Rematch Presents Fresh Challenge for Hoos

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Sage Ennis, who’s in his second season at Virginia, played tight end on the Clemson teams that won ACC football titles in 2020 and ’22. Only one other player on UVA’s roster has been part of a team that played in the ACC championship game, and that’s safety Antonio Clary.

In 2019, Clary was a true freshman on the Virginia team that lost to Clemson in the ACC title game in Charlotte, N.C.

The Cavaliers are headed back to the Queen City this weekend. At 8 p.m. Saturday, UVA (10-2) will face Duke (7-5) for the ACC championship at Bank of America Stadium in a rematch of a game played Nov. 15 in Durham, N.C.

At Wallace Wade Stadium, the Wahoos dominated the Blue Devils and won 34-17.

“So this game that we’re about to play this weekend is kind of similar to my first experience in the ACC championship,” Ennis, one of UVA’s captains, said Tuesday at the Hardie Center. “That was 2020, and that was the year that Notre Dame joined the ACC because of COVID.”

During the 2020 regular season, Clemson lost 47-40 to Notre Dame in two overtimes. They met again six weeks later for the ACC crown in Charlotte, and the Tigers routed the Fighting Irish 34-10.

From those games in 2020, Ennis said, he learned to disregard what happened “the first time around. You better flush it. If you win, if you lose, it doesn’t matter, because at this point in time both teams know what’s at stake, and both teams are going to come out and play really hard. And they’re going to self-scout the game that they played against [each other].

“They’re going to say, ‘Well, if we did this just a little bit better, if we would have had a correct technique, if we would have done our assignment a little bit better, then this would be a different game.’ ”

Each team will be familiar with the other’s personnel and schemes Saturday night, UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski noted Tuesday.

“No one’s going to reinvent who they are,” Rudzinski said. “They’re going to look to do it better. They’re going to look to take advantage of what they learned in the first game. And it’ll be a great challenge.”

An influx of more than 30 transfers helped the Wahoos finish the regular season alone atop the ACC standings for the first time in program history. That group includes quarterback Chandler Morris, tailback J’Mari Taylor, center Brady Wilson, wide receivers Cam Ross and Jahmal Edrine, defensive ends Mitchell Melton, Fisher Camac and Daniel Rickert, linebacker Maddox Marcellus and defensive backs Ja’son Prevard, Jordan Robinson, Emmanuel Karnley, Donavon Platt and Devin Neal.

Seven of those newcomers were among the 15 UVA players recognized by the ACC on Tuesday afternoon. Taylor was named to the All-ACC first team. Wilson was a second-team selection, and Neal made the third team. Morris, Ross, Melton and Prevard received honorable mention.

When they went looking in the portal for reinforcements for 2025, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said Tuesday, UVA staffers tried to make sure the transfers would fit in well not only with the football team but at the University.

“This is not a place for everybody, right?” Kitchings said Tuesday. “This is not a program for everybody. And the characteristics and traits that we were seeking, we felt like we were able to get those type of guys. And now you’re seeing the benefits of that because of, one, the character of them as young men, and then their football character. Meaning they fight through adversity, they love to work, they love to compete. And when you put all that together and you can stay healthy for the most part at critical positions, good things can happen. And we’re reaping the benefits of that.”

Like Kitchings, Rudzinski was part of the staff Tony Elliott put together after being hired as UVA’s head coach in December 2021. Asked why he thought the Cavaliers had so successfully integrated more than 50 newcomers, including true freshmen, into the program this year, Rudzinski cited a “commitment to the process and a commitment to culture … Coach Elliott’s done a tremendous job as far as cultivating a culture of accountability, communication, and then ultimately toughness. And these guys embrace the challenge of being here at the University of Virginia and part of a football program that’s going to ask them not only to be great football players, but to be great men for the rest of their lives.”

The Cavaliers have won 10 games in a season for only the second time—the first was in 1989—and the transfers have been instrumental in that feat. But Elliott stressed Sunday that the staff “built this team around the foundation that was already laid. We had several guys that were already in the program that understood culturally what we were after, what the mindset was, the expectation, the workload, how we did everything. And they were able to help the guys coming in the door understand that very, very quickly.”

Wilson, a former standout at UAB, said he told Virginia’s coaches that he wanted to win a championship in 2025. “Chandler said the same thing,” Wilson said, “and that’s exactly what we thought. And now it’s here.”

UVA clinched a spot in the title  game by pounding Virginia Tech 27-7 in the regular-season finale Saturday night at Scott Stadium. That gave the Hoos possession of the Commonwealth Cup for the first time since the Hokies reclaimed it in November 2020.

Wilson, who’s from Alabama, was new to the rivalry. Many of his teammates, though, had suffered through multiple losses to Virginia Tech, and Wilson saw how much the game meant to such Cavaliers as Antonio Clary, Jahmeer Carter and Noah Josey.

“We were playing for those guys,” Wilson said. “It felt awesome just being able to get that win and get the cup back here.”

He was able to hold the cup for a little bit and “take a few pictures,” Wilson said, but getting it out of Josey’s grasp has been difficult.

“That’s his baby,” Wilson said, smiling.

Among ACC teams, Duke finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in scoring offense (34.6 points per game), and UVA was second in scoring defense (20.0 ppg). When they met last month, the Cavaliers held the Blue Devils to season lows in total offense (255), rushing yards (42), passing yards (213), pass completions (18), first downs (11) and points (17).

In the Devils’ two games since then, they’ve averaged 40.5 points and 365 yards.

“They’re one of the best offenses in the country,” Rudzinski said. “They score a ton of points. They move the ball. They run the ball. They’re physical up front, got good skill. And so we’ll have to put a really good game plan together. We’ve got to have a great week of preparation.”

The Cavaliers are formidable on offense as well. They rank fourth among ACC teams in scoring offense (33.2 points per game) and third in total offense (433.2 yards per game). Taylor led all ACC rushers with 997 yards in the regular season, and on Saturday he’ll look to become the first Cavalier since Jordan Ellis in 2018 to hit the 1,000-yard mark.

“He’s a great player,” Wilson said of Taylor. “He’s helped lead this team.”

Against Duke last month, Virginia totaled 540 yards, and Taylor carried 18 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Seventy-eight of his yards (and one of his TDs) came on a third-quarter run that helped Virginia build a 28-point lead.

“We’ve got to bring the same energy that we brought that week into this week,” Wilson said.

Taylor averaged a modest 3.2 yards on his other 17 carries in Durham, but “when you go against good defenses, good teams, the mentality is, get the tough yards,” he said Tuesday. “You keep running and getting tough yards, eventually the defense is going to fold and you’ll break one a long way, and you’ll be ready for it.”

Not every carry results in a big gain, Taylor said. “There’s got to be some dirty runs in there for the defense to loosen up and then open the pass game, and then once that’s hitting on all cylinders, you’ll be able to get the bigger one that you want.”

Taylor, who transferred to UVA from North Carolina Central, is from Charlotte. Each Cavalier player gets six tickets to the ACC championship game, Taylor said, and he could use more than that this weekend.

Teammates might help him out, but “I’ve got family and friends that support me either way,” Taylor said, smiling. “If they don’t get a ticket, they end up buying the tickets. Some of my family bought tickets way ahead of time.”

Another win over Duke would send Virginia to the College Football Playoff for the first time. That would be cause for celebration, “but I’m not going to dwell on it and [look] too far ahead,” Taylor said. “We’re just focusing on being 1-0 this week.”

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