Virginia celebrated a road win at Coastal Carolina. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
A turnover on the opening kickoff gave the Virginia football team immediate momentum and an immediate lead. The Hoos spent the rest of the afternoon running at Coastal Carolina on the field and away on the scoreboard. In the end, UVA secured its biggest winning margin in a road game under coach Tony Elliott with a convincing 43-24 final score.
For a team fresh off a tough 27-13 loss to Maryland at Scott Stadium and back-to-back three-win seasons, the comfortable victory provided a big boost headed into a bye week. The Wahoos stand at 3-1 on the season, the best start of the Elliott era, with three home games on deck in October.
“Super proud of the staff for having the guys ready to play [and] super proud of the guys for responding,” Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network “Our word of focus this week was to respond. We had to respond two ways. We had to respond to the adversity of giving away an opportunity last week and also respond to the success that we believed we were going to have today. You’ve got to have the right response at all times. Really, really proud of the staff for having these guys ready and I felt like it was a character type of win for our program, kind of show the character [of] can we respond.”
UVA jumpstarted its big day in Conway – the first ever ACC team to play at Brooks Stadium, which packed in a facility record 22,104 fans – with a fumble recovery on the opening kickoff. Sophomore linebacker Landon Danley forced the ball free from Coastal’s Tray Taylor and receiver Eli Wood recovered at the 13-yard line. In a case of poor foreshadowing, the Chanticleers stuffed Virginia running back Kobe Pace on first down for a one-yard loss but the Cavaliers capitalized on the early turnover when Malachi Fields made a 7-yard touchdown catch on a third down back-shoulder throw. They never relinquished that early edge.
Fields later added a 37-yard touchdown reception to finish with four catches for 65 yards and a pair of scores. Like most of the Wahoos, however, he put in a lot of work elsewhere against Coastal. Blocking in the run game to be more specific.
The Cavaliers completely throttled the Chanticleers with their rushing attack. In the end, the offense piled up 384 yards on 58 carries. That’s an average of 6.6 yards per carry. It marked the first time UVA surpassed 300 rushing yards in a game in more than six years. The last time it happened came on Sept. 1, 2018 when the Wahoos finished with 301 against Richmond. It’s also the most rushing yards in a game for the program since the 1998 team put up 446 against San Jose State.
Virginia saw eight different players get in on the production. Xavier Brown led the way with nine carries for 171 yards, which included a tip-toe act on the sidelines as part of a career-long 75-yard run. He also had runs of 29, 24, and 10 yards as part of his performance. That’s the most rushing yards by an individual player at UVA since Bryce Perkins posted 164 against Virginia Tech in the 2019 win.
Three other running backs cracked 30 yards each. Pace finished with 15 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown. Jack Griese chipped in nine carries for 38 yards, while Noah Vaughn added nine carries for 32 yards. Dante Hawthorne had one carry for 12 yards. The Hoos also got positive yardage from three quarterbacks. Starter Anthony Colandrea, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 131 yards and the two touchdowns to Fields, had nine carries for 46 yards. Tony Muskett added two carries for 23 yards in the fourth quarter. Grady Brosterhous, meanwhile, continued to take advantage of his chances with three carries for 7 yards and two touchdowns.
The Hoos’ 43 points scored are the most of the Elliott era.
“That’s what we’ve been chasing. We’ve been chasing for a day like that,” Virginia center Brian Stevens said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. He later added: “I think it all boils down to practice, a lot of the habits we do in practice and things of that nature. Running combos, running every run play we’ve got in our scheme right now and [trying to do] that to perfection.”
“We started off kind of heavy with the pass and then we settled in there and we got some short fields by the defense too and we settled in with the run,” Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “They didn’t make the adjustments to be able to stop it so I told [offensive coordinator Des Kitchings] just keep pounding away and let our guys build some confidence in the run game.”
Antonio Clary (right) led Virginia with 8 tackles and an interception. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
While the offense set the tone with the rushing attack, the defense matched that effort by mostly shutting down Coastal Carolina on the ground. The Chanticleers entered the game at No. 13 nationally by averaging 251.67 rushing yards per game. On Saturday, however, they managed just 82 yards on 24 carries. They had averaged 5.17 yards per carry in their first three games, but mustered only 3.4 against UVA.
The defense took out the two main threats in particular. CC quarterback Ethan Vasko had 190 rushing yards before this game, but tallied 24 with a late touchdown in this one. Running back Christian Washington had 206 rushing yards with four touchdowns entering this week, which included a pair of touchdowns in each of the last two games. He produced just 18 yards on eight carries.
Defensively, Antonio Clary again led the way with eight tackles and an interception. Linebackers Kam Robinson and James Jackson chipped in seven tackles each, while Jahmeer Carter added five. Chico Bennett Jr. and Kam Butler had four each.
UVA came up with some key run stops in big moments too. For example, Butler notched a sack on Vasko on first down late in the second quarter on what looked like an option running play. On the next snap, James Jackson and Carter helped stuff Simeon Price for a one-yard gain. Those two plays led to a three-and-out and a punt just after the two-minute timeout, which allowed Virginia to get ball at its own 42-yard line and the offense eventually tacked on a field goal from Will Bettridge before the half.
Another moment that mattered came in the third quarter shortly after another Bettridge kick led to a 30-10 lead. Coastal Carolina ripped off a big 58-yard passing play to spark a drive that had reached the UVA 8-yard line. On 4th-and-1, however, the defense slammed the door on Washington as Clary and Robinson combined to end the drive on downs. Instead of losing some of its 20-point lead, Virginia flipped the field with Brown’s 75-yard run and added to its advantage with Pace’s touchdown.
The defense did have some trouble with big plays in the passing game. In addition to that 58-yarder above, the Chanticleers completed passes for 65, 41, and 20 yards. Vasko recorded 222 yards and two touchdowns on 10-21 passing with five different targets putting up at least 40 yards. Still, Virginia kept Coastal at arm’s length and well below its 41-point average with some opportunistic plays. The Wahoos forced two turnovers and held the hosts to 1-4 on fourth down conversion attempts.
“One of the things I challenged the team on is taking the ball away,” Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “It starts with the first play of the game. … Also turnovers on downs to me is a turnover because you take the ball away and you don’t give them an opportunity to score. We’re built off the philosophy to keep everything in front, bend but don’t break and be aggressive when we need to be aggressive. I thought [defensive coordinator John Rudzinski] did a good job of mixing it up.”
It all added up to a strong win for the Hoos in a critical spot on the schedule. With a bye week up next, Virginia will have some time to let players treat injuries before it turns its focus to ACC play. Boston College comes to Charlottesville on Oct. 5 followed by Louisville on Oct. 12. The Hoos end the month with a trip to Clemson on Oct. 19 and a home game against North Carolina on Oct. 26.
“It’s huge. I mean it’s a big confidence builder,” Brosterhous said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “I think we know that this is what we’re capable of, but to go out and put it on film and show ourselves what we can do, it’s big. It’s a big confidence builder.”
