By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
BLACKSBURG, Va. — On a bitterly cold night at Lane Stadium, UVA’s football season ended on a bitter note.
Virginia Tech has relinquished the Commonwealth Cup to UVA only twice this century—in 2003 and 2019—and the Hokies will retain possession for at least another year. Tech capped the opening drive of this ACC game with a touchdown and never was seriously threatened thereafter in its 37-17 victory late Saturday night.
The Cavaliers, who won three games in each of their first two seasons under head coach Tony Elliott, needed a victory Saturday night to become bowl-eligible. The loss dropped them to 5-7 overall and 3-5 in ACC.
Virginia was seeking its first win at Lane Stadium since 1998.
“We wanted this one bad,” Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett said. “Coach E focused on it pretty heavily, what this means to the program and to the state, so we wanted this one bad.”
So did Tech (6-6, 4-4), which became bowl-eligible on the final day of the regular season. No matter how much the Hokies might struggle against other teams, they always seem to raise their level of play against the Cavaliers, and so it was again Saturday night.
Tech’s top two quarterbacks were unavailable because of injuries, but redshirt freshman Pop Watson proved more than capable Saturday night. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 254 yards and one touchdown, with no interceptions, and carried 11 times for 48 yards.
“I think early on we had some opportunities maybe to get him to get him stopped before he started, but we weren’t able to get him on the ground,” Elliott said. “And then his confidence and the momentum builds throughout the course of the game. I thought they did a good job of moving the pocket on him and giving him some run-pass options. And I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of some of the things that we didn’t do well.”
Sophomore Anthony Colandrea started the first 11 games at quarterback for Virginia this season. After UVA’s loss to SMU last weekend, however, Elliott decided a change was needed to try to ignite a sluggish offense, and he turned to Muskett, his most experienced quarterback.
Muskett transferred to UVA from Monmouth, an FCS program, in January 2023. He went into last season as the Cavaliers’ starter but battled injuries that limited him to six games. In training camp this year, Colandrea won the starting job, but Muskett stayed ready and impressed in his relief appearances this fall.
“We’ve been struggling [offensively] for the last four games or so,” Elliott said, “and it wasn’t all AC’s fault, and that’s why I told him, ‘This is not necessarily anything that you did.’ In particular, in the last game, he didn’t have a ton of protection around him, all right? But I just felt like I needed to do something to help the offense.”
Muskett finished 19-for-36 passing for 178 yards, with two interceptions. He rushed 18 times for 62 yards and scored both of the Wahoos’ touchdowns. Late in the third quarter, Muskett capped a 75-yard drive with a two-yard TD run and then passed to tight end Tyler Neville for a two-point conversion that made it 27-11.
UVA drove 75 yards for another TD on its next possession, too, with Muskett picking up the final five on a second-and-goal quarterback draw.
“I thought he left it all on the field,” Elliott said. “I thought the guy was scrapping, he ran the ball, converted some first downs for us. I think he wants those two throws back for sure. He had a couple balls that I thought should have been caught to help him out, with the exception of the two balls that sailed on him, the interceptions. I thought he battled. He had a good look in his eye and put his body on the line, so he gave us everything that he had.”
The Hokies came into Scott Stadium last year and rolled to a 55-17 victory. The Cavaliers offered more resistance Saturday night, but by the time their offense finally started clicking, Tech led 27-3.
“We just came to life offensively too late,” Elliott said.
It was 30-17 when Virginia’s defense forced a punt with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the Hoos went three-and-out on the drive that followed, and Tuten ran 58 yards for a touchdown that effectively sealed the Hokies’ victory with 6:12 to play.
In the locker room afterward, Elliott said, he told his team “that I felt like where I let them down was I didn’t have them ready to play with the right level of discipline and execution. I thought emotionally they got a better understanding of what rivalry means. So I think emotionally they were ready to play, because last year we didn’t have much emotion when we played in this game. So I thought that was there, but just execution … We didn’t have the right discipline on certain plays, and that’s on me. I’ve got to go get that fixed.”
Virginia’s defense came up with no takeaways and allowed 456 yards. Bhaysul Tuten, one of the ACC’s top tailbacks, rushed 18 times for 124 yards and two TDs. Three Tech wideouts totaled at least 50 yards receiving each.
“We’ve got to play better,” said Virginia senior Jonas Sanker, an All-ACC safety. “I don’t really know how else to say it. We’ve got to take more pride in what we do.”
Sanker added: “I don’t want the team to be discouraged. I really believe in Coach E’s plan, what he’s building going forward. I know we’re going to attack it in the offseason. We’re going to learn from this and UVA is going to grow.”
After rallying to defeat Boston College on Oct. 5, Virginia was 4-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC play. The Cavaliers’ schedule grew tougher, however, and they won only one of their final seven games: an upset of then-No. 23 Pitt at Acrisure Stadium.
“I think the biggest thing is we’ve got to continue to grow our depth, improve our depth,” Elliott said. “Injuries take a toll, and so we’ve got to improve the quality of our depth. And then we got to make sure we don’t beat ourselves. When you look at [UVA’s play] down the stretch … if it’s not turnovers, then it’s getting the quarterback sacked. If it’s not sacks, then it’s turnovers. Or it’s critical penalties in certain situations that don’t allow you to establish rhythm. Or it’s not having your eyes disciplined where they need to be on defense or not wrapping up the ball-carrier when you got him stopped for a minimal gain. If you’ve got a guy wrapped up for a two-yard gain and it turns into an eight-yard gain, then that’s very difficult to overcome because now you’re in a short-yardage situation. So a lot of it is things that we can control, that we got to go to work and I got to coach better, the staff has to coach better, and we got to continue to improve our football team.”
Five wins is not what the Hoos envisioned heading into the season, Muskett said, but “hopefully it’ll be a building block going into this offseason for these guys coming back just to continue to build and become a championship program.”
Muskett was one of four UVA seniors who fielded questions from reporters after the game, along with Sanker, defensive end Kam Butler and tight end Tyler Neville.
Neville, a graduate transfer from Harvard, said he “just spent 15 minutes in the locker room crying. It’s tough. This is not the way I envisioned my college career ending. But I really did enjoy every second. I can’t say I don’t have any regrets. I certainly have regrets. There’s a lot of things I could have done better. But I don’t regret coming to UVA. And I don’t regret playing for a man like Coach Elliott. I don’t regret pouring my all into my teammates. I think there’s a surplus of great teammates at the University of Virginia, great men, great people, Coach Elliott included. But it trickles down. I’ve had some of the best teammates I’ve ever had in my life. Some guys who go to war for you.”
For Butler, who transferred to UVA after graduating from Miami University in Ohio, this was his seventh season of college football.
“It’s been a lot,” Butler said. “I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences or past seven years for anything. I’m just grateful for both programs taking me in and just let me chase my dreams and play football.”
Sanker, who’s from Charlottesville, echoed those comments.
“I wouldn’t change anything about the way my journey went,” Sanker said. “I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed being able to grow and learn and create good relationships with all those people along the way. It didn’t end the way I want, but I really enjoyed it.”