Brennan Armstrong returned to the starting lineup Saturday at No. 18 Pittsburgh, providing a huge boost to the offense, but the Cavaliers made too many mistakes on their way to a disappointing 48-38 loss, their third defeat in a row and one that knocked them out of the running in the Coastal Division.

The Panthers (9-2, 6-1) took the Coastal crown for the second time in three seasons (they won it in 2018, and I’m not counting 2020 since divisional play didn’t exist last year), snapping the wild and unique streak of the division not having a repeat winner at seven years (2013-19). The Wahoos (6-5, 4-3) are left to wonder what could’ve been this year if they had an average defense and now must try to salvage the season by beating Virginia Tech next week and hoping for success in whatever bowl game invites them.

Armstrong didn’t show any ill effects of the rib injury he suffered at BYU, other than probably not running the ball as much. I didn’t think he looked rusty at all. Coach Bronco Mendenhall said after the game that Armstrong began throwing the ball with less pain at the beginning of the week, so the team became hopeful he’d be good to go at Pitt. Armstrong, who wore a flak jacket for protection, said he felt good during and after the game. Though he took some nasty hits at BYU, he said he actually injured his ribs by falling on the ball.

“Yeah apparently I fell on the ball, and they [the ribs] broke or something. That’s how it went,” he said.

Armstrong completed 36 of his 49 passes for 487 yards, three touchdowns, and one meaningless pick on a Hail Mary to end the first half. He was sacked five times. With a 7-yard TD pass in the second quarter to Jelani Woods, Armstrong set the record for UVa touchdown passes in a season with 29, besting Matt Schaub’s 28 in 2002. Armstrong now has 50 career touchdown passes. If he returns to Virginia in 2022 and stays healthy, he will obliterate Schaub’s career record of 56.

Mendenhall said he wasn’t surprised to see Armstrong not miss a beat with his level of play.

“I have been around him long enough to not expect anything else,” Mendenhall said. “There aren’t many people in any field that are like that. Our team knows we are never out of a game, and we always have a chance to win when he is our quarterback.”

Five Big Mistakes

Virginia made some nice plays throughout the game, even a few on defense. But the number of mistakes was just too high to win a game of that caliber on the road, Mendenhall said. I’m not going to get into every error, but here are the five that I perceived to be the biggest, in chorological order, and how they affected the game:

Time: 6:52 in second quarter
Score before play: 14-14
What happened: Pitt’s Israel Abanikanda takes kickoff 98 yards for touchdown. Brendan Farrell was unable to get the kick to the end zone for a touchback. Justin Duenkel handled the rest of the kickoffs, a point that was made by the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s David Teel in the postgame news conference.
Score after play: 21-14 Pitt
Effect on game: When your defense is as shaky as Virginia’s, you just can’t allow the opponent to score on special teams. It makes it that much harder to win the game. The timing was terrible, too. It felt great for Virginia to even up the score at 14 after two straight touchdowns by Pitt, and then it immediately turned around and gave up that tie, allowing the Panthers to steal the momentum right back. The defense was able to come up with two interceptions and forced three punts during the game, so perhaps it could’ve stopped Pitt on that drive or at least held the Panthers to a field goal. Pittsburgh was up 24-21 at the half, so it is easy to imagine a scenario in which the ‘Hoos have the lead had they not given up this return TD.
Quote: “Kickoff coverage has been one of our best special teams this year,” Mendenhall said. “I looked up and I saw, they had a blocker for each of us, and good teams make blocks and break tackles. I have not seen it long enough to diagnose it. Clearly we got leveraged and didn’t get off blocks to make a play. I don’t know what led to that.”

Time: 5:30 in second quarter
Score before play: 21-14 Pitt
What happened: Jacob Finn boomed a punt 52 yards for UVa, but the coverage was poor and Jordan Addison returned it 39 yards to the Virginia 38-yard line.
Play led to: Pitt field goal to go up 24-14
Effect on game: Same as above. These were two bad special teams plays in a matter of a couple of minutes. Kudos to the D for holding the Panthers to only a field goal on this drive, as the Cavaliers allowed just one first down, thanks to a sack by Joey Blount. Maybe the defense could’ve forced a punt if the coverage team had been better. This was another play that made it less likely for the ‘Hoos to be ahead at halftime.

Time: Beginning of third quarter
Score before play: 24-21 Pitt
What happened: Joey Blount intercepted Kenny Pickett on second-and-10 to start the second half. He returned the ball 33 yards to the Pitt 12-yard line. On first down, Mike Hollins rushed the ball for 5 yards. On second down, Keytaon Thompson faked a pass out wide to Armstrong and then went back the other way, attempting a jump pass of sorts to tight end Grant Misch, which fell off his fingertips.
Play led to: Virginia tying the game at 24-24 but missing a golden opportunity to go up 28-24.
Effect on the game: I really didn’t like this play call. I would’ve been more a fan of just having Thompson run the ball. That may have been an option on this play, but Thompson didn’t choose it. Thompson is a good runner, even when the defense knows it is coming. Armstrong passing would’ve been a better play than Thompson running, which would’ve been a better play than Thompson passing it. Thompson was getting hit as he delivered the pass, which was too high for Misch to handle. I just hate taking the ball out of Armstrong’s hands when he is so dangerous. (Pitt also took the ball out of Pickett’s hands at odd times, too, other than the brief period he was out with an injury.) Virginia had such a great chance to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter after the Blount pick. To waste it was just … ugh. This was no time for offensive coordinator Robert Anae to go deep into the playbook, especially after a nice first-down run by Hollins. UVa squandered a major moment in the game when it could’ve really seized momentum.

Time: 10:32 in the fourth quarter
Score before play: 34-31 Pitt
What happened: The Cavaliers held the Panthers out of the end zone and forced a short field goal attempt. But on the kick, UVa’s Olasunkonmi Agunloye jump offsides, giving Pitt a first down. A few plays later, the Panthers punched the ball into the end zone.
Play led to: Pitt going up 41-31 instead of just 37-31.
Effect on game: How do you jump offsides on a field goal kick? The chance of blocking a kick is very small, so why risk trying to get a jump on the snap? This was a silly mental error by Agunloye that led directly to Pitt taking a 10-point rather than 6-point lead. Frustrating. The Wahoos committed eight penalties for 65 yards. These mental errors and penalties have become way too common under Mendenhall.

Time: 5:19 in fourth quarter
Score before play: 41-38 Pitt
What happened: With Virginia on offense facing a second-and-7 at its own 46, center Olusegun Oluwatimi snapped the ball early, and it sailed past Armstrong. Devin Darrington scooped it up and tried to make something out of nothing but failed. UVa could not pick up the first down on third down and had to punt.
Play led to: On their next possession, the Panthers pretty much put the final nail in the Cavaliers’ coffin with a TD to go up 48-38.
Effect on game: Virginia had more than enough time to take the lead with a TD and then see if its D could hold on. It had gotten to near midfield on a nice pass from Armstrong to Thompson that went for 22 yards. This ended Virginia’s last really good chance to take the lead.

One final play wasn’t really a mistake but just another example of how Virginia didn’t quite make the big plays in the big moments, something Mendenhall mentioned teams have to do to win championships. After Pitt got the ball back with just over two minutes to play, it faced third-and-5. Pitt ran a play-action pass, with Pickett rolling right and locating Addison downfield. Virginia cornerback Darrius Bratton was there and in position to make the pick, but Addison was in a little bit better position and took the ball away. Bratton fell to the ground, and Addison ended the game with a 62-yard TD. Addison was a menace all game for the Cavaliers, recording 14 receptions for 202 yards and four TDs in addition to the punt return that led to a short field.

Not Meeting the Moment

There were plenty of positives throughout the game other than Armstrong’s play. Thompson recorded 11 grabs for 126 yards and a touchdown. Dontayvion Wicks tallied 10 catches for 144 yards. Ra’Shaun Henry had a 39-yard TD that capped a two-play, 75-yard drive that lasted all of 25 seconds to get Virginia back within 3 at 41-38. Woods posted six catches for 75 yards and a score, though he did have a drop on third down on Virginia’s second drive when it led 7-0. The offense racked up 514 yards.

Blount played a pretty good game on defense, though he did miss one sack that led to a Pitt TD in the first half. True freshman linebacker West Weeks continued to raise his stock, finishing with eight tackles and two pass deflections. Anthony Johnson had a pick. Veteran linebacker Nick Jackson and another true freshman, Michael Green, each had a sack.

But there were just as many negatives as positives it seemed, mistakes that showed up at the wrong times. You can’t play a flawless game, but you need to be your best in the big moments, and Virginia wasn’t. Special teams need to be airtight. The red zone plays need to be the right ones. You can’t jump offsides on field goal attempts. These are game-losing plays.

This contest reminded me a bit of the Louisville game. In that victory, Virginia had to be close to perfect to rally and win. On Saturday, the Cavaliers were far from that standard, and the outcome was to be expected.

The effort is to be commended. The offense is great when it doesn’t stub its own toe, as Armstrong said after the game. The defense made a handful of plays that could’ve been enough to win had there been fewer mistakes. But woulda, coulda, shoulda is showing up a bit too much under Mendenhall, contributing to that question I raised in last week’s column. The UVa football program seems to display a looseness (the bad kind) that is too often sinking promising efforts.

Now the Cavaliers return home to face the rival Hokies, who are reeling and perhaps a bit disorganized with the recent firing of coach Justin Fuente. A victory over the nemesis, no matter how downtrodden they may be, would be a nice salve for this season and Mendenhall, giving us all something to point to and feel good about it in a 7-5 regular season and second-place division finish.

But though the Hokies are hurting, their motivation will be high. It always is when it comes to the Virginia game. Their interim coach, J.C. Price, was a third-team All-American for the Hokies in 1995 on the defensive line. He is a Hokie through and through. He will have them hopping mad and ready to land a punch. If the ‘Hoos aren’t crisp, the Hokies will feast on the mistakes like leftover Thanksgiving turkey. You can bet on that. See you in Charlottesville.