It’s hard to say there has ever been more on the line for Virginia football than what this program fought for and won Saturday night.
“We have to carry the burden of what hasn't been done in the past and we’ve got an opportunity to change the future,” Elliott said.
Rivalry week is a phenomenon that lasts for a year — read as a Cavalier Daily and Virginia Tech on SI writer discuss the Saturday game.
Thanksgiving is a time for togetherness and love across the Commonwealth, just about everywhere except for the football field.
“We compete with each other every week … we’re good friends,” Robinson said. “Going to the game, we'll just compete with each other, asking each other, like, ‘Who gonna make that play? Who will make it first?’”
Virginia has beaten Virginia Tech in football just twice this century. That will change this year.
This week, the Cavaliers’ ACC title hopes are alive and well.
“One word,” Harris said. “Exciting.”
“We need to perform as if we’re playing a national championship every single game,” Neal said. "That way we’ll be at our best when our best is required.”
“We try to do everything we can to honor those guys,” Jackson said.
“It’s a monumental day for Virginia and Virginia football.”
“We played with fire, right? And we got burned,” Coach Tony Elliott said.
But as he hit the ground, Morris took head-level hits from two Wake Forest defenders. The quarterback did not immediately get up.
Like everything else about Virginia football in 2025, though, this year is different.
"If you look at where we were last year, this time, it's almost impossible to see how we could have gotten so far, so fast.”
“I think that's one of the highest honors you can receive in the game of football,” Elliott said.
Virginia remains undefeated in conference play at the end of its cross-country trip and rises to 8-1 — the program’s highest win total in six years.
It has been six years since Virginia’s football, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and field hockey programs have been ranked simultaneously.
One of Virginia's best offensive linemen is a renaissance man.
“As the season goes on, those inches are much more difficult to capture.”
