Hoos’ Growth Evident in Season-Opening Win

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In its home opener last year, the University of Virginia football team lost focus when adversity arrived, and what could have been a momentum-building win became a dispiriting defeat.

The Wahoos experienced no such letdown in their 2024 season opener. With Virginia up 20-7 late in the second quarter, a powerful thunderstorm halted the game for 2 hours and 18 minutes Saturday night at Scott Stadium. Once play resumed, the Hoos reasserted themselves and pulled away for a 34-13 victory over the Richmond Spiders.

“We learned a lot from last year,” third-year head coach Tony Elliott said.

Against James Madison last September, a thunderstorm stopped the proceedings with Virginia leading by 11 points early in the fourth quarter. After a 73-minute delay, play resumed and JMU rallied for two touchdowns in the final nine minutes to stun UVA 36-35 at Scott Stadium.

When Mother Nature intervened again Saturday, Virginia safety Antonio Clary said, Elliott “came into the locker room during that delay and was just like, ‘What team do we want to be in 2024?’ Because last time we were in this situation, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. So it was just all about mentality, mindset. Coach talks about competitive stamina all the time, playing to a standard no matter the situation. So we really took that to heart as a team, and it showed out there in the second half.”

It was UVA Strong Day at Scott Stadium, and commemorated before the game were Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, the Cavalier football players who were shot and killed in November 2022 after returning to Grounds from a class field trip.

Virginia dominated from the start. After the Cavaliers’ defense forced a three-and-out on the game’s first possession, their offense struck quickly.

Sophomore quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who edged fifth-year Tony Muskett for the starting job in training camp, ran for 35 yards on UVA’s first play from scrimmage. Two plays later, Colandrea hit wide receiver Trell Harris, a transfer from Kent State, with a 35-yard touchdown pass, and the rout was on.

“Now you’ve got a picture of what it looks like,” Elliott told his team in the locker room after the game.

UVA’s offense totaled 497 yards and its defense allowed only 257. Seventy-five of the Spiders’ total came on their lone touchdown drive, which made it 20-7 with 4:48 left in the second quarter. With a storm approaching, the game was stopped moments later, at 6:59 p.m., and the teams retreated to their locker rooms. They returned to the field to warm up at 9:01 p.m., and play resumed 16 minutes later.

“I think about last year on UVA Strong Day, we had a similar situation and we didn’t finish,” Elliott said. “I’m really proud of the staff and the guys for finding a way to finish tonight.”

The Hoos want to play complementary football every time they take the field, but that’s an elusive goal. Against Richmond, though, all three phases made significant contributions. When that happens, defensive end Kam Butler said, the “flow of the game just feels so much so much better. It’s not choppy. You’re not holding your breath on either side of the ball or special teams. I think we felt that energy tonight. We all know what we’re doing, so let’s go out and execute. We played a pretty clean game.”

Virginia was penalized only three times, for 25 yards.

“The one area where I wanted to see us do a little bit better was finishing the fourth quarter,” Elliott said. “We got a little bit sloppy with a couple penalties and didn’t sustain some drives. But overall, there’s a lot to build upon.”

Colandrea finished 17-of-23 passing for 297 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed 11 times for 49 yards and another score. His second TD pass was to reserve tailback Jack Griese, who raced down the right sideline to complete a 57-yard play on Virginia’s third possession.

“I feel like I played OK,” Colandrea said. “I missed some plays that I want to get back, but we got next week. We have 12 games.”

Elliott was more effusive. “Not everybody’s gonna be able to see the same things as we do as coaches, but I thought [Colandrea] made some heads-up plays. He went out of bounds a couple times, which shows progress. I thought he did a really good job of taking care of the ball. He did have one sack that he’s gonna learn from, but I saw a lot of growth and maturity from his standpoint.”

When he ran, Colandrea made a point of avoiding contact when possible. If he didn’t run out of bounds, he slid to end the play.

“Coach Elliott was just telling me before we played, ‘Just be safe with your body and get down. You don’t need to take unnecessary hits,’ ” Colandrea said.

Big plays fueled the Cavaliers’ offense. Senior wideout Malachi Fields finished with a career-high 100 yards on five receptions, the most memorable of which was a 41-yard catch on which he laid out for the ball along the left sideline. Senior tailback Kobe Pace had a 52-yard reception and a 43-yard run and finished with a game-high 93 yards on 11 carries.

“I thought he showed what he had been showing all through camp, that he wanted to take over as the guy and be a workhorse and show that he can extend plays,” Elliott said of Pace. “He can run and hit the dirty carries, but then also he can turn them into explosive plays. So it was good to see him have some explosiveness.”

The Hoos’ final points came with 8:31 left in the third quarter. Colandrea capped a 75-yard drive with a seven-yard run on a quarterback draw, and junior Will Bettridge added the extra point to make it 34-7.

Bettridge was 4-for-4 on extra points and 2-for-3 on field goals. Overall, Virginia’s special teams shined. Daniel Sparks averaged 54.5 points on his two punts, and five of his seven kickoffs went for touchbacks. Xavier Brown totaled 58 yards on his two kickoff returns, and he also carried eight times for 44 yards.

Injuries limited Brown, who sparkled as a true freshman in 2022, to two brief appearances last season, and “it was good to see X back,” Elliott said. “He brings a little different element to it.”

Clary and fellow safety Jonas Sanker led Virginia’s defense with eight tackles apiece. Sanker was an All-ACC selection in 2023, but Clary missed the season with an ankle injury. He celebrated his return with a jarring tackle on the first play from scrimmage Saturday night.

“I took a moment before the game just to sit there and really just reflect and be grateful for this opportunity,” Clary said, “because you only get so many of them and it can be over like that. I was just blessed and grateful.”

Elliott said Clary “brings a toughness. He’s a highly intelligent football player. He can get his teammates lined up. He communicates well. When he comes downhill, he’s trying to run through you, and then he gives us some great value in special teams.”

The Cavaliers were 3-for-11 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down Saturday. Still, there were many more highs than lows for Virginia in its opener, but Elliott knows bigger challenges await his team, starting next weekend with its ACC opener.

“I like where we started,” he said, “but still it’s going to take a little bit more sample size for us to really know exactly what we got.”

UP NEXT: In the ACC opener for both teams, UVA (1-0) meets Wake Forest (1-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C. The game will air on ESPN2.

The Cavaliers, who lead the series 34-17, have lost five straight to the Demon Deacons. Virginia’s most recent win over Wake came in 2007.

The Deacons’ coaching staff includes former UVA assistants Wayne Lineburg and Chip West. Lineburg is a former Cavalier quarterback. Wake opened the season Thursday night with a 45-13 win over North Carolina A&T.

SOUND BITES: The Hoos, who lead their series with Richmond 31-3-2, have won seven of their past eight season openers. Among the postgame comments Saturday night:

* Elliott on the crowd: “I really want to thank the students. The students showed up. They covered the Hill. I appreciate the fans that showed up, and I really appreciate the students and the fans that came back. Two hours and 18 minutes, in a pretty bad storm, and a lot of folks decided to come back.”

* Elliott on the new video board at Scott Stadium: “What a great addition.”

* Clary on the challenge of facing Wake Forest: “At the end of the day, it all comes down to doing our job, preparing, and mindset. We believe that we can hang with anybody in the country, but it’s all up to us and our mindset and how we prepare throughout the week. Because at the end of the day, it’s just the next opponent on our schedule, and that’s how we’ve got to treat it. We’ve got to worry about going 1-0 this week, and then 1-0 next week. We’ve just got to keep focusing on week by week, and it’s all about a process.”

* Elliott on Colandrea’s progress: “AC has big goals for himself. He wants to play extremely well at the collegiate level, make it to the NFL. He also has the humility to understand that there’s areas where he’s got to grow. There’s just some things that he hasn’t been exposed to up until he got to this level. And so just understanding that [as] the quarterback, there’s always eyes on you wherever you go. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the building, if you’re in the classroom, if you’re going through the line at Chick-fil-A. People are going to know who you are. They’re always watching, and so you have to learn how to be able to manage that. It just comes with the territory. It’s not something you necessarily ask for, but it’s just part of what’s required to be the quarterback.”

* Elliott on Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree’s lack of production in his UVA debut: “He’s gonna learn and grow from tonight and get better …  I know he wanted to make those plays, but he’ll make the adjustment and he’ll get better. And I anticipate that he’s gonna come out and play really well the next several games for us.

* Clary on his performance: “I’m my biggest critic, so there’s definitely some plays that I left out there that I wish I could get back, but you got to move on and learn from it.”

To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.