Virginia has won plenty of home openers. In fact, since 2017, the Cavaliers (1-0, 0-0 ACC) have only lost once in their first contest at Scott Stadium. The victory Saturday night is quite the start to the season, but a mark in the "W" column doesn’t tell the full story of how special Virginia’s performance was.
“I thought the team overall did a good job of playing complementary football, capitalizing on momentum,” Coach Tony Elliott said.
The 48-7 win against Coastal Carolina was full of milestones for the Cavaliers, including the most points scored in the Elliott era, breaking the previous record of 43 points, set against Coastal Carolina last season. It was also the first time Virginia held a team to single-digit points since Georgia Tech in 2022. As a bonus, Virginia Athletics' reported attendance Saturday was 46,143.
"I just want to say, first of all, thank you to the student section," Elliott said. "I thought they showed up."
Virginia struggled offensively initially, before reaching the endzone with a goal line push from graduate running back J’Mari Taylor at the end of the first quarter. The Chanticleers’ (0-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) drive to open the second quarter ended with a blocked punt by junior safety Caleb Hardy, the first blocked punt by Virginia special teams since 2019.
After that, the momentum swung in the Cavaliers’ favor and never went back. Virginia rattled off three touchdowns in four drives to close out the half, one courtesy of graduate running back Harrison Waylee off a direct snap. At halftime, the 28-0 lead marked the first time since 2021 where the Cavaliers held an opponent scoreless through two quarters.
The other two touchdowns came directly from graduate quarterback Chandler Morris, who showcased his remarkable arm talent. However, Morris ended up having to leave the game for medical evaluation after a hard hit to the upper body during a scramble in the third quarter.
Morris had a slow start but warmed up by threading a needle on the sideline to graduate receiver Cam Ross for a 46-yard gain to set up Taylor’s first touchdown. That throw was just his third completion of the game, but there were plenty more to come.
“I thought we did a good job of finally getting settled in,” Elliott said. “And once [Morris] got rolling, you saw the gamesmanship.”
Morris ended his evening having completed 70 percent of his passes for 264 total yards, two passing touchdowns, 50 rushing yards and zero turnovers.
Seven of his completions went to Ross to the tune of 124 yards and Virginia’s third touchdown of the game. Ross, a transfer from James Madison had the game of his life, accumulating 224 total yards — highlighted by a Virginia record-tying 100-yard kick return touchdown in the third quarter.
Virginia’s fourth touchdown of the game was a short goal line pass to senior Jahmal Edrine, but it was set up by yet another nearly 50-yard toss by Morris, this time to senior receiver Trell Harris. Efficiency has always been one of Harris’s strongest qualities, and that was apparent in this game as he totaled 93 yards on only three receptions.
The passing attack flat-out dominated, but there was a reason the Chanticleers only mustered one score — defensive coordinator John Rudzinski’s unit was impenetrable. The front seven suffocated the Coastal Carolina offense in both the ground and air.
In the first half, when all the starters were in, the visiting offense averaged only 2.8 yards per play. Even more important, when the lights got bright, the Cavalier defense got brighter. They held the Chanticleers to 2-16 on third and fourth downs.
There were defensive standouts across the board, but senior defensive end Fisher Camac, junior linebacker Maddox Marcellus and senior cornerback Donavan Platt each particularly dominated their respective levels of the defense.
Overall, mistakes were few and far between Saturday night. It was an encouraging season debut for the Cavaliers, who will now prepare for their first road contest at NC State in Raleigh, N.C. next Saturday.
“We will go back to work on Monday, and really we haven't done anything other than we accomplished goal number one, which is to win the opener,” Elliott said. “We defended Scott Stadium, and we got a lot to improve on.”
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