By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — An offense that sang in the season opener, and again a week later, has hit a lot of off notes in recent games. Only once in the Virginia Cavaliers’ past four games have they totaled more than 285 yards on offense, and in those four games they’ve averaged 16.0 points.
A team’s quarterback often gets too much credit when an offense clicks, UVA head coach Tony Elliott noted Tuesday, and too much blame when that offense struggles. Elliott remains a staunch supporter of Beau Pribula, who has started every game this season for Virginia (4-4 overall, 2-3 ACC), which plays No. 14 Wake Forest (6-1, 4-1) at 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“I don't know if putting another quarterback in there solves your problem,” Elliott said during his weekly press conference at the Hardie Center. “Everybody’s got to play better.”
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Pribula, a transfer from Missouri, is in his first year at UVA. For the season, he’s 119-of-183 passing (65%) for 1,369 yards and 13 touchdowns. He’s been intercepted twice: once on a deflected pass against Norfolk State and the other time on a desperation fourth-down pass against Duke.
A gifted runner, he rushed for a career-high 110 yards in Virginia’s season-opening rout of NC State. He’s been tackled for 174 yards in losses this season, though, mainly on sacks.
UVA is coming off a 19-16 loss to Duke at Scott Stadium. Pribula wasn’t perfect in that game, Elliott said, but the Wahoos had many other issues, including botched blocks, dropped passes, questionable play calls and a missed field-goal attempt.
“Everybody has to do more to help Beau out, myself included,” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said Wednesday at the Hardie Center.
Pribula completed 15 of 24 passes for 158 yards against the Blue Devils. “Everybody’s mad at the quarterback,” Elliott said, “but there are three catchable balls [that UVA wide receivers dropped]. If they catch the ball, he's 18 of 24, and now he's 75%.”
Virginia played without two of its top wideouts against Duke: Kameron Courtney, who leads the team with 18 receptions, and Rico Flores Jr., who’s out with a season-ending injury. Kitchings said he doesn’t want the Wahoos’ other receivers “pressing to do more than what's required, and that's just making a routine play. There were a couple of drops obviously that hit us in our hands that we didn't finish that could have created another explosive play or could have maybe extended a drive. So those guys, I know they want to do it right. They're trying.”
His message to the receivers, Kitchings said, is to “just relax. Don't put any more pressure on yourself. Minimize the noise and just focus on the fundamentals. “
Pribula and tight end Dakota Twitty were among the players at Wednesday’s media availability. Twitty, one of the Cavaliers’ captains, was asked if he’s seen Pribula’s demeanor change as the offense’s production has declined.
“No, that guy's rock solid,” Twitty said. “We’ve got 1,000% confidence in him, and I would even go further to say that we’ve got to do a better job to help him out to make his job easier, to be honest with you.”
Against Duke, Twitty pointed out, he missed blocks that “clouded some things up and that messed up some runs.”
There were also moments where everything came together for the Hoos. On the fourth-quarter drive that gave Virginia a 16-13 lead over Duke, Pribula fired a pass that Twitty caught in stride for a 25-yard gain.
“That was a big-time throw,” Elliott said.
“That’s just Beau being a playmaker, making a play,” said Twitty, who had three receptions for 41 yards against Duke. “He threw me a perfect pass, put it in the spot where only I could catch it, and the defender had absolutely no chance. He has absolute faith and trust in me, and I have absolute faith and trust in him.”
Pribula “did enough to lead us to where we're in position to take the lead in the fourth quarter,” Elliott said. “We’ve got to finish all the way around as a team in all three phases.”