Another area for improvement comes on special teams. The team’s kickoff coverage was excellent and punting and kicking seemed fine, but the kickoff return game needed work. Virginia returned one kickoff and it was fumbled. Last season with Joe Reed, kickoff returns were a dynamic threat. Through one week, the unit acted more like a liability.

Kelly Jr. drew praise from coaches all offseason and performed well in limited action a season ago. There’s plenty of talent at the position, and the Cavaliers have the option of sticking with Kelly Jr. or trying out Shane Simpson or Kemp IV in the role.

Coverage lapses over the middle jump out as the only glaring defensive issue from Saturday’s win. Duke’s two touchdowns came on passes over the middle to tight ends. One went for eight yards, while the other was a 55-yard chunk play.

Major mistakes can fly against Duke. They’re more costly against teams like Clemson, which the Wahoos face Saturday night.

Outside of breakdowns over the middle, Virginia’s defense created havoc all evening against Duke.

Led by 15 tackles from Zane Zandier, the defense finished the game with 11 tackles for loss, seven forced turnovers and five sacks. It’s hard to complain about that.

“Even when we’re down, I think the third quarter, going into fourth quarter, it seemed like everybody was cool, calm, collected and kind of feeling we were going to win,” Zandier said. “We just needed to make those plays to pull away and ended up doing it. So, yeah, just being resilient is a huge part of this program and I think we’ve just trained that since I’ve been here for four years.”