Hoos Have Everything to Play For Saturday Night

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — One of the most-anticipated games in the history of University of Virginia football will kick off around 7 p.m. Saturday at Scott Stadium.

Storylines abound in the regular-season finale for UVA (9-2 overall, 6-1 ACC) and Virginia Tech (3-8, 2-5), whose annual clash will air on ESPN. A win would send the Cavaliers to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2019 and keep them in contention for a berth in the College Football Playoff. For Virginia, a victory also would clinch only the second 10-win season in the history of a program that dates back to 1888, and it would leave the Hokies with their worst record since 1992.

Given all that, the game would be immensely consequential for the Wahoos at any site. That it will be played at Scott Stadium makes the occasion even more special for UVA, which is No. 18 in the latest CFP rankings.

In a ceremony before the game, Virginia will recognize about 55 seniors and graduate students. Some of them have eligibility remaining and are likely to be back on Grounds in 2026. But for many others, including such mainstays as linebacker James Jackson, defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter and safety Antonio Clary, it will be their final game at Scott Stadium.

Clary entered the program in 2019, Carter in 2020 and Jackson in 2021.

“You go down the list of guys that’ll end up suiting up for the last time in Scott Stadium, and I know it’ll be an emotional game,” UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said Tuesday at the Hardie Center. “But the biggest thing for us is not to be emotional, it’s to be focused. And I know our guys will play great football because they believe in the process.”

Since winning at Lane Stadium in 1998, the Hoos have defeated the Hokies only twice: in 2003 and 2019. Both of those games were at Scott Stadium, where amped-up crowds cheered on the Cavaliers. UVA head coach Tony Elliott wants to experience a similar atmosphere Saturday night.

“We need the crowd to show up and be loud,” said Elliott, who’s in his fourth season at Virginia.

He pointed to UVA’s wins over Florida State and Washington State at Scott Stadium this season. In those games, Elliott noted, Virginia fans “caused some havoc for the opposing offenses in some key times. So we need the crowd to be there. We need the energy to be evident.”

Elliott said he’s expecting “a four-quarter game, and we’re anticipating that it’s going to come down to one possession, regardless of what everybody else may think, because [the Hokies are a] very, very capable football team, and they still have talent in that locker room, and they’re going to be motivated … I’m sure they have a certain mindset relative to this rivalry, and rightfully so. They’ve earned that. We got to change that mindset.”

After 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Clemson, Elliott succeeded Bronco Mendenhall at UVA in December 2021. The Cavaliers went 1-6 in ACC play in 2022, 2-6 in 2023 and 3-5 last season. Now comes an opportunity for them to win a seventh ACC game for the first time since 1997.

Elliott, whose overall record coming into this season was 11-23, said he’s “super proud of the staff and the players and their commitment level. I think that’s what it comes down to, because early on, there were probably some days where people couldn’t see the vision, or the vision was very, very blurry, or they didn’t trust that the vision could really come to life. But they showed up every single day … And so now if we’re able to take care of business on Saturday and earn a right to be in Charlotte, that’ll just be a full-circle moment for the program.”

Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, who’s in his fourth year on Elliott’s staff, noted that the Hoos are “sitting here at 9-2 with an opportunity to win 10, an opportunity to go play for the ACC championship game. We thought we could do it, three years ago, but that belief may not have been across the whole community of Charlottesville.”

Clary credited the players for believing “in Coach Elliott and his vision for the program, and then just holding that standard of what it means to play UVA football. So that’s just really what it’s been. When he first got here, guys were still trying to figure out everything. But guys are believing in what he believes in, and it’s showing now, all the hard work that’s been put into this program and all the belief.”

Players like Carter, Clary, Jackson, offensive guard Noah Josey and offensive tackle Jack Witmer, who were already in the program when he arrived, have been the “biggest supporters of what our culture is all about and where we’re trying to go,” Elliott said. “And then they show up every single day, and they not just talk the talk, but they walk the walk. So they live all of the things that we try to embody as a program to set the example for the new guys that are coming in, both transfers and young signees.”

UVA’s roster underwent significant changes after the 2024 season. More than 50 players joined the program, 32 transfers among them. Many of the transfers have played leading roles this season, including quarterback Chandler Morris, tailback J’Mari Taylor, wide receivers Cam Ross and Jahmal Edrine, center Brady Wilson, defensive ends Mitchell Melton, Fisher Camac and Daniel Rickert, and defensive backs Donavon Platt, Emmanel Karnley, Jordan Robinson, Ja’son Prevard and Devin Neal.

Morris, a graduate transfer from North Texas, said after arriving on Grounds that he wanted to help the Cavaliers win the ACC championship. Many outside the program scoffed at his remarks, but Morris and his teammates didn’t waver in pursuit of their goals.

“It’s been awesome,” Morris said. “The cool part is, everyone bought in.”

The first wave of newcomers enrolled at the University in January and went through spring practice with the Cavaliers. Another group arrived after the spring semester ended.

“Sometimes you don’t know what you’re gonna get in the summer with those new guys,” Morris said. “You don’t know if they’re gonna kind of click or not, and so they did a great job. We all meshed well and got this thing going toward a common goal.”

Taylor, a graduate transfer from North Carolina Central, needs 83 yards rushing to become Virginia’s first 1,000-yard rusher since tailback Jordan Ellis (1,026) in 2018. He’s often been banged-up this season, but Taylor has played in all 11 games and rushed for 13 touchdowns, the most of any ACC running back.

“He’s a competitor and he enjoys playing football,” Elliott said, “and he shows up every day ready to work and get better.”

Taylor impressed his new teammates and coaches from the day he arrived in January, Kitchings said, with “the way he attacked the weight room, the way he attacked the meeting rooms, the way he just [integrated] himself into the team … It was good for everybody on the team, because you see this young man, and he’s just so appreciative of these opportunities, but he’s also not allowing that to change who he is. He’s had some success for us this year and he hasn’t changed [anything about] who he is, about his work ethic, about how he goes about approaching things, his humility.”

At North Carolina Central, Taylor looked forward to games against the Eagles’ chief rival, North Carolina A&T. He didn’t know much about the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry when he arrived in Charlottesville, but Taylor learned quickly from teammates who’d been in the program longer.

“This game means a lot to them, means a lot to the fans,” Taylor said. “I’ve got people texting me and saying, ‘We need this game right here.’ ”

To the winner of the game goes possession of the Commonwealth Cup, which the Hokies have held since reclaiming it in November 2020.

For UVA, which is ranked No. 17 by The Associated Press, to have so much riding on this game is “a blessing,” Rudzinski said. “Any time that you get to the end of November and you get an opportunity to play and earn an opportunity to play the next week, you feel like you’ve put yourself in a good position. Regardless of who that opponent is across the field, we’re going to be excited to go play. And obviously, it’s a huge rivalry game that we’ve got to go prove ourselves in.”

The Cavaliers are well aware of what’s at stake Saturday night, Kitchings said, “but, really, it’s our next game. And our whole mission and kind of point of emphasis all season is playing our best game in our next game. And so if we do that, then the results that we desire, we believe we’ll achieve if we play our best game.”

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