Anthony Colandrea led Virginia to 2 touchdowns in the fourth quarter to get the win. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
Call it a comeback game. Call it a gutcheck game. Call it a program-defining game. Call it any one or every one of those things if you choose, but most importantly, call it a Virginia win.
For a long time, it didn’t look like that would be the result. The UVA football team trailed until the final 2:07, in fact, before it found a way to the winner’s circle with a 31-30 victory against Wake Forest on Saturday night. That secured a string of important fact nuggets. The Hoos had lost five straight against the Demon Deacons, had not started 2-0 on a season since 2021, and had not won their ACC opener since 2020. They checked all those boxes with the come-from-behind effort in Winston-Salem.
Virginia also, for one weekend at least, reversed the trend of losses in close games. The Wahoos finished 2-5 in one-score games last season and had said all offseason that finding a way to win those types of contests would be important if they wanted better results. That, of course, included a tough one-point loss in Week 2 last season, providing the perfect symmetry to a one-point victory a year later.
For a program in search of a turnaround year under third-year coach Tony Elliott, it provided an early inflection on for that quest.
“We knew there was a ton of opportunity from a program standpoint, but that shouldn’t be the main motivation for us,” Elliott said in his postgame press conference. “It’s truly an appreciation to compete and who cares what the circumstances are, who cares what the score is at halftime? If you’re trailing or leading in the fourth quarter, it doesn’t matter, you want to compete to a standard every time you have an opportunity to take the field. Hopefully the guys are starting to see the fruits of their labor because they’ve been working extremely hard. That’s a group of guys in that locker room that believe, they believe in each other, they play for the love of each other, and it was just awesome to see those guys have success.”
After slogging through a challenging night that included 2 interceptions, a blocked punt, and a deficit of 54 game minutes, the Hoos needed a fourth quarter rally to ensure a happy mood for the trip home. They got it in the form of 2 touchdown drives and a fourth quarter shutout.
UVA trailed 30-17 when it took over possession on its own 34-yard line at the 13:26 mark of the fourth quarter and it started to turn the tide with a clutch drive. First, the Hoos came up with a key 3rd-and-2 conversion when Anthony Colandrea connected with Tyler Neville for 10 yards. Next, they overcame a holding penalty and 1st-and-20 with three straight completions to Trell Harris. The first two were receiver screens that ate up 8 and 15 yards, while the third was a busted coverage that left Harris alone in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown catch.
Suddenly, that 2:49 drive had lifted the Cavaliers back into a one-score game.
Colandrea finished 33-of-43 passing for 357 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Malachi Fields led the receivers with 11 receptions for 148 yards, setting a new career-high for the second straight week, while Harris added 7 catches for 91 yards and his TD. Xavier Brown led the rushing category with 9 carries for 35 yards.
“AC, he showed up with that. I’m not going to try to take credit saying that we pushed a button, he showed up with that tenacity and that toughness and that grit and the competitiveness,” Elliott said. “Where the growth is is being able to channel it and transition a little bit quicker. Being able to lock in play after play. He’s at 77% completion percentage. That’s back-to-back weeks where he’s had very high completion percentages and then the responded – two interceptions in the game, but he don’t blink. He didn’t blink, but I can’t say that’s anything we’ve done coaching wise, that’s AC.”
The Virginia defense responded with a critical stop on the next possession. Wake Forest pushed the ball into UVA territory with four straight positive gainers before the visitors dialed up more pressure. Chico Bennett Jr. got free on a looping stunt rush for a sack on second down and the defense hurried Deac QB Hank Bachmeier on the next play. After offsetting penalties on the first attempt at fourth down, the Hoos got through for another sack when Trey McDonald looped around with an inside rush and an 8-yard sack on 4th-and-9.
That proved to be part of a good night in the sack category. While UVA gave up only 1 sack, the defense recorded 6 sacks that cost Wake 24 yards. The two on that one drive proved critical to the comeback effort. The 6 sacks came from 6 different players.
The Demon Deacons’ choice to go for it there gave UVA great field position again at its 44-yard line. The Hoos capitalized with another touchdown drive, though it required some anxious moments to get there. The visitors faced 4th-and-2 at the WFU 48 when Colandrea hit Fields for a short throw and a first down on a crossing route. Later, it was 4th-and-2 at the Wake Forest 9 when Colandrea and Fields connected again for 7 yards. That set up a goal-go-go situation that Grady Brosterhous finished off from the bunch formation with a 1-yard touchdown run. Will Bettridge’s extra point gave the Cavaliers their first lead with 2:07 remaining.
That put the game in the Virginia defense’s hands once again as Wake Forest took over with a chance to drive for the winning field goal. After the Deacs crossed into Cavalier territory, receiver Taylor Morin fumbled on contact from defensive back Malcolm Greene as he made the tackle and the ball tumbled on the turf. Wake’s Donavon Greene tried to scoop it up, but UVA’s Antonio Clary Jr. dove after it and secured the turnover. That didn’t quite put the game away, but it did snuff out the hosts’ best opportunity to stop the comeback victory by the Hoos as they held on after one final drive and scramble play.
Clary finished with a team-high 11 tackles and that key fumble recovery. Jonas Sanker added 10 tackles, while Trey McDonald and James Jackson checked in with 9 and 8 respectively. McDonald got extensive run after starter Kam Robinson left the game with an apparent knee injury in the first half.
“Shoutout to T-Mac, we call him T-Mac, got his first career sack – super excited for him” Elliott said. “Then Malcolm forced the turnover there and Clary recovered it. I told them at halftime. I said look this game is going to come down to somebody making a play and you know what it may be somebody that only played one snap in the first half or it could be somebody that might be your first snap in the game, but you’ve got to be ready to make a play and both of those guys were ready.”
“I just wanted to do it for my team you know. Not being out here last year sucked and just being able to be part of this is something special,” Clary said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network postgame broadcast. “Like coach said, starting 2-0 hasn’t been done here in a long time so it was definitely important to us.”
Virginia played from behind throughout the game due to a slow start in the first quarter.
Offensively, that could be attributed to some missed opportunities more than anything. After a good 6-yard gain on a pop pass to Chris Tyree on the first play of the game, for example, UVA immediately negated it with a false start penalty on Harris and that drive fizzled out without a first down. Now trailing 7-0 on the next possession, Harris got behind the defense on a deep throw from Colandrea but dropped the pass in stride at the 5-yard line on what would have been a touchdown catch to tie. The Hoos’ third possession produced points, but squandered a 1st-and-Goal at the 3-yard line following a 45-yard catch-and-run by Fields.
All told, that’s 11 or more points left on the table in the first quarter due to the offense’s own issues.
Defensively, UVA had trouble fully bottling up Wake Forest, who outgained the Hoos 544-430 on the the game, but the slow start part came on the first drive. The Demon Deacons quickly went 71 yards on their first possession for their first touchdown on a drive that took only 1:51. The key plays on the scoring march indluded a 14-yard catch for Demond Claiborne out of the backfield, a 31-yard catch for tight end Harry Lodge slipping behind the defense, and the 17-yard TD carry for Claiborne to cap it off.
Virginia managed to hold for field goals or punts on every other full drive of the half, but an interception by Wake Forest lineman Kevin Pointer off a deflected pass at the line set up a touchdown from the 9-yard line too. Then in the third quarter, Wake added 10 points on a touchdown catch from Donavon Greene and a field goal from Matthew Dennis.
The Cavaliers hung in there with two touchdown catches by Neville in the second quarter, which set the stage for the eventual comeback story. Neville ended up with 4 catches for 68 yards.
“There were certainly times where we didn’t execute on our side, but coach preaches determination and resiliency and I think that was kind of our motto for the game,” Neville said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network postgame broadcast. “I was focused on love for your brother. When you love your brother and that’s all you’re worried about, you’re putting your maximum effort every single play and I think that’s what helped us down the line.”
