When Coach Tony Elliott and his Cavaliers entered Scott Stadium Friday evening, there was no sense of fear. Even though his team was set to host a top-10 ranked opponent, the message was clear — no opponent is above Virginia. On any given gameday, anything can happen.
“I felt like they came in with their eyes straight ahead,” Coach Tony Elliott said of his team’s preparation for then-No. 8 Florida State. “They didn't deviate, they didn't look to the left, they didn't look to the right. They kept the blinders on, and they were very, very focused.”
That focus led to a historic double overtime victory over the then-No. 8 Seminoles, ending in a field storm for the ages. As a result, No. 24 Virginia football has received ample attention on the national stage. But the team itself is looking beyond the attention and outside perceptions. Since Sunday morning, all eyes have been focused on the challenging road test at Louisville Saturday.
“There’s areas where we can continue to improve,” Elliott said. “So if we're able to take the belief, the toughness, the physicality, the speed in which we play with and we clean up the technical things that we need to clean up and be committed to playing with both passion and precision, I think we got an opportunity to continue to improve as an offense.”
Cleaning up the offense will be critical for the Cavaliers to win on the road. Louisville features a staunch pass rush that averages three sacks a game. Key defenders such as junior defensive lineman Clev Lubin and senior linebacker TJ Quinn will capitalize on Virginia’s offensive mistakes if it fails to play a clean game.
This means that graduate quarterback Chandler Morris will have to be weary of forcing throws into double-coverage, as the Cardinals will capitalize should he throw three interceptions in a single game like he did against the Seminoles. Additionally, the offensive line will have to again fight through injuries and protect Morris from a talented defensive front.
The only intrusive thought lingering about this weekend’s matchup is about overcoming the discouraging previous losses against a tough ACC rival and the mistakes that caused them. Two years in a row, Virginia has lost one-possession games to Louisville. In 2024, poor run defense and a vanishing passing game doomed the Cavaliers.
Despite the tough losses over the last two years, Virginia nearly had Louisville under control in those one-possession defeats. So, what is the method for overcoming these losses? Playing together, blocking out the noise and playing up to the standards this team sets for itself.
“The biggest thing is constantly reminding the guys that it's not about anything external,” Elliott said. “It's all about internal, starting with us in this room, and then making sure that we hold each other accountable to what we say are our standards.”
Even for those with connections to the Cardinals, like graduate safety Devin Neal — who transferred from Louisville — this is being treated as any other game.
“It’s another game on the schedule,” Neal said. “But once that time comes, we're gonna prepare.”
This is not the first time this season that Virginia has faced a difficult ACC road matchup. Roughly four weeks ago, the Cavaliers picked up some Power Four road experience in the non-conference NC State game. This game, similar to the last two losses to Louisville, was also a one-possession game, a back-and-forth battle.
“We played at NC State, which is one of the better environments in all of college football,” Elliott said. “And they do a really, really good job of making it difficult on the opposing team. I thought we learned the environment well, so we got a little bit of experience there.
Moving forward, Virginia is taking what it learned from Louisville the last two seasons and NC State this season to make a statement this weekend, coming off a big win in another close affair. In these types of games, it is all in the details, according to graduate offensive lineman Noah Josey.
“[Playing with passion and precision is] something [Elliott] talks about a lot,” Josey said. “You have to play with a lot of aggressiveness, but if you don't play with details, you're not going to win.”
Even in the history of this ACC rivalry and uproar in attention toward Virginia football in the past week, this team is more focused on the essentials than ever. There is work to be done, and they will not take their foot off the pedal until they finish it.
“We passed one test [against Florida State],” Elliott said. “We got so many more tests ahead of us that we got to prepare [for].”
Xander Tilock contributed reporting.
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