CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Virginia’s offense had trouble scoring Saturday. 

Its defense did not.

The Cavaliers’ defense finally grabbed some headlines of its own at Louisville this weekend, scoring a pair of touchdowns, registering a season-high five sacks and holding the Cardinals to a field goal in overtime. 

No. 24 Virginia (5-1, 3-0 ACC) backed up its thrilling double-overtime win over Florida State with a 30-27 overtime conference road win at Louisville on Saturday.

The Cavaliers have opened 3-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2007 and go into their first open date undeniably in the thick of the hunt for a spot in the conference championship game. 

“We didn’t play our best last week and we found a way to win,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said after Saturday’s victory. “That’s what they were leaning on. They leaned on that confidence coming out of that game. They believed all the way to the end.”

And, for maybe the first time against high-level competition, Virginia’s defense showed reasons to believe in it. 

John Rudzinski’s bend-but-don’t-break bunch stymied Louisville’s running game, holding the Cardinals to just 2 yards per carry. It pressured quarterback Miller Moss, sacking him five times and intercepting him once. And it limited big plays, giving up only one pass play of 30 yards or more. 

Perhaps most importantly, it held Louisville to a field goal on its overtime possession, setting the stage for a gutsy run to the 2-yard line by UVA quarterback Chandler Morris and a game-winning touchdown off a direct snap to running back J’Mari Taylor.

Linebacker Kam Robinson had 10 tackles and an interception he returned for a score. Defensive end Mitchell Melton had a pair of sacks and end Daniel Rickert and tackles Hunter Osborne and Jason Hammond each added a sack as UVA finally got the level of quarterback disruption it has been expecting this season. 

Transfer ends Melton (Ohio State), Fisher Camac (UNLV) and Cazeem Moore (Elon) were hyped in the preseason as transformative additions for a Virginia pass rush that had the second fewest sacks in the ACC last season. 

That added pressure was expected to fuel turnovers a year after the Cavaliers picked off the third fewest passes in the league. 

But while UVA dominated overmatched opponents like Coastal Carolina, William & Mary and Stanford, its defense struggled against North Carolina State and Florida State, making it the biggest question mark for people trying to answer the central question hovering over the team going into Saturday – ‘Are the Cavaliers for real?’

The offense was screaming, ‘The Virginia football revolution is here.’ It was being led by Morris and Taylor and Trell Harris. By offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and a ready-for-anything offensive line.

But the defense had yet to turn in a performance to distinguish itself.

Until Saturday.

With Morris and the offense operating behind an injury-ravaged and re-jiggered line, the Cavaliers’ didn’t look much like the unit that came into the day ranking second in the ACC in both scoring (45.6 points per game) and total offense. 539.6 (ypg.).

Virginia managed just 237 total yards and two of its four touchdowns were scored by the defense, the first on a scoop-and-score 61-yard fumble return by cornerback Donovan Platt in the first quarter. 

The second came when Louisville quarterback Miller Moss, in the clutches of a pair of Virginia defenders, tried to fling a ball away. Linebacker Kam Robinson intercepted it and returned it 47 yards for the first score of the second half.

Those plays kept UVA in the game. 

“That offense that did those things in the previous weeks is still in that locker room,” Elliott said. “It just didn’t click today.”

Virginia’s defense made sure it still came away with a victory.