Hoos Get Running Start on Bye Week

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

CONWAY, S.C. — It would have been a special day for Xavier Brown no matter what. But his father had driven some 600 miles to see him play, and knowing Lamont Brown was in the stands Saturday made the occasion even more special for his son, a tailback on the University of Virginia football team.

Brown, who’s from Lexington, Ky., has been slowed by injuries since joining the Cavaliers’ program in 2022. But when healthy he has game-breaking ability, as Coastal Carolina learned on a hot, humid afternoon.

In front of 22,104 fans, the largest crowd ever for a game at 20,000-seat Brooks Stadium, Brown rushed nine times for 171 yards, the highest total for a Virginia running back since 2018. He led an offense that piled up 384 rushing yards in a 43-24 win over the Chanticleers, who had won 23 of their previous 27 home games.

Brown’s highlights included a 75-yard run, the longest by a Cavalier since tailback Jordan Ellis’ 75-yarder against Ohio in 2018.

“I’m not going to lie: I teared up a little bit, just being out there and being able to make the plays that I know I can make,” Brown said. “And props to the guys up front. They’re a major reason I’m in that position to make those plays. So it’s just a blessing in itself. I can’t do anything but thank my O-line and thank the Lord.”

For the season, the 5-foot-9, 196-yard Brown has rushed 33 times for a team-high 293 yards, an average of 8.9 yards per carry.

“It’s what you’ve been seeing all season,” UVA head coach Tony Elliott said when asked about Brown’s performance against Coastal. “The carries that he’s been given, he’s taking advantage of. He’s been running hard all year, and today he was able to finish and not get nicked up.”

Brown’s talent has never been in question. As a true freshman, he rushed for 88 yards on nine carries in a victory over Old Dominion.

“He’s explosive,” Elliott said, “and I’m just super, super happy for him to have success today.”

Led by Brown, six Cavaliers rushed for at least 20 yards apiece. Fellow tailbacks Kobe Pace, Jack Griese and Noah Vaughan ran for 57, 38 and 32 yards, respectively, and quarterbacks Anthony Colandrea (47) and Tony Muskett (23) combined for 70 more.

To rush for 384 yards is “very, very difficult,” Elliott said. “Those are career-type of games, to be able to rush for that much as an offensive unit. But it was working. The guys, their confidence built throughout the game and the backs ran extremely hard. The offensive line gave them holes, they broke tackles and we’re really, really proud.

“We want to run the football. We want to be effective running the football. We want to be efficient. And then in games where we have opportunity to lead and dominate with the rush, that’s what we want to do.”

Coastal (3-1) came into the game not having trailed all season. That changed moments into the game. Virginia’s Landon Danley forced a fumble on the opening kickoff, and teammate Eli Wood recovered.

Three plays later, Colandrea threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Malachi Fields, and the Hoos (3-1) had a lead they never relinquished.

“That was the message all week: start fast, win the middle eight and finish,” said safety Antonio Clary, who led Virginia’s defense with eight tackles and an interception. “I feel like that kickoff play was huge for us, because it helped us start fast and gave us some momentum. The offense was able to punch it in, we were up seven, and then the defense got a stop and we were rolling from there.”

Virginia led 27-10 at halftime and 37-17 after three quarters.

“Super proud of the staff for their hard work,” said Elliott, who’s in his third season at UVA. “Super proud of the players. It’s not easy to win anywhere, especially coming in here. [The Chanticleers are] a good football team. They’re gonna win a lot of football games. They’ve got a great chance to win their conference, and we knew we were gonna have to play well.”

Virginia was coming off a 27-13 loss to Maryland. The Terrapins outscored the Hoos 20-0 in the second half at Scott Stadium last weekend.

“I challenged you guys to respond, and that was a hell of a response,” Elliott told his players. “This is who we can be. Hopefully you see what you’re capable of.”

Now comes the first of UVA’s two bye weeks, and the break is well-timed for a banged-up team.

“I think the first thing is we have to get healthy,” defensive end Kam Butler said.  “There are some guys with some lingering bumps and bruises and minor injuries that are going to get taken care of this bye week. It worked out perfectly.”

Butler, who had the Cavaliers’ only sack Saturday, was one of the standouts on a defense that forced two turnovers and stopped Coastal on fourth down three times. Others included linebackers James Jackson and Kam Robinson, who recorded seven tackles apiece.

Virginia strives to play complementary football every time out, with all three phases in sync. Against Coastal, the Hoos hit the mark. Will Bettridge was 3 for 3 on field goals and tied his career with one of them, a 47-yarder, and Daniel Sparks averaging 46.7 yards on his three punts.

“Coach stressed it all week,” Butler said. “We stress it to each other. We know there’s a standard on how we’re going to play, and when we all meet that standard and exceed it during the game, it’s a special thing. Everybody’s clicking.”

Virginia’s game captains Saturday were defensive backs Corey Thomas Jr. and Kendrick Smith, tight end Sage Ennis and long-snapper Payton Bunch, a transfer from Coastal Carolina.

UP NEXT: The Cavaliers don’t play again on Oct. 5, when ACC rival Boston College visits Scott Stadium. The starting time and broadcast information for that game is expected to be announced Monday.

BC is 3-1 after defeating Michigan State late Saturday night in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Eagles, 1-0 in the ACC, are in their first season under head coach Bill O’Brien. BC plays at home next Saturday too, against Western Kentucky.

“We’ve got a really, really good Boston College team that’s coming to Scott Stadium,” Elliott said at his postgame press conference. “I challenged the guys in the locker room before coming to speak with you all. We gotta do a better job of defending our home turf, and that’s gonna be the focus for the next two weeks: getting healthy and then getting ourselves prepared for a really good football team that’s coming to our house.”

A LOT TO LIKE: The Cavaliers’ rushing attack was the big story Saturday afternoon, but they were efficient in the passing game, too. Colandrea completed 13 of 20 attempts for 131 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. Muskett, who replaced Colandrea with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, was 2-for-2 passing (for 10 yards). The 6-foot-4 Fields had four receptions, two of which went for touchdowns, and tight end Tyler Neville caught two passes for 31 yards.

And then there was reserve quarterback Grady Brosterhous, who didn’t attempt a pass Saturday but contributed in other ways. Brosterhous, a former walk-on, carried three times for seven yards and two touchdowns.

Brosterhous is featured in Virginia’s version of the Philadelphia Eagles’ “tush push,” and his second TD came on a one-yard sneak. On his first, however, he took a shotgun snap, found a hole and crossed the goal line standing up.

He admitted after the game that he felt “some nerves” on that play. “That’s the first time I’ve been in a shotgun situation like that,” Brosterhous said. “But I definitely had some confidence with all the guys around me.”

On the plays that call for Brosterhous to line up under center, the Hoos use a lineup that’s become known as the Grady Bunch. Against Coastal, it added a new member: 309-pound defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter, who helped shove Brosterhous into the end zone.

“Huge push,” Brosterhous said. “He’s the strongest guy on our team. This is the first time he was put in for this package, but you can tell the impact he has. He’s a strong dude.”

Carter is “real big,” Elliott said, “and he plays with great leverage, and he’s able to just kind of push and move and road-grade guys. As long as they allow us to do it, we’re gonna continue to allow him to push the pack.”

For the season, Brosterhous has scored on half of his six carries, and “so he’s really, really taken hold of the role that we’ve asked him to have on this football team by being a short-yardage back for us from the quarterback spot and then also being part of the Grady Bunch.”

SOUND BITES: The Cavaliers are off to their best start under Elliott, who succeeded Bronco Mendenhall after the 2021 season. Among the postgame comments Saturday:

* Fields on Brown: “You see him breaking tackles and sliding down the sideline, and he just adds that explosive play to our running back room.”

* Elliott on his pregame message to his team: “I wanted to see three things. I wanted us to be complementary, I wanted us to play clean, and I wanted us to take the ball away. And so I felt like we played complementary football for four quarters. I felt like we did a good job ball security-wise. We’ve still got to be a little bit cleaner. We got a little sloppy with some penalties there.”

* UVA center Brian Stevens on the offensive line’s performance: “I think we’ve always got something to prove. Each week you’ve got a new front, you’ve got new guys you go against. I think every week it’s a new challenge, and I think it was a good testament of how we’ve been practicing and how we’ve really been straining in the run game, and I think it showed today.”

* Stevens on Brown’s big day: “When you’ve got super explosive plays like that and he’s making guys miss down the sideline, that’s a win-win for everybody …  Zay, he’s a hell of a back. He’s got great vision.”

* Fields on the Cavaliers’ success on the ground: “When the backs can get downhill and pop off runs like they did, and the O-line is moving guys off the ball like they were, it just opens it up. It makes us a complete offense. We can do anything.”

* Fields on the conditions at Brooks Stadium, which has teal-colored artificial turf: “It was definitely a little hot. You had your feet burning out there, but we were prepared for it. We hydrated well and fueled well before the game.”

* Clary on the defense’s three fourth-down stops: “Any time you hold them on fourth down, that counts as a turnover for us. Obviously, it’s not a turnover on the stat sheet, but definitely it’s a change in momentum, so it’s definitely a turnover to us.”

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