Complementary Football Steers No. 20/19 Virginia in ACC Road Win Over Duke

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

DURHAM, N.C. — Coaches take nothing for granted, and Tony Elliott didn’t relax until the scoreboard clock showed all zeros Saturday evening. In this ACC football game, however, there was none of the last-minute drama Virginia has experienced so often this season.

When the two-minute timeout arrived in the fourth quarter, UVA had the ball in Duke territory with a commanding lead, and most of the home fans at Wallace Wade Stadium had long since departed. The game ended with the Cavaliers, leading 34-17, in victory formation, and the orange-clad fans in attendance roared their approval.

“U-V-A! U-V-A!” they chanted as the team gathered in front of them to sing the Good Old Song, and there was much to celebrate.

“I felt like this was probably the most complete game that we’ve played in all three phases,” said Elliott, who’s in his fourth season at Virginia.

With one regular-season game left, the Wahoos are 9-2 overall and 6-1 in ACC play. Virginia is No. 19 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and remains very much in contention for a berth in the ACC championship game.

Through 11 games, the Hoos’ overall record is their best since 2007. Ranked No. 20 by The Associated Press, Virginia has reached the nine-win mark for the first time since 2019 and has a chance to win 10 games for only the second time in program history.

The Cavaliers have much to play for as postseason approaches. Still, if they felt pressure Saturday, they didn’t show it.

“It was just good to see them come out and just play free and not really focus on what’s at stake,” Elliott said, “but just focus on trying to play their best four quarters of the year, I felt like.”

The victory was Virginia’s ninth in its past 10 meetings with Duke.

Elliott wasn’t happy with the way his team relaxed in the fourth quarter after going up 31-3. Duke (5-5, 4-2) scored two touchdowns in a span of 53 seconds to make it 31-17, but Virginia answered a drive that ended with Will Bettridge’s second field goal, this one a 42-yarder at the 5:42 mark, and the Devils didn’t seriously threaten again.

“There was a little bit of a lull right there in the fourth quarter,” Elliott said, “but I thought [the Hoos] turned it back on and finished it right way.”

It was unclear during the week if quarterback Chandler Morris, who suffered an injury last Saturday in UVA’s loss to Wake Forest, would play against Duke. But the medical staff cleared Morris on Saturday, and No. 4 responded with a strong performance.

On an unseasonably mild mid-November day, Morris completed 23 of 35 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn’t perfect—Morris threw two interceptions, one of which Duke returned for a fourth-quarter TD—but he led an offense that totaled 540 yards, its highest total since Virginia’s 48-20 win over Stanford on Sept. 20.

“We just got back to who we were,” said Morris, who wasn’t sacked Saturday.

Wide receiver Trell Harris had eight receptions for 161 yards, both career highs, and one of his catches went for a 20-yard touchdown.

“He’s electric with the ball,” Morris said.

Virginia finished with 224 yards on the ground. J’Mari Taylor rushed 18 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns, one of which covered 78 yards. Another Virginia tailback, Harrison Waylee, carried 16 times for 69 yards.

As impressive as the Hoos’ offense was, their defense might have been better. Duke came in averaging 35.2 points and an ACC-best 312.9 passing yards per game. The Blue Devils totaled 50 yards and three first downs in the first half Saturday. They finished with a season-low 255 yards against a swarming UVA defense that was missing its most dynamic player, linebacker Kam Robinson, for most of the game.

“We just keep getting better every week, week by week,” said defensive tackle Jacob Holmes.

Holmes had one of Virginia’s four sacks. Fisher Camac recorded two, and his fellow defensive end Mitchell Melton had the other one. Melton’s sack came on a fourth-and-goal play from UVA’s 8-yard line, and not only did he separate quarterback Darian Mensah from the football, he recovered the fumble.

Robinson, who left the game midway through the first quarter, came back for one play early in the third quarter, but “wasn’t able to play full speed, so we shut him down,” Elliott said.

Landon Danley took over for Robinson and was one of five Cavaliers to make six tackles Saturday, along with Camac, Holmes and safeties Ethan Minter and Devin Neal.

The Cavaliers’ defense has steadily improved as the season has gone on. Wake’s only touchdown last weekend came on a punt return for a touchdown, and Duke had little success on offense Saturday. This marked the second straight game UVA held the opposing offense to fewer than 100 yards in the first half.

The defense’s development has allowed “the offense to be able to go out and know that they don’t have to be perfect,” Elliott said, “that they’ve got their brothers on the other side of the ball that are going to be there with them and play complementary football.”

The Cavaliers had the ball first Saturday, and they wasted no time asserting themselves. They marched down the field on a methodical 75-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes and included three third-down conversions and one fourth-down conversion. Taylor capped the possession with a 5-yard touchdown runs.

UVA scored its second touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Morris to tight end Sage Ennis, and Bettridge’s extra point made it 14-3 with 1:39 left in the first half.

The defense then forced a three-and-out and, after a 56-yard completion from Morris to Harris, Virginia had to chance to close the half with a third touchdown. An untimely penalty, however, moved the Hoos back from the Duke 8 to the 23, and they had to settle for Bettridge’s 44-yard field goal.

In the second half, UVA blew the game open with two third-quarter touchdowns: the first by Harris and the second by Taylor.

UP NEXT: The second of their two bye weeks is next for the Cavaliers, who don’t play again until Nov. 29. In the regular-season finale for both teams, UVA takes on Virginia Tech at Scott Stadium that day, with the winner claiming Commonwealth Cup.

The Hokies are 3-7 overall and 2-4 in ACC play after losing 34-14 at Florida State on Saturday night.

Virginia Team Notes 

• Virginia won its ninth game of the season, the ninth time in program history and first time since 2019 that the Cavaliers have won nine games in a season.
• The 9-2 start to the season is the best 11-game start since 2007.
• Virginia has won four-straight road games to match a school record set in 1984 and 1990. The Cavaliers finished the regular season 4-1 on the road. 
• UVA improved to 6-1 in the ACC, the first time UVA has won six of its first seven ACC games since 2007 and only the fourth time ever (1989, 1995, 2007, 2025).
• The Cavaliers are assured of at least a 6-2 record in ACC regular-season games for the first time since 2019. That year, UVA went on to face Clemson and Tony Elliott, who at the time served as the Tigers’ offense coordinator, in the ACC championship game.
• Virginia tallied its fifth win of the season while ranked in the AP poll (No. 20). The last time UVA had five or more wins while ranked in the AP top-25 was in 2004, when it was ranked in every game that year.
• Virginia improved to 42-34 in the all-time series with Duke, which was first contested in 1890. UVA’s 42 wins over the Blue Devils are third-most against any other opponent in program history. The Cavaliers have won nine of the last 10 meetings against Duke.
• UVA has totaled at least 30 points in eight games this year, a feat not achieved since the 2021 season.
• The Cavaliers started the game with their longest opening drive of the season, which spanned 6:47 and ended with a five-yard touchdown by J’Mari Taylor.
• Duke’s first touchdown in the fourth quarter marked the first surrendered by UVA in a play from scrimmage in its last seven quarters of action (123 minutes and 34 seconds). The last touchdown from scrimmage by a UVA opponent was Cal (Nov. 1), which score early in the fourth quarter.
• UVA has scored first in 10 of its 11 games and is 9-1 when scoring first this season.
• UVA held the Blue Devils to season lows in several categories, including total offense (255) rushing yards (42), passing yards (213), pass completions (18), points scored (17) and first downs (11).
• Duke entered Saturday’s game as the No. 4 passing offense (312.9) in the country, while also averaging 35.2 points per game, good for fourth in the ACC and No. 22 in FBS.
• The Virginia defense held the Blue Devils to 16 yards of total offense in the first quarter. This is the lowest Duke has had in a quarter this season. 
• Virginia held Duke to three first-downs in the opening half. Duke is the third UVA opponent to be held to less than five first-downs this season.
• Virginia held the Blue Devils to 50 yards of total offense in the first half. Duke is the fifth opponent that UVA has held to under 100 yards in a half this season.
• For the sixth time this season, UVA held its opponent to without a touchdown in the first half.
• UVA doubled its opponent’s total yardage (540 to 255) for the second time this season (W&M; 700 to 263) 

Virginia Individual Player Notes 

• Trell Harris (8 rec, 161 yards, 1 TD) is the first Cavalier wide receiver with at least 150 yards receiving since Malik Washington against Louisville in 2023. Harris’ eight receptions and 161 yards are career bests.
• Harris’ third reception of the game, a 29-yard catch in the second quarter, marked the 100th of his career.
• J’Mari Taylor (18 rushes, 133 yards 2 TD) has scored at least one rushing TD in 19 of last 22 games dating back to his time at NC Central. Taylor now has 13 touchdowns this season, the most by a Cavalier in a season since Keith Payne had 14 in 2010. Taylor also now has 36 career rushing touchdowns.
• Taylor broke a 78-yard TD rush in the third quarter, which is tied for the 11th-longest rush in school history (Alvin Pearman vs. Virginia Tech in 2004).
• For the fourth time this season, Taylor rushed for multiple touchdowns. The last UVA player to record four multi-rushing TD games was Brennan Armstrong in 2021.
• With Taylor and Harris’ performances, UVA had a 100-yard pass catcher and 100-yard rusher in the same game for the first time since 2023 against William & Mary. Perris Jones (134 yards rushing) and Malik Washington (112 yards receiving) were the last duo to accomplish that feat.
• Taylor and Harris combined for a total of 319 all-purpose yards, the most by a Cavalier duo since Keytaon Thompson (151) and Ra’Shaun Henry’s (179) 330 all-purpose yards at Louisville (Oct. 9, 2021).
• Chandler Morris (23-35, 316 yards, 2 TD) went over the 300-yard mark for the second time this season (the other was against Stanford, when he had 380) and the 11th time of his career.
• Morris’ touchdown pass in the second quarter to Sage Ennis was the 60th touchdown pass of his career. Morris now has 61 career passing TDs.
• Fisher Camac (6 tackles, 3 solo, 2 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 QBH) is the third Cavalier to record a multi-sack game this season, joining Mitchell Melton (2 vs. Louisville) and Daniel Rickert (2 vs. Stanford). Camac upped his season total to 4.5 and now has 13 career sacks.
• On fourth down in the third quarter, defensive end Mitchell Melton recorded a strip sack and recovered his own forced fumble. It was Melton’s third forced fumble this season, which leads the team. Melton is one three Cavaliers in the last 10 years with at least three forced fumbles in a season. Jonas Sanker had three in 2023, and Micah Kiser had five in 2016.
• Defensive tackle Jacob Holmes matched his career high of six tackles. Holmes also had one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
• Cornerback Emmanuel Karnley finished with a career-high three pass break-ups. Karnley also started in Saturday’s game at Durham, his seventh of the season and fifth consecutive start.
• With two catches, receiver Jahmal Edrine reached 100 receptions for his career.
• Linebacker and team captain James Jackson appeared in his 50th career game.
• With 10 points, Will Bettridge (2-2 FG, 4-4 PAT) is now tied for third on UVA’s career scoring list with Gene Mayer (1912-15). Bettridge has 293 career points.

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 #76 Brady Wilson, RB #60 Drake Metcalf, 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 Donovan Platt, NB #10 Ja’son Prevard, S #30 Ethan Minter, S #27 Devin Neal.

Game Captains: #0 Sage Ennis, #1 James Jackson, #4 Chandler Morris, #90 Jahmeer Carter.