Tim Burton had The Nightmare Before Christmas. Virginia football fans have the Nightmare After Thanksgiving.
The latest edition of the recurring rivalry horror show for the Hoos came Saturday at Scott Stadium. UVA stumbled out of the gates and then bumbled its way through the rest of the night in 55-17 loss to rival Virginia Tech. For the Hokies, it marked the most points they’ve scored in the rivalry and the 22nd win in the last 24 meetings in the series.
Worst of all, Virginia barely put up a fight. Cavalier coach Tony Elliott said his team “just didn’t feel like we had the right look in our eye really from the time we ran out for the game.” As inexplicable as that may sound to many Hoo fans, the game unfolded that way. It was 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, 24-0 at halftime, and 31-0 before any semblance of competitiveness arrived.
A dejected and quiet set of Wahoos tried to make sense of the latest chapter of futility afterward.
“DNA-wise, I didn’t feel like it was Virginia football today,” Elliott said. “I didn’t quite feel like we played with the effort, the tenacity, and the toughness. I can live with mistakes. But I just didn’t feel like DNA-wise, just the things that we hang our hat on, we didn’t do a great job of coaching that or performing.”
That certainly showed up in the statistics. The game was lopsided in every way.
The Cavaliers gained just 286 yards of offense at 3.8 yards per play and didn’t gain a first down on their own until less than 3 minutes remained in the first half. Virginia Tech had 10 tackles for loss with 6 sacks plus an interception and 5 pass breakups.
On the flipside, UVA had limited success defensively with 6 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups, and 1 forced fumble. The Hokies piled up 500 yards of offense with nearly as many yards both passing and rushing as the hosts had in total. VT had 5 scoring plays of more than 30 yards.
Special teams had several rough moments as well. The biggest two came from the kickoff coverage and punt returns units. Tech ripped off a 94-yard kickoff return for touchdown, while the Hoos coughed up a fumble trying to field a punt.
“It starts with me,” Elliott said. “I have to do a better job of having the team ready to play week in and week out and evaluate that. I just didn’t feel like we had the right look in our eye from the opening, from the time we ran out for the game. That’s on me. Big plays got away, uncharacteristic big plays to give up that many. So, we’ll watch the tape to see exactly what the breakdowns were. But they made the plays consistently. We didn’t. All three phases, we just gave away some snaps and then, ultimately, it got to a point to where you’re in such a deficit it’s hard to come back from that.”
Defensively, Jonas Sanker led the Hoos. The Virginia safety made 10 tackles with a fumble recovery and pass breakup. He led the team in tackles in 7 of 12 games this season and finished with a team-leading 107 tackles. That’s the most by a defensive back since Quin Blanding tallied 137 in 2017. Dave Herard added 8 tackles with 1 forced fumble and 1 pass breakup. Kam Robinson had 6 tackles.
Virginia had just 43 rushing yards so the best plays offensively came in the passing game. True freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who had made a bold statement last week about winning the rivalry game, completed 29 of 46 passes for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns, though he did have an interception too and got brought down by 5 sacks. He also got hit late with 3 roughing the passer penalties doled out to the Hokies.
Both scoring plays went to receiver Malachi Fields, who made 6 catches for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns. One score came on a 38-yard reception where he got behind the Hokie defense, while the other came on a high throw in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard TD. Fields finished the season with 58 receptions for 811 yards and 5 touchdowns.
As has been the case throughout of the season, Cavalier receiver Malik Washington came through too. He capped off an incredible individual season with 14 catches for 115 yards. That’s his 10th 100-yard outing of the year, more than any other player had in a career at Virginia. With that line, Washington moved to 110 catches for 1,426 receiving yards this season. He broke the ACC single-season records for receptions (110) and receptions per game (9.16). He became just the sixth player in conference history with 100 catches in a season and his yardage total ranks fifth in a single season in the ACC. He had 9 touchdowns this season.
“That’s pretty special,” Elliott said. “But also speaks to his durability, his availability, the way that he prepares. He’s a fierce competitor. He continues to find ways to push himself to get better. So, it’s been awesome to watch him perform.”
Beyond the few individual bright spots, however, it was another game of frustration in a rivalry that’s haunted the Hoos for years now. Whether it was the predictability of the special teams gaffes, the lack of success offensively, or the self-described lack of preparation, it all looked too familiar to Virginia fans.
Virginia Tech now has 10 wins by 17 points or more in the last 24 seasons. The misery there stacks up like this: 31-7 in 1999, 42-21 in 2000, 52-14 in 2005, 17-0 in 2006, 42-13 in 2009, 37-7 in 2010, 43-24 in 2011, 52-10 in 2016, and 33-15 in 2020. The Hokies rubbed it in too by rushing the field at Scott Stadium for the second straight meeting between the two in Charlottesville.
It all sent a 3-9 Virginia team into the offseason yet again with bad energy from a rivalry gone awry.
“I gotta tip my hat to Brent [Pry]. They did a heck of a job today. They were ready to play. They took it to us early on,” Elliott said. “I didn’t have my guys ready to play. But, I’m not gonna make this bigger than what it is. This is one game. We’re gonna learn from it and we’re gonna get better this offseason. We’ve got to wait, unfortunately, for 365 days to get another shot, but that’s not how I view it. That’s not how I think. I have to, in that locker room and in the program, change the mentality and mindset when it comes to viewing the rivalry. And this offseason, I’ll spend time figuring out the right way to articulate that to everybody in the building.”
Didn’t feel like Virginia DNA-wise? 2-22 feels like the right DNA to me!
The head coach is the CEO of the football program. Based on performance recruiting and results this CEO would be fired. But from the top down UVA has not the will to be a consistently competent football program for decades. History suggests the program will continue to be embarrassingly incompetent.
The question is where we go from here? Do we start the search for a new coach? Another 3-9 season would be disastrous!
There really isn’t any talent or good coaching in this program. The admin is incompetent as well.
I’ve been going to UVA games for 60 years and listened to them on the radio before that. I’ve endured major blowouts, improbable chokes, stunning coaching blunders, and overall inferior talent. For three of those years I was even a UVA cheerleader, trying to sustain an enthusiasm that was often waning by halftime. This latest Tech debacle was the only game I can recall where I was actually grateful that the rude fans directly in front of me remained standing throughout, blocking my view of the field. Only occasionally did I peek around them, much as I do at roadkill, only to confirm my worst fears. Sadly, this was NOT the only game this year where I was glad the accessible bus left for the parking lot at halftime.
Coach Elliott had better find a better metaphor than DNA to explain poor preparation, poor coaching, poor performance. Chromosomes don’t lie and they rarely mutate.
I can see the gap between UVA and recently successful D-l football programs widening. Why would a four-star high school hotshot with NFL stars in this eyes want to come here to study hard, be less pampered, get drubbed on the field, be underpaid for his efforts, poorly showcase his skills, lower any professional prospects , etc. And if he did initially enroll at Virginia to become a football celebrity and multi-millionaire, why would he stay? The corrective transfer portal – graduate student turnstile always beckons.
We must fashion an appeal to parents of legitimate student athletes with realistic athletic expectations, promising lifelong benefits offered by prestigious graduate and professional schools (and their graduates) which other institutions would be hard put to match. Such an initiative cannot come from an athlletic department which is already hamstrung; it must come from our President and the Board of Visitors
UVA recently signed a 4-star player, but their only other 4-star is the place kicker. The level of HS recruiting talent is in or near the bottom of the ACC. While some transfers have been helpful, except on the O and D lines, we had more good players leave the team than transferred in. We desperately need better linemen and more size overall. The running backs, with the possible exception of Jones, are mediocre at best. Without better talent, we’ll not have a winning season or beat Tech. TE and his staff have not been successful in getting enough quality players. And the ones they have acquired make too many errors and IMO have been poorly coached. Thus, it’s easy to see how we failed in 2022 and 2023.