By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
DALLAS — Looking to win away from Scott Stadium for the first time this season, the UVA football team stayed connected with No. 24 SMU for three quarters Saturday.
In the fourth, however, the Mustangs stretched their lead to 10 points, and Virginia couldn’t close the gap at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. The final was 23-13, and the short-handed Cavaliers (4-3 overall, 2-2 ACC) headed home with their third loss in five games.
SMU improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Mustangs are 10-0 at home against ACC opponents since joining the conference in 2024.
This was the Wahoos’ first game in the Lone Star State since 2012, and they were up against a high-octane offense led by quarterback Kevin Jennings.
Under sunny skies in Dallas, the Hoos bent often but rarely broke Saturday. The 23 points were the fewest the Mustangs have scored in a win since 2013.
“Coming into it, we knew that we were gonna have to find a way to slow them down,” UVA head coach Tony Elliott said, “and a big piece of it was to keep the ball away [from them].”
The Hoos did so in the first half but struggled offensively the rest of the way.
Will Bettridge’s second field goal of the game, a 43-yarder, cut SMU’s lead to 16-13 with 24 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers “couldn't make enough plays down the stretch to capitalize and see if we could win,” Elliott said.
On its final possession, UVA turned the ball over on downs when wide receiver Da’Shawn Martin dropped a fourth-down pass from quarterback Beau Pribula that would have extended the drive. The Mustangs then ran out the clock to improve to 2-0 all-time against the Cavaliers.
Jennings, who starred in SMU’s win over Virginia at Scott Stadium in 2024, dazzled again Saturday. He completed 23 of 36 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. Virginia was credited with eight quarterback hurries—five by defensive end Matthew Fobbs-White—but sacked Jennings only once.
“He’s got some Houdini in him,” Elliott said.
One play after recording a tackle for loss on another Mustang, Fobbs-White finally wrestled Jennings to the ground late in the fourth quarter.
“He's just an elusive guy,” Fobbs-White said. “He's very quick and twitchy, almost like a wide receiver … I’ve got to tip my cap to him, because he definitely made it hard for us today.”
On several of the plays in which he pressured Jennings, Fobbs-White said, it “was like he just torqued his body a little bit and still got a good spin on the ball. It was just crazy to me. I thought I really had him.”
SMU's second touchdown was a prime example. Jennings took a shotgun snap on third-and-10 from the Virginia 37 and rolled out. Pressured by Fobbs-White, Jennings slipped free long enough to fire a touchdown pass to Jalen Hale with 12:22 to play.
The list of UVA players unavailable because of injuries at kickoff Saturday was extensive and included defensive backs Brandyn Hillman, Omillio Agard and Corey Costner, linebacker Caleb Hardy, defensive tackle Jason Hammond, defensive ends Devon Baxter and Jewett Hayes, and wide receivers Rico Flores Jr. and Kameron Courtney.
The Hoos suffered another blow early in the third quarter when starting safety Ethan Minter left with an injury. He didn’t return, and an already depleted secondary grew thinner.
Even so, Elliott said, “I thought the guys battled their butts off.”
SMU gambled on the game’s opening possession, going for it on fourth-and-1 from its 34-yard line. Defensive back Donavon Platt broke up Jennings’ pass, and Virginia had a chance to take an early lead. The Cavaliers’ ensuing drive ended, though, when Pribula lost a fumble on third-and-goal from the 5.
It was a zone-read play, Pribula said, and “that’s on me. You gotta secure the ball first and foremost.”
The Mustangs’ second possession ended with a 25-yard field goal by Brendan Baird. Virginia responded with its only touchdown drive. Tailback Jekail Middlebrook ran for two first downs, and Pribula completed a 30-yard pass to Martin. On fourth-and-goal, Pribula ran in from the 1, and Bettridge added the extra point to make it 7-3.
Bettridge tied his career long with his first field goal, a 47-yarder that made it 10-10. That should have been the halftime score, but a self-inflicted wound cost the Cavaliers in the final seconds of the second quarter. UVA defensive lineman Billy Koudelka’s late hit out of bounds on Jennings, who’d thrown the ball away with no time on the clock, gave the Mustangs an untimed play to end the half. Baird connected on a 45-yard field goal to make it 13-10.
“My message to Billy was, ‘Man, I love you. I know you weren't intentionally trying to make a mistake, and your brothers in the locker room are going to pick you up, and we're going to find a way to go overcome it,’ ” Elliott said.
His team wasn’t deflated at halftime, Elliott said. “I think it just came down [to the fact that] in the second half we just didn’t make enough plays in all three phases like we were making those plays, in my opinion, in the first half.”
Virginia’s offense went three-and-out on the first drive of the third quarter. The Cavaliers started their second possession of the second half on their 2-yard line, and another three-and-out followed.
“We just couldn't establish a rhythm,” Elliott said, “and we’ve got a look at the tape to know exactly what happened, but the guys fought, they strained, they believe, they keep working. So biggest thing now is just to respond.”
Asked what changed after the first two quarters, Pribula said he wasn’t sure. “We tried to do the same thing in the second half,” he said. “It didn't help to be backed up and [having] to change the play calls because of that field position and then going three-and-out on the other drive to open up the second half.”
For the game, the Mustangs totaled 404 yards on offense, to 258 for the Hoos.
“We played really well in the first half, and everything was efficient,” Pribula said. “I think we beat ourselves a little bit at times in the second half.”
A transfer from Missouri, Pribula completed 13 of 22 passes for 137 yards, with no interceptions. Tight end John Rogers and Middlebrook caught three passes apiece, and tailback Xay Davis and wideouts Jacquon Gibson and Martin had two receptions each.
Middlebrook led Virginia in rushing with 59 yards, but 12 of his 14 carries came in the first half.
On defense, four Cavaliers made six tackles each: Minter, Fobbs-White, safety Montino Williams and cornerback Justin Ross.
“It was pretty good,” Williams said of the defense’s effort, “but we weren't perfect, and we’ve got to be better, and we're going to fix that. We're going to get better across all points on the board and just get back to work.”
Elliott said he reminded his team after the game that “ACC football is hard. Everybody’s battling their tails off, and we ain't got time to feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to own our mistakes and collectively get better and go back to work.”
UP NEXT: Virginia has five regular-season games remaining. The first comes Friday night at Scott Stadium. At 7 o’clock, UVA (4-3, 2-2) hosts Duke (4-2, 2-2) in a rematch of last year’s ACC championship game.
The Blue Devils won that game 27-20 in overtime at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. In the teams’ regular-season meeting last year, the Cavaliers romped 34-17 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Virginia leads the all-time series 41-33.
Duke lost 24-20 to North Carolina on Saturday in Durham.
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