During his midweek press conference, Virginia coach Tony Elliott projected confidence that his team would bounce back from a deflating loss to West Virginia. The Cavaliers rose to the occasion on Saturday night at Scott Stadium, defeating Delaware 42-3 in the first ever meeting between the two programs.
“I thought that they responded the right way in practice and it showed in the game," Elliott said during his postgame press conference.
The game carried added emotion and weight as it served as a celebration of the lives of three former Cavaliers’ players: Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry. On November 13, 2022, the three UVA student-athletes were shot and killed on Grounds following a field trip. Saturday’s contest against Delaware was designated as the “UVA Strong” game to honor the players’ legacies with the program. At the two-minute timeout of the first half, family members of the fallen players were celebrated on the field, with Elliott leaving his team’s huddle to embrace those gathered in the end zone.
“Really proud of the football team for showing up and doing everything that they possibly could to do their part to create just a great day for [the families],” Elliott said.
Despite the emotion in the locker room, Virginia opened the game with a methodical 13-play, 75-yard drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Beau Pribula to Da’Shawn Martin. The drive featured 8 completed passes from Pribula, a fourth down conversion, and two Delaware sacks. It was the third straight game that the Cavaliers finished the opening drive with a touchdown.
The UVA defense forced a three-and-out on the subsequent Delaware drive, marking the fourth straight game that John Rudzinski’s unit prevented the opposing team from scoring a touchdown on the opening drive. However, the Cavaliers could not take advantage of the good field position, as the next Virginia drive stalled following an unnecessary roughness penalty on offensive lineman Drake Metcalf. The drive ended with a missed 37-yard field goal by Will Bettridge.
Virginia’s defense stiffened again, however, forcing another three-and-out from the Fightin’ Blue Hens. Once again, Pribula’s arm helped Virginia move the ball down the field and this time it led to more points. Pribula connected on a 7-yard toss to wideout Rico Flores Jr. to expand the lead to 14-0.
Delaware’s offense finally generated some momentum on its third drive. The Fightin’ Blue Hens did not gain a first down or complete a pass until the 13:47 mark of the second quarter. The resulting 12-play drive ended in a converted 39-yard field goal from Tucker Smack to bring the score to 14-3. That was the last time the visitors put points on the board, though.
After both teams exchanged punts, the Virginia offense put the game out of reach. Wideout Kameron Courtney took a bubble screen to the house on a highlight reel 52-yard scamper through the Delaware defense to make the score 21-3. It was the longest receiving touchdown of Courtney’s career and Pribula’s longest career touchdown pass.
“Coach Mims always tells me to make the first man miss,” Courtney said of the touchdown. “After I made that first man miss, it was just green grass.”
On the Cavaliers’ next possession, Pribula was the architect of another quick scoring drive. UVA drove 85 yards down the field in 9 plays, with the quarterback connecting again with Courtney on a 19-yard touchdown pass with one second remaining in the half. With Virginia up 28-3 at intermission, the result of the game was never in doubt.
This was the final non-conference game of the Hoos’ regular season. The win sets up a pivotal ACC matchup against Florida State in Tallahassee next Saturday afternoon. Before that, here are the key takeaways from UVA’s game against Delaware.
Cavalier Quarterbacks Come Out Firing
One of the most pressing questions coming out of the West Virginia defeat was whether Beau Pribula could be trusted to lead the Cavaliers to victory when bottled up in the run game. Indeed, UVA struggled to generate much traction on the ground throughout the game, as the team could only muster 119 yards on 41 carries.
However, in a similar fashion to the Norfolk State game, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings started the game by relying on his quarterback’s arm. Pribula did not disappoint, completing his first 11 pass attempts before finally throwing an incompletion with 7:35 remaining in the second quarter. By halftime, the Cavalier quarterback had completed 21 of 24 passes for 264 yards and 4 passing touchdowns.
“I think Coach Kitchings did a great job calling it to find easy completions early on,” Pribula said of his coach’s gameplan.
After UVA forced a Delaware punt on the first drive of the second half, Pribula led another touchdown drive. The Cavaliers marched 65 yards down the field in 9 plays, with Pribula running in a quarterback keeper from 14 yards out to bring the score to 35-3. It was Pribula’s last play of the day as he finished the game with 279 passing yards, 24 rushing yards on 9 carries, and 5 total touchdowns.
Pribula’s replacement, Eli Holstein, was also given an opportunity to showcase his arm. In Holstein’s third appearance of the season, he completed 8 of 12 passes for 153 yards. With 11:11 left in the fourth quarter, he connected with Josiah Abdullah on a 74-yard strike to extend the Cavalier lead to 39.
With 5 passing yards added by third-string quarterback Cole Geer, Virginia finished the game with 437 yards through the air. It was the most passing yards in a game during Elliott’s tenure. Delaware may not have the most robust defense, but UVA’s ability to effectively pass when the ground attack was not at peak efficiency is an encouraging sign as the team enters conference play.
The Emergence of WR1?
A second question that has lingered over the Cavaliers this season is whether the program has an elite, go-to receiver. Based on their performance against Delaware, two options must be considered.
After missing the first two games of the season with a lingering hamstring injury, Rico Flores Jr. made his presence felt immediately, catching 2 passes on the first drive. Flores Jr. led all Cavaliers players with 9 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. He became the first UVA receiver to record 100+ receiving yards this season.
“He’s just a savvy guy,” Pribula said of Flores Jr. “He knows how to play the game of football.”
After the touchdown, Flores Jr., who wears the same No. 1 as former receiver Davis Jr., pointed to his jersey and then the sky in tribute.
“It was for three numbers, that’s up top watching it down for us,” Flores Jr. said. “We were able to put on a show for them.”
Not to be outdone, Kameron Courtney also showed off his big-play ability with a pair of second quarter touchdowns. The first, on a basic bubble screen, featured multiple broken tackles en route to a 52-yard score. On the second touchdown, Courtney caught a 19-yard pass in the end zone from Pribula by leaping over an outstretched defender.
Courtney was UVA’s leading returning receiver from 2025 when he caught 25 passes for 234 yards. The coaching staff was excited by his potential coming into the season, and this game demonstrated his explosive playmaking ability. He finished with 4 catches for 89 yards.
“For us to get to where we want to go as a football team, offensively in particular, he’s going to have to make big plays for us,” Elliott said of his Courtney’s play.
Twelve Cavalier receivers recorded catches against Delaware. Da’Shawn Martin recorded his third touchdown of the season, finishing the game with 4 catches for 26 yards. He has a scoring catch in three of four games. Josiah Abudullah’s 74-yard touchdown catch was the first of his career and the longest TD pass of Holstein’s career.
UVA Defense Gets Back On Track
Virginia’s defense returned to form after conceding 38 points and 437 yards to a talented West Virginia offense last Saturday. A focal point in preparation this week was slowing down the dynamic passing attack of quarterback Nick Minicucci and the Fightin’ Blue Hens offense. Rudzinski and the UVA defense passed this test with flying colors.
Minicucci was a non-factor in the pocket, finishing the game with only 24 passing yards before exiting the game with a leg injury in the second quarter. His replacement, Braden Streeter, had even less success, completing only 2 of 16 passing attempts for 9 yards. A 38-yard completion in the game’s final minute from third-string quarterback Riley Trujillo brought the final passing total to only 71 yards for Delaware.
All three UD quarterbacks felt pressure throughout the game. The UVA defense recorded 3 sacks and 6 tackles for a loss.
“We just wanted to get him off his spot, make him run around a little bit, throw errant passes” Cavalier defensive lineman Matthew Fobbs-White said of the gameplan against Minicucci.
The Delaware running game was similarly inefficient, carrying the ball 30 times for only 89 yards, bringing the overall yards total to 160. Gaining only 12 first downs in the game, the Fightin’ Blue Hens converted on just 4 of 14 third down attempts and held the ball for fewer than 24 minutes.
With the game well in hand, the Hoos’ defense was able to get contributions from reserve players. Back-up safety Keke Adams recorded the first 2 interceptions of his collegiate career, picking off Streeter twice in the second half. Jewett Hayes, a reserve defensive end/edge player, picked up his first career sack as well.
Despite the poor showing against the Mountaineers, the UVA defense has only allowed 52 points this season. That is the fewest points through four games that a Virginia team has conceded since 2004. Dating back to last season, the defense has held its opponents to single digits in 5 of the last 7 games. The Hoos have forced a turnover in 13 of 15 games as well.
Earlier in the week, Elliott mentioned that this was his team’s first real adversity in responding to a disappointing loss. The defense certainly responded to the challenge.
“I feel like adversity is a great learning lesson, especially last week,” Fobbs-White concluded. “I don’t feel like we came out and played as disciplined as we could. So being able to just bounce back is a really good feeling.”
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