touchdown return against William & Mary — the 15th longest return by anyone all season. And that was the first Virginia punt return touchdown in more than 10 years!
-- The Cavaliers are also pretty good at punting the ball. Nicholas Conte ranks 11th in the nation in average yards per punt at 46.7. Don’t get too excited though: Virginia doesn’t particularly excel at punt coverage. When it comes to net punt yardage, the Cavaliers drop down to 43rd.
-- Tailback Taquan Mizzell has the 16th longest reception this year at 80 yards. The play came on a screen pass from Matt Johns during the William & Mary game, allowing Mizzell to bang out the most explosive play of his career. This was not, as you may have hoped, an instance of Virginia offensive competency in throwing downfield. On another note, it’s certainly not a coincidence that the two aforementioned huge plays came against an FCS opponent.
-- There actually is a bright spot on defense as well. Linebacker Michah Kiser ranks 16th in the nation in sacks with 5 thus far, and he’s also tied for 24th in total tackles with 27. And that’s all compared to a lot of guys who have already played five games.
The not-so-good
-- The Cavaliers are tied for 12th in interceptions thrown on the season with seven, and that’s on fewer pass attempts than all but one of the teams worse than us. Yes, our passing offense is just as bad as you thought it was.
-- Virginia ranks 19th in kickoff return attempts with 18. This is a result of two factors: teams are frequently scoring on us and we don’t like to take the free 25 yards that come with a touchback. Our average return goes for just 19.7 yards, meaning the Cavaliers probably aren’t making the best decisions when it comes to kick returns.
-- Ian Frye is just one of 14 kickers in college football to make a field goal of under 20 yards. That sounds harmless until you remember that you have to add 17 yards onto the spot of the ball for field goal length. Virginia is in small company when it comes to kicking field goals inside the three yard line.
Matt Comey is a weekly Sports Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at m.comey@cavalierdaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthewcomey.
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