By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Until Saturday night, the Virginia Cavaliers had yet to show this season that they could find a way to prevail after facing significant adversity in a game.
In each of their two losses—the first to West Virginia and the second to Florida State—the Wahoos led early but faded after their opponent seized momentum.
UVA struck first Saturday night too, scoring a touchdown on the opening drive, only to see ACC foe Syracuse respond with 17 straight points. The Hoos trailed 17-7 at halftime, but this time they didn’t stay down. On a rainy night at Scott Stadium, the fans who stuck it out witnessed an inspired comeback.
“Really proud of your heart,” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott told his team afterward in the home locker room.
In a span of about 12 minutes in the second half, UVA scored three TDs and took an 11-point lead. The Orange rallied for a late touchdown, but Virginia held on for a 28-25 victory on Homecomings weekend.
“Our belief never wavered,” said tailback Jekail Middlebrook, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
“A lot of people stepped up from a leadership sense today,” offensive tackle Monroe Mills said. “I just felt like we all came together.”
For the Hoos (4-2 overall, 2-1 ACC), the victory marked their fifth straight at Scott Stadium and 10th in their last 11 games at home. For long stretches Saturday night, it looked like the Orange (2-3, 0-3) might pull off the upset, but the Cavaliers came together when they needed to.
“Guys just made a decision,” Elliott said. “They just decided that they wanted to go win a football game, and they focused on what they could control. Guys stopped waiting for somebody else to go make a play and said, ‘I'm going to be the guy that's going to step up and make a play.’ And the leadership of the team finally made a decision and said, ‘Hey, this is what we're doing.’ And they went out there and played complementary football and they executed.”
Syracuse, which did not punt in the first half, had a chance to stretch its lead early in the third quarter, but Shay Barker missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt. He’d missed from 47 yards in the second quarter.
The reprieve helped the Hoos, but their offense continued to sputter until late in the third quarter, when a big play gave them new life. After Virginia’s defense forced a Syracuse punt, quarterback Beau Pribula connected with wide receiver Da’Shawn Martin on a 43-yard touchdown pass, and Will Bettridge’s extra point made it 17-14.
“Momentum can change on one play in a football game,” Elliott said.
The TD reception was the team-high fifth of the season for Martin, a transfer from Kent State. “That kind of sparked the offense and got us going,” Middlebrook said.
Syracuse’s next drive ended with another punt, and UVA drove 73 yards for its third touchdown. Middlebrook took a direct snap from center Drake Metcalf and ran in from the 3, and Bettridge’s PAT made it 21-17 with 11:42 remaining.
A special-teams miscue by the Orange on its next possession further stoked the Hoos. Virginia took over at the Syracuse 34 and kept up the pressure. Three straight carries by tailback Xay Davis, who’d run 14 yards for UVA’s first touchdown, moved the ball to the 5, and Middlebrook did the rest, scoring on another direct snap.
That’s a play Virginia ran with great success last season, when All-ACC tailback J’Mari Taylor took the snaps, and Middlebrook, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, looked comfortable doing so Saturday night.
“I saw an alley and I hit it,” said Middlebrook, smiling. “It’s not too much to it.”
In the first half, Syracuse totaled 217 yards to only 117 for Virginia. Seventy-five of the Cavaliers’ yards came on their opening drive, on which Pribula carried twice for 21 yards and completed passes to wideout Rico Flores Jr. and tight end John Rogers.
Several Cavaliers left the game with injuries Saturday night, including Flores, defensive tackle Sichan John, cornerback Jacobie Henderson and safety Brandyn Hillman. Virginia still managed to secure a much-needed victory.
“It took a dominating mindset and us really attacking the idea that we don't flinch at adversity,” defensive tackle Anthony Britton said. “I feel like we were talking about it last week, but in that locker room [Saturday night], after halftime, we really embraced it. And I think that that showed in second half.”
Britton, a fourth-year from Norfolk, led the Cavaliers with nine tackles.
“I think he's playing with a ton of confidence,” Elliott said. “He’s absorbing the workload with some of the injuries that we've had at the position, and he just continues to get better. And so it's awesome to see him kind of start to step into the type of player that he can be. I think he's still got more before he reaches the ceiling.”
The Orange’s offense had its way for much of the game. Tailback Tylik Hill ran 23 times for 118 yards, and wideout Umari Hatcher caught eight passes for 126 yards. Syracuse started its No. 3 quarterback, Malachi Nelson, and he completed 16 of 29 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown. When Nelson left the game with an injury, No. 4 quarterback Danny Lauter came in and threw a 46-yard to tight end Daunte Bacheyle with 2:50 remaining.
Somehow, though, the Cavaliers came out ahead.
“I'm not apologizing for winning, bottom line,” Elliott said. “At the end of the day, our guys were down 10 points at half, and they found a way to come back and win an ACC game.”
There was drama till the end. After a forcing a UVA punt with 1:15 to play, Syracuse took over at its 13-yard line with 63 seconds on the clock. But the Orange’s first three plays netted only 4 yards, and Lauter’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with 17 seconds left.
Before Syracuse’s final drive, Britton said, Virginia’s defense “had the mentality that the game was on us ... We were going to dominate and there was no way that we would lose. That was our mindset. There wasn't even an option.”
UP NEXT: The Hoos (4-2, 2-1) head to the Lone Star State to face No. 24 Southern Methodist (4-1, 2-1) on Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. The game will air on The CW, starting at noon Eastern.
The Mustangs did not play this weekend.
This will be only the second football game between these schools. The first was on Nov. 23, 2024, at Scott Stadium, where SMU defeated UVA 33-7.
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