Fourth-Quarter Defensive Heroics Lift No. 18 Virginia Over Washington State

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Another game, another dramatic victory for the Virginia Cavaliers. This one came in front of the largest crowd of the season at Scott Stadium and made No. 18 UVA bowl-eligible for the first time since 2021.

At 6-1, the Cavaliers are off to their best start since 2007.

Coming off overtime wins over Florida State and Louisville, Virginia looked uncharacteristically flat during the first half Saturday night, and Washington State put itself in position to pull off a stunning upset in the first-ever football game between these schools. But the Cavaliers dominated the fourth quarter, scored on a late safety and walked away with a 22-20 victory on Homecomings weekend in front of an announced crowd of 56,048.

“There’s a lot of things we can learn from it,” said Tony Elliott, UVA’s fourth-year head coach. “But at the end of the day, the football team made a decision at the half to come out and find a way to win the football game, and they did.”

The Wahoos trailed 17-7 at the half, and the score was 20-10 heading into the fourth quarter. But their defense shut down Wazzu the rest of the way, and their offense delivered when it had to.

First came a 97-yard touchdown drive on which quarterback Chandler Morris, wide receiver Jahmal Edrine, tight end Sage Ennis and tailback Harrison Waylee contributed pivotal plays. That made it a three-point game with 9:45 remaining, and UVA cornerback Ja’son Prevard ended the Cougars’ next drive with an interception.

With 2:55 to play, Will Bettridge’s second field goal, a 34-yarder, made it 20-20. His first, from 47 yards, had tied his career long and made it 17-10 with 8:38 left in the third quarter.

After Bettridge tied the game, a blunder by the Cougars (3-4) on the ensuing kickoff forced them to start their next possession at their 2-yard line, and Virginia’s defense, with an assist from the fans at the south end of the stadium, did the rest.

On third-and-11 from the 1, Washington State tried to run the ball, and linebacker Kam Robinson’s hit on tailback Kirby Vorhees in the end zone resulted in a safety with 2:41 remaining.

After fielding the ensuing kickoff, the Cavaliers took over at their 30-yard line with 2:35 to play. On third-and-3 from the 37, tailback J’Mari Taylor ran for a first down that allowed UVA to run out the clock.

Washington State’s offense finished with 326 yards but gained only 74 in the second half. Prevard and fellow cornerback Donavon Platt each had an interception for Virginia, and safety Devin Neal recorded a team-high 10 tackles.

UVA, which had only 109 yards of offense in the first half, finished with 301. On a night when Morris played through a shoulder injury, he completed 15 of 25 passes for 179 yards and wasn’t intercepted. Edrine finished with 102 yards on five receptions.

Another wideout, Cam Ross, scored Virginia’s first touchdown on a 19-yard run, but he took a blow to the head in the final minute of the first half and didn’t play thereafter. Elliott said Ross was held out as a precaution.

UP NEXT: In a noon game to air on ACC Network, Virginia takes on North Carolina (2-4, 0-2) at Kenan Stadium next Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Tar Heels hold a 65-59-4 lead in the series known as “the South’s oldest rivalry.” UVA and UNC met for the first time in football in 1892.

Carolina, which is in its first season under former NFL head coach Bill Belichick, lost 21-18 at Cal in a game that started at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.

Virginia (6-1, 3-0) is one of three teams unbeaten in ACC play, along with Georgia Tech (7-0, 4-0) and SMU (5-2, 3-0).

Virginia Team Notes
• Saturday was the first-ever meeting between UVA and Washington State. With the win, UVA improved to 17-11 and 12-7 at Scott Stadium in first-time matchups dating back to 2000. UVA also faced Stanford for the first time earlier this season, a 48-20 win for the Hoos.
• Saturday was Virginia’s first-ever win against a Pac-12 school. The Cavaliers came into the game 0-7 against Pac-12 foes. The last Pac-12 opponent at Scott Stadium was UCLA in 2014.
• The victory made Virginia bowl-eligible for the first time since the 2021 season. The Cavaliers are bowl-eligible after the first seven games of the season for the first time since 2007.
• The Cavaliers went ahead for the first time in the contest with a safety with 2:41 remaining in the game. It was the first UVA safety since 2021 at Miami. It was the first safety to win an FBS game since Iowa recorded back-to-back safeties to South Dakota State, 7-3 on Sept. 4, 2022.
• UVA is 52-46-2 all-time in Homecomings games. Tonight was the 100th Homecomings game in program history. UVA has held a Homecomings game every year since 1923 except for 1942, 1944 and 2020.
• Virginia is 6-1 to start the season, its best start since going 6-1 to begin the 2007 season.
• The Cavaliers have won five straight games, the program’s longest win streak since 2007.
• Virginia captured its fifth-straight win at home. UVA had only won five straight home games once in the previous 17 seasons (2019), dating back to 2008.
• UVA improved to 5-0 at home this season, its most wins at home since 2020 and the best start at home since 2019 (7-0).
• Tony Elliott improved to 5-0 coming off a bye week.
• It marked the fourth night game of the season at Scott Stadium, tied for the most in Scott Stadium history). Virginia is now 4-0 in night games this season.
• The Cavaliers improved to 3-1 in non-conference games this season. The last time UVA won three non-conference matchups in a season was in 2019.
• Virgina erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and outscored Washington State 12-0 in the fourth quarter. UVA outgained WSU, 126-8 in the fourth quarter and had the ball for 10:36 in the final stanza.
• It was Virginia’s first fourth-quarter comeback of 10 or more points since coming back to knock off Wake Forest on the road last season.
• UVA has outscored its opponents 38-19 in fourth quarters this season and 55-25 when including overtime periods.
• Saturday’s attendance was 56,048, the largest crowd of the season and the largest since the home opener against James Madison in 2023 (56,508).
• UVA pulled within three points with a nine play, 97-yard drive over the course of 3:41 in the fourth quarter. The drive matched UVA’s longest by distance this season and marked the second scoring drive of at least 90 yards this year. Both 90+ yard scoring drives resulted in rushing TDs by Harrison Waylee, who also had a school-record, 97-yard rushing TD against William & Mary (Sept. 13) earlier this season.
• For the fourth game so far this season, the Cavaliers did not allow a sack. The last time UVA did not allow a sack in four games in a season was in 2014, when it tallied five games without giving up a sack.
• Virginia has yet to lose a fumble in 2025 and came into the contest as one of eight FBS teams without a fumble lost.
• For the first time this season, UVA’s opponent scored first. Also, for the first time this year, UVA trailed at the half.

Virginia Individual Player Notes
• Devin Neal led the team with 10 tackles, including a game-high, six solo efforts. It marked his second double-digit effort of the season.
• Wide receiver Jahmal Edrine had a season-high 102 receiving yards on five catches, seven yards shy of his career-high (109 vs. MTSU in 2022 while at FAU). It marked his third career 100-yard game and first as a Cavalier. Three Cavalier receivers have recorded a 100-yard game this season (Cam Ross & Trell Harris).
• Donavon Platt nabbed his first interception as a Cavalier on Wazzou’s third drive of the game. Platt’s last was on Chandler Morris in the Army-North Texas game in 2024.
• Ja’Son Prevard came up with his third interception of the season in seven games. The last time a Cavalier had three interceptions in a season was Joey Blount (3) and Anthony Johnson (3) in 2021.
• Wide receiver Cam Ross opened the UVA scoring with his first career rushing touchdown on a 19-yard end around.
• Daniel Sparks punted six times for 318 yards for an average of 53 yards per punt. He downed three balls inside the 20-yard line and his 65-yard punt in the second quarter was season long and the fourth-longest of his career. It was also his 16th career punt of 60 yards or more.
• Noah Josey (LG) made his 35th consecutive start, dating back to 2022, while Chandler Morris (QB) tallied his 20th consecutive start.

Offensive Starters: QB #4 Chandler Morris, RB #3 J’Mari Taylor, WR #7 Jahmal Edrine, WR #11 Trell Harris, TE #0 Sage Ennis, WR #6 Cam Ross, LT #52 McKale Boley, LG #77 Noah Josey, C #60 Drake Metcalf, RG #78 Kevin Wigenton II, RT #68 Jack Witmer.

Defensive Starters: DE #14 Fisher Camac, NT #90 Jahmeer Carter, DT #91 Jason Hammond, DE #17 Mitchell Melton, LB #1 James Jackson, LB #5 Kam Robinson, CB #19 Emmanuel Karnley, CB #28 Donavon Platt, NB #10 Ja’son Prevard, S #30 Ethan Minter, S #27 Devin Neal.

Game Captains: #21 Harrison Waylee, #39 Robbie Engelberg, #69 Bryce Robinson, #74 Ethan Sipe.