Virginia is in an increasingly precarious situation. The Cavaliers fell at SMU by a score of 23-13, in a game that sparked more questions than answers.
Coach Tony Elliott provided some answers postgame. Here are important notes from Virginia’s head coach:
Why did Virginia abandon the run game?
The Cavaliers only ran the ball once after back-to-back three-and-outs to begin the third quarter. That one carry went for 11 yards. Why did Virginia ditch its core offensive philosophy?
“Just trying to stay fresh,” Elliott said. “You ride a guy like that, and so [we wanted to mix] it up, next man up. But again, we also didn’t get much rhythm. I think we only had what maybe like eight to nine possessions total, right? And again, that was part of our our strategy, which meant that if we were going to to be able to work it to to the level we wanted to, we were going to have to maximize every possession that we had, and I think we lost two there in the first part of the other third quarter.”…