In the first ever meeting between two prestigious schools, Virginia got the better of Stanford on Saturday night, 48-20. The Cavaliers used a blazing hot start to jump on the Cardinal early, scoring touchdowns on their first four offensive drives. UVA opened up a 28-7 lead by the end of the first quarter before further extending that lead in the second half.
“We knew if we could get off to a fast start, we might have a chance to put just a little bit more pressure on them to try and come from behind,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said during his postgame press conference.
After accumulating a school-record 700 yards of offense against William & Mary last Saturday, the Virginia offense generated another impressive performance as an encore. The Cavaliers finished the first half with 401 yards of offense, an amount they were unable to meet in the final six games of the 2024 regular season. They finished with 590 yards, giving the offense 500+ yards in all four games this season.
The only drama of the game came in the closing minutes of the second quarter. With the Cavalier offense in the red zone, a touchdown was wiped away because of a penalty. Kicker Will Bettridge badly missed a 25-yard field goal that would have extended the lead to 31-7. Instead, Stanford was able to parlay the miss into a scoring drive before halftime, narrowing the lead to a two-score game at 28-14.
Elliott emphasized the importance of capitalizing on these opportunities to put games away during his halftime remarks to his team.
“In this sport, you know the good teams, when there’s blood in the water, they go after it,” Elliott said.
While Virginia could not match its offensive production in the second half, it internalized the coach’s message out of the locker room. The offense marched down the field and scored on a 7-play, 68-yard touchdown drive to extend the lead back to 21 points. The defense pitched a shutout in the final frame for the fourth consecutive game as well. At the conclusion of the game, only three other FBS teams had not allowed a fourth quarter point on the season.
This was a game UVA was expected to win. The Cavaliers entered the contest as three score favorites at most sportsbooks. It was the largest spread in the Hoos’ favor against a Power 4 opponent since 2007.
With the victory, Virginia now sits at 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC. The win sets up a highly anticipated game against undefeated Florida State on Friday night at Scott Stadium. Before that, here are the key takeaways from UVA’s game against Stanford.
The Morris-Harris Connection
Coming into the game, Tony Elliott believed that his team was “going to get some opportunities to put the ball in the air.” Quarterback Chandler Morris certainly executed on his coach’s gameplan.
In his most complete game in a Cavalier uniform, Morris completed 23 of 31 passes for 380 yards and 4 passing touchdowns. He added a touchdown on the ground as well on a trick play.
Morris did most of his damage in the first half connecting with wide receiver Trell Harris. Virginia’s first offensive play of the game was an unsuccessful flea flicker in which quarterback Chandler Morris had receivers streaking down the field, but pressure impacted his ability to get the ball to his target. Morris completed his next 11 passes, though, 3 of which were touchdowns to Harris.
“I’m just trying to keep up with him on my arm because he’ll get down that field pretty quick,” Morris said of Harris. He also described him as a “spark” that can “blow the top off of any coverage.”
Harris demonstrated this speed on the first play of the Cavaliers’ second drive, taking a 75-yard touchdown pass to the house after outrunning the Cardinal secondary.
The last Virginia wideout to have three receiving touchdowns in an entire game was Olamide Zaccheaus during the 2018 Belk Bowl. Harris is only the second ACC player in the last 20 years to have 3 receiving touchdowns in the first quarter of a game.
“You dream and you pray for a half like that,” Harris said.
Harris finished the game with 4 catches for 145 yards. He went down with an injury in the third quarter after drawing a defensive pass interference penalty and did not return. After the game, he said he was dealing with a cramp and would be good to go for next week’s game.
Other receivers also benefited from the Cavaliers’ pass happy approach. Cam Ross led the team with 7 catches for 88 yards, while Jahmal Edrine finished with 3 catches and 46 yards. Tight end Sage Ennis caught his second touchdown of the season from Morris as well. In all, nine different Cavaliers caught passes in the game pushing the season total to 16 different players with a reception.
Morris exited the game in the fourth quarter, allowing backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin to make his third appearance of the season. In relief, Kaelin completed his only pass attempt, a 4-yard touchdown to Eli Wood. It was Kaelin’s first collegiate touchdown pass and Wood’s first career receiving touchdown as well.
Offensive Line Continues Solid Play
Coming into this game, Virginia was one of the only FBS teams to have not allowed a sack. That streak was broken when Morris scrambled out of bounds for a short loss in the third quarter. After the game, Tony Elliott said that the sack should not be held against the offensive line because Morris should have thrown the ball away.
It has been a remarkable turnaround from a unit that finished 131st out of 133 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season.
“Super proud of the offensive line,” Elliott said. “I know we got one sack credited, but I told Chandler that one’s on him.”
Despite multiple injuries, the Cavaliers’ front line has done an outstanding job of giving Morris time to throw and generating forward push on running plays. A week after accumulating 379 rushing yards, Virginia backs had another successful day on the ground. In all, the Hoos amassed 206 rushing yards on 42 carries, with J’Mari Taylor leading the team with 85 yards on 15 carries. It marked the first time since 2004 that UVA posted 200+ rushing yards in three straight games.
The already banged up line did take another hit when center Brady Wilson sustained an injury in the third quarter and did not return to the game. He had a boot on at the end of the game. Elliott was hopeful that the injury was limited to a calf strain and not serious, but he would need to wait for an update from his medical staff. Following the injury, the offensive line had a couple penalties that Elliott suggested might be from shifting the coverage around. Drake Metcalf moved to center, while other players rotated in at right guard.
“We did get a couple of holding penalties inside that we got to clean up,” Elliott said. “Those were not necessarily on the center, but that’s the impact when you have to move a guy from a position to bring somebody else in. In fairness to them, things are moving fast. They haven’t been in the game as long, but that’s the opportunity that we have to improve and get better.”
Defensive Front Stiffens, Secondary Wobbles
Stanford won its ACC opener last week against Boston College in large part because of its ability to run the football and keep quarterback Ben Gulbranson upright. The Cardinal rushed for 213 yards against the Eagles and conceded only 1 sack.
Saturday night in Charlottesville was an entirely different story. Virginia’s defense held the Cardinal to just 35 rushing yards on 31 carries. The pass rush had been a concern for the Cavaliers this season. Virginia entered the game with only 4 defensive sacks on the year. John Rudzinski’s unit matched that total and then some, getting Stanford for 5 sacks with 8 total tackles for a loss.
“We’re capable of showing the world what we could do,” Cavalier defensive tackle Jason Hammond said. “Stoning a run, stopping the passer, opening up lanes for our defense to get turnovers. I think we have a whole world in front of us right now.”
The defense was buoyed by the return of linebacker Kam Robinson, who missed the first three games of the season while recovering from collarbone surgery. Robinson made his presence felt early this game on the opening drive, blitzing off the corner and hurrying Gulbranson on a third down to force an incompletion. Robinson led the team in tackles in the game and recovered a fumble that was forced by Hammond in the Stanford backfield.
“It’s just good to see [No.] 5 running around,” Elliott said of his star linebacker. “I think everybody loves to watch him.”
While the front line of the Cavalier defense played well, the secondary struggled at times to keep receivers in front of them. Gulbranson was able to connect on multiple deep passes behind the Virginia secondary, including a Bryce Farrell 68-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Gulbranson finished the game with 286 yards and 2 passing touchdowns while completing 20 of 29 passes.
For the third week in a row, Virginia has shown a susceptibility to vertical threat passing plays. That will need to change if the Hoos hope to keep up with a potent Florida State offense. The Seminoles scored 66 points in their game against Kent State this week and totaled 775 yards from scrimmage.
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