CHAPEL HILL, NC - Coaches like to say it's a game of inches. Well on Saturday at North Carolina, Virginia barely had an inch to spare.
"Unfortunately, this is what we do," Cavalier coach Tony Elliott said. "We take it, now we take it all the way down to the end."
When North Carolina's Benjamin Hall was brought down by UVA nickel Ja'Son Prevard and defensive back Emmanuel Karnley on the potential game-wining 2-point conversion, Elliott knew they squeaked by again. No. 16 Virginia survived 17-16 in the 130th edition of The South's Oldest Rivalry to win their sixth straight game and move to 7-1 (4-0 ACC) on the season. UVA has prevailed in overtime in three of the last four victories.
"I can sense the same attitude and belief as I did in the Florida State game," Elliott said. "And I think that kind of started it, and then it carried over into the Louisville game, and then today. So the guys just had confidence that we're gonna play however long it takes. That's one of the bedrocks of
our program is we play 60 minutes or however long it takes to find a way to win the game."
While UVA has won six in a row now, their last four wins have come by one possession, harking more comparisons to the 2007 Cardiac Cavs. Before this season Virginia had not won an overtime game since 2015 and now have won three this season alone with a double-OT win over Florida State and an OT win at Louisville coming before the latest one at UNC. Virginia is only the second ACC team ever to win three overtime games in a single season (Virginia Tech, 2012).
"I think I have so many gray hairs in my mustache and my beard at this point," UVA defensive end Mitchell Melton said. "I don't know if I've ever experienced as resilient a team as this."
Virginia closed the day as one of two teams unbeaten in ACC play, along with Georgia Tech, after Wake Forest upset SMU on a game-winning field goal. The postgame locker room had a sense of relief after the Hoos found a way to win yet again, but also cut the look of a team disappointed in not making it easier on themselves.
Receiver and punt returner Jayden Thomas, who had multiple big returns filling in for the injured Cam Ross to set the Cavaliers up with good field position, said he was joking afterwards with teammates Trell Harris and Jahmal Edrine about the toll these last four games have taken on the veteran squad. Thomas had 6 returns for 58 yards.
"Since we're older, I don't know if our bodies can handle any more of these," Thomas said. "We need to stop it, we need to lock in and start blowing people out."
Here are 3 takeaways after the Cavaliers survived in Chapel Hill.
Just Win ... And Then Figure It Out
Tony Elliott did not expect NFL legend Bill Belichick to go for the 2-point conversion in overtime, but he wasn't in a spot to question it.
"I didn't, to be honest with you, I would have kicked it and give the guys another opportunity in the second overtime because then you have to go for two," Elliott said. "But hey, man, he's won a lot of football games. And I mean, he's one of the best in the business for a reason. And so obviously he felt good about the call."
What Elliott has to feel good about now is Ja'Son Prevard making clutch plays. The Morgan State transfer has only done it multiple times this season. From a game-sealing interception against Florida State to another key pick versus Washington State to doing it yet again with the game-saving tackle against UNC in overtime.
"He finds a way, don't he?" Elliott said. "He's around the ball and becoming one of the top playmakers for us."
That was kind of the gameplan for UVA, especially once they reached the fourth quarter still tied at 10-10. Not much was working for the Cavaliers, but they weren't beating themselves, which is a key difference from recent seasons. In 2023, Virginia lost five games by one possession and now they have won four straight by a single score.
"I think it's three years in the making," Elliott said. "What we learned in those situations is that it's much easier to lose a game than it is to win a game and then we were making some costly, critical mistakes to cost us games where I think now we're capitalizing on it for the opponent makes a mistake or we're making the plays because of the belief of the young men in that locker room."
North Carolina under the tutelage of Belichick gave Virginia a couple chances on Saturday. In the first quarter, Kobe Paysour nearly scored for the Tar Heels, but instead fumbled the ball into the end zone that gave UVA possession on the touchback. Later in the third quarter, defensive Mitchell Melton dropped into coverage, tipped the ball, and saw it ricochet off the UNC receiver before it fell back into his arms for his first career interception.
"I felt like the ball was in the air for 15 seconds," Melton said. "But thankfully it fell in my hands and I had no interest in running."
The Virginia defense allowed UNC to enjoy its biggest day of total offense yet this season with 353 total yards. UNC quarterback Gio Lopez at times looked comfortable in the pocket as the Hoos only rushed 4 or sometimes 3 defenders. But yet again, John Rudzinski's defense continued to bend but didn't break as they only allowed 16 points and got to Lopez at crucial times. The D has given up 20 or fewer points in five of eight games this season.
"We thrive in situations like this," UVA safety Antonio Clary said. "Obviously, you don't wanna be in that situation, but when it comes up, we're ready for it, we're always ready for any situation."
There will be plenty of notes to take away, including what exactly is a roughing the passer penalty? But Virginia got through the tough part of actually winning the game, so the Hoos can now learn from a rough outing ahead of the trip to Cal.
"We just gotta go back to work," said Clary, who came up with a key interception in the fourth quarter. "We don't look too far ahead in the future. Coach, he says all the time, we control our own destiny. So as long as we keep chipping away and doing what we gotta do, we'll be just fine. We're not worried about games in the future, we're worried about Cal right now. So yeah, it's just doing what we're supposed to do, playing our brand of football, and we'll let the end of the season get here when it gets here."
Jump Starting The Offense
For the third straight game, Des Kitchings' once high-flying offense felt grounded throughout the game.
The Cavaliers have seen the offense struggle with a steady decrease and they were only able to muster 259 yards of total offense against UNC. In their last three games, the Hoos have averaged 265.7 total yards. So the question is what's happened to the group that once was ranked top 5 in the country? The answer can go a lot of different directions.
"It's a game of inches, and we gotta get our rhythm back," Elliott said. "There's some plays that before we've made, and right now we're just an inch or two off. But in my experience, even as a play caller, there's never been a season where it was always perfect on offense."
Elliott has suggested the offense is only a few plays or "inches" away on offense the last two weeks. He also points to the Cavaliers having to plug and play at different positions. For example, center Brady Wilson, missed the last few weeks and then returned for the Carolina game. In the meantime, however, the Hoos lost tight end Dakota Twitty, running back Xavier Brown, and receiver Cam Ross, who Elliott expects back next week.
"I think some of those games, we kind of put ourselves in a bad position, especially offensively," Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris. "So we could definitely prevent from going into overtime."
There's also a case that UVA's offense just hasn't gotten into a rhythm. In the first five games of the season, the offense averaged 45.8 plays per first half and in the last three games it's down to only 26.3, including just 26 compared to North Carolina’s 41 on Saturday. This has led to losing the time of possession battle, no rhythm being built, a lack of up-tempo offense due to poor first and second down plays, and ultimately an offensive line which has looked shakier in recent weeks.
The Cavaliers gave up a season-high 6 sacks to UNC after only having allowed 5 all season leading into the game.
"There's nothing else we can do, but go out on the practice field grind away and get back to our mojo," Thomas said.
Many also took note of Virginia's strange decision to abandon the run at times in the second half against North Carolina. At one point in the third quarter, UVA had 21 pass plays for 49 yards to 11 runs for 42 yards. Elliott credits North Carolina for slowing the ground game.
"They were doing a good job of playing wide ends and not letting us get outside," Elliott said. "The most success we were having was with the play action and the passing game. So we just kind of were trying to get some chunk plays and see can we unite the offense and then we found a little bit in the second half. But they did a really good job of boxing everything in, playing some man coverage, having an extra hat."
Even more odd though was Virginia abandoning one of its bread and butter plays this season over the last two weeks in the direct snap to running back J'Mari Taylor. In the third quarter, UVA opted to throw the ball on third and fourth down on the goal line instead of giving the ball to Taylor, who is second in the ACC in rushing touchdowns. Eventually, Virginia brought the play back and Taylor scored the go-ahead touchdown in overtime, but that was the first time Kitchings dialed it up since Taylor won the Louisville game on the exact same play.
Despite these recent struggles, Elliott thinks the offense is just a week away from regaining its early season form. Another week will be telling just how right or wrong he could be.
"I'm not panicking, right, because we're finding ways to win," Elliott said. "So at the end of the day, we're finding ways to win. I know that the group that got off to the fast start is the same group that's in that locker room."
What's Going On With Chandler Morris?
A few weeks ago, seeing calls over social media or on the message boards to bench Chandler Morris would have seemed like something from another universe. But sure enough with Morris struggling for the second straight week and clearly limited by an ailing shoulder injury, fans were questioning if Virginia would be better off with backup Daniel Kaelin.
While no one will confuse Saturday with a classic Chandler Morris performance, the veteran quarterback still showed his know-how in crucial moments. On 3rd-and-7 in overtime, Morris chose to audible to a designed quarterback run to pick up the first down, knowing full well he would take another big hit.
"I saw they had a pressure look, and I just kind of had a check kind of in my back pocket and felt like it's a good time to use it, get the ball on the perimeter, and see if I can't go make a play and move the sticks," Morris recalled.
Morris finished the game going 20-35 passing for 200 yards, which included a 30-yard touchdown to Trell Harris and a telegraphed interception. He also went down with 6 sacks. But Elliott walked away knowing they got everything they could from UVA's quarterback.
"For him to take that at the end of the night," Elliott said. "I know that the quarterback position gets the most scrutiny. They get probably too much credit when things are going good and they get all the blame when things aren't. But if you question Chandler Morris's commitment to the Virginia Cavaliers, our university, our program, then I don't know what else to tell you. Because there's nobody in that locker room that's more committed to our program."
There's no questioning that Morris is still dealing with a shoulder injury he suffered in week one of the season against Coastal Carolina. Elliott compared the situation to Tony Muskett's in 2023, when the veteran quarterback suffered a collarbone injury in the opening week of the season and had to manage the pain throughout the rest of the season.
"I'm good. It's just a shoulder," Morris said. "I'm going to have to deal with it all season. It'll be painful all season, but it's not necessarily going to get worse. So I can manage it and play on it."
Morris has seen his play tail off since earning ACC Quarterback of the Week honors in back-to-back games against Stanford and Florida State. He expected to get back to that form this week, but now will focus on making that "get right" game next week at Cal.
"I haven't played well. It's simple as that," Morris said. "I think last game, I didn't play well, and today I didn't play very well either. So I got to kind of get back into it. I was really trying to focus on getting it back this week. Didn't go as planned, so I got to get back into it, get in the film room, and just kind of watch some successful things I've done this year, kind of get my groove back going."
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