CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – After Virginia’s offense sputtered in Saturday’s road loss at No. 23 SMU, calls from fans for the Cavaliers to play backup quarterback Eli Holstein intensified.

Fans love backup quarterbacks. Coaches love known commodities.

But now, with seven Virginia games under Beau Pribula’s belt, what is known about the team’s starter behind center?

Pribula debuted with a ruthlessly efficient performance against North Carolina State, running for 110 yards and throwing for 155 and two scores. He went 9 for 11 throwing the football. The following week, with an overmatched Norfolk State team loading the box to limit rushing yards, UVA turned Beau’s throwing arm loose. He passed for 162 yards and three touchdowns – in the first half. 

UVA appeared to have found itself a capable successor to Chandler Morris. But the past three games have told a different story. 

Pribula, a transfer from Missouri who started his career at Penn State, completed 75.6% of his passes in Virginia’s first four games, throwing for 11 touchdowns and averaging 198.3 passing yards per game. That included power conference matchups with North Carolina State and West Virginia.

Since then, in road losses to Florida State and SMU, sandwiching a narrow home win over Syracuse, his play has fallen off. Pribula has completed just 60.3% of his throws during that stretch, averaging 139.3 passing yards per game. He’s thrown just two touchdown passes in the last three games. 

The reasons, of course, are myriad. And not all of them have to do with Pribula. The offensive line protection has been shaky, allowing a league-high 21 sacks so far. The receivers have dropped passes, including some in big moments. And the playcalling Saturday at SMU saw Virginia abandon the successful running of Jekail Middlebrook – which set up Pribula’s play-action passes – in the second half. 

But Pribula has been far from blameless, making questionable decisions and holding the ball too long, at times contributing to the high sack numbers. 

Overall, the Cavaliers rank 13th out of 17 ACC teams in total offense, and 16th in passing offense going into Friday night’s home game against Duke. The Blue Devils boast one of the ACC’s top defenses. 

Here are three other takeaways from Virginia’s loss to the Mustangs:

Still no sacks

While UVA has been letting opponents drop its quarterback at an alarming rate, the Cavaliers’ defense hasn’t been able to return the favor. Virginia is tied for 13th in the conference, averaging two sacks per game. 

The defensive end tandem of Fisher Camac (two sacks) and Matthew Fobbs-White (four) has been better at getting pressure than at getting opposing quarterbacks on the ground. The Cavaliers have gotten just one sack from theirx linebacking corps.

A year ago, UVA racked up 31 sacks in 14 games, tied for the fourth-most in the ACC. Saturday, the Cavaliers face a Duke team that has given up a league-low two sacks through six outings.

Kam lacks bam 

A big part of that lack of sacks has been the play of star linebacker Kam Robinson. Coming off a knee injury that ended his season after eight games last year, Robinson has been solid but not dynamic. He has 27 tackles, 3 ½ tackles for loss and three QB hurries, but no sacks yet this season. Last year, Robinson had 64 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and two defensive touchdowns in just eight games.

It’s certainly possible he’s still rounding into form. UVA hopes so. 

It was in last year’s regular-season win over Duke in Durham that Robinson went down. He didn’t play against the Blue Devils when Duke beat Virginia in the ACC title game. The last time he played a full game in this rivalry was 2023, when he had a game-high 11 tackles. 

Bettridge back on track

After missing field goals against West Virginia and Delaware, UVA kicker Will Bettridge connected on a pair of kicks Saturday at SMU. He hit field goals of 43 and 47 yards against the Mustangs. Before that, his last made kick was Sept. 11 in a blowout win over Norfolk State. That game saw Bettridge become the program’s all-time leading scorer.