By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In a rematch of last year’s ACC championship game, Virginia again battled Duke to the very end. Once again, though, the Cavaliers walked away with a painful defeat, this time by the score of 19-16.
The longtime ACC rivals met Friday night at Scott Stadium, and UVA led at 10-7, 13-7 and, finally, 16-13.
The Cavaliers’ final points came on Will Bettridge’s 30-yard field goal with 3:00 remaining. That was more than enough time for the Blue Devils, who drove 75 yards for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
That Duke’s Nate Sheppard had a hand in that play was no surprise. The sophomore tailback came into the game as the ACC’s leading rusher, and he scored the game’s first touchdown on a 32-yard run. But on the go-ahead touchdown, Sheppard hurt the Wahoos with his arm, not his legs.
On second-and-8 from the Virginia 28, Sheppard caught a lateral pass from quarterback Walker Eget and then spotted wide receiver Brody Keefe open in the secondary. Keefe came down with Sheppard’s pass in the end zone to make it 19-16 with 1:14 to play.
Gavin Strange missed the PAT, but Virginia’s final drive ended when the Devils picked off a hurried pass by quarterback Beau Pribula with 36 seconds left.
The loss was the first at home this season for Virginia, which fell to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC. Duke improved to 5-2, 2-2.
The Cavaliers asked a lot of their defense Friday night, and for much of the game that group delivered, despite missing four starters: tackle Jason Hammond, spur Corey Costner, and safeties Brandyn Hillman and Ethan Minter.
“They just accepted the challenge,” head coach Tony Elliott said of Virginia’s defenders.
Sheppard finished with only 55 yards rushing, 81 fewer than his average coming in, and Duke totaled only 327 yards.
“We knew we had to stone the run,” said Virginia linebacker Kam Robinson, who contributed a sack and an interception. “We knew [Sheppard] was a tough, physical runner. Our game plan was to swarm the ball, limit them to [as few] yards as possible. I felt like we played great until that last drive when we gave up that busted play.”
After Duke’s first touchdown drive, safety Christian Ellis said, UVA’s defense told itself to “just take a deep breath. Let's go out there and let's just execute. Let's just down the football. And for the most part, I felt like we did a pretty good job of that.”
A transfer from Virginia Tech, Ellis made his first start as a Cavalier and finished with a team-high six tackles.
Ellis said he’s tried to take the same approach every week, whether he’s starting or not, “just because ultimately I want the team to win. That's why I came to UVA, because I wanted to help the team win. And we didn't do that tonight, but we'll learn from it and move on to the next opponent.”
Safety Montino Williams and cornerback Justin Ross made five stops apiece for Virginia, and each broke up a pass too.
UVA’s offense didn’t provide much support. The Cavaliers settled for Bettridge field goals on three possessions and came away with nothing on two other promising drives.
On the first, Pribula lost a fumble at the Duke 30-yard line early in the third quarter. On the second, after one of Duke’s five sacks moved Virginia back to the Devils’ 30, Bettridge missed a 47-yard attempt late in the third quarter.
“That’s potentially six more points on your scoreboard,” Elliott said.
Given Sheppard’s explosiveness, the Hoos knew how critical it was to score touchdowns, Elliott said. “But at the end of the day, you want to end every drive with an opportunity to kick an extra point or a field goal. So we had our opportunities. We were definitely in position. “
Virginia’s offense, held to fewer than 300 yards in each of the previous three games, totaled 353 on Friday. Tailback Jekail Middlebrook, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, led the way with career-best 117 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries, and tight ends John Rogers and Dakota Twitty also shined.
Rogers caught five passes for 65 yards—both career highs—and Twitty had three receptions for 41 yards.
The tight ends “were making plays all day,” Middlebrook said.
Pribula had an uneven outing. He rushed for 66 yards on 21 carries and completed 15 of 24 passes for 158 yards, with one interception. He was called for intentional grounding on a second-and-10 play from the Duke 11 with 3:47 to play, a mistake that moved Virginia back to the 18.
The Hoos have scored more than 16 points only once in their past four games.
After forcing a UVA punt on the game’s first series, Duke needed only four plays to score a touchdown. Sheppard followed Eget’s 35-yard completion to wide receiver Jonah Burton with a 32-yard TD run.
Virginia answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive on which Duke was flagged for two penalties. On fourth-and-goal from inside the Blue Devils’ 1, Middlebrook took a direct snap and surged into the end zone, and Bettridge added the extra point to tie the game.
The Cavaliers went ahead on their next drive, which ended with a 21-yard field goal by Bettridge, the leading scorer in program history.
With its defense stiffening, UVA had a chance to take a two-score lead into halftime. But after the Hoos moved to the Duke 23 in the final minute of the second quarter, they didn’t want to do anything “too risky,” Elliott said, and they didn’t.
Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings called three straight runs, netting 9 yards, and Bettridge drilled a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the half to push Virginia’s lead to 13-7.
UP NEXT: Virginia has four regular-season games left: two at home and two on the road. The first is on Halloween—Saturday, Oct. 31—against No. 17 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The 3:45 p.m. game will air on ESPN or ESPN2.
The Cavaliers lead their series with the Demon Deacons, 35-18. UVA won in Winston-Salem in 2024, and Wake won in Charlottesville last season.
Wake (6-1, 4-1) plays at Cal (3-4, 2-2) on Saturday night.