Virginia walked into a mess and walked out with a win.
In a rain-soaked, penalty-filled 28-25 victory over Syracuse, the Cavaliers steadied a season that had started to wobble hard after back-to-back self-inflicted losses to West Virginia and Florida State. A few weeks after being ranked, Virginia had been sliding toward a bad place. Saturday night didn’t make everything look clean, but it did stop the bleeding.
Jekail Middlebrook gave the Cavaliers the spark they needed. The running back carried 17 times for 95 yards and two touchdowns, doing his damage on versions of the direct snap play that J'Mari Taylor used to run last year. That effort, along with strong special teams and a defense that came up with timely stops, carried Virginia through a game that was ugly in plenty of ways.
It was also the kind of night that tested whether the Cavaliers had anything left after halftime.
"I'm damn proud of my team that had a choice to make at halftime," Coach Tony Elliott said postgame. "And I feel like they made the the right choice."
Virginia needed that response because the first half was rough. After falling behind by a score, the Cavaliers went three-and-out on three of their next four drives.
In the second quarter, Syracuse outgained them 142-27. The Orange looked capable of taking control, but they never slammed the door.
That opened the door for Virginia, even if the numbers weren’t pretty. The Cavaliers were outgained 430-288 overall and lost the possession battle by more than 10 minutes. They also survived two missed Syracuse field goals in a game decided by three points.
"We're not gonna apologize if if they outgained us," Elliott said. "They got to make field goals, right?
You know, that's not on us, that's that's on them. But you know what?
What we do after that is on us, and our guys responded."
Syracuse, now 2-3 and 0-3 in the ACC, had its chances to bury Virginia. Instead, the Orange managed just 10 points in the second quarter despite nearly running away with the game. Penalties kept piling up, momentum kept swinging, and the whole night kept tilting toward the strange.
At times, it looked like Syracuse had lost the game more than Virginia had won it. Then the Cavaliers found just enough grit to finish the job.
"I'm not apologizing for winning," Elliott said. "Bottom line, I'm not going to apologize for winning the game in the ACC, right?
And at the end of the day, our guys were down 10 points at half, and they found a way to come back and win an ACC game. So I mean, we're going we're going to enjoy this.
We're going to celebrate it, right? We're not going to apologize for winning any football games around around here."
The result moved Virginia to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, giving the Cavaliers some breathing room before a road trip to No. 24 SMU. Elliott made it clear there’s plenty to clean up, but the mood after a night like this was obvious.
"There are a lot of things we got to clean up, and we'll go back to work on Monday," Elliott said. "And I guarantee you, this this group will take ownership of what they need to improve upon.
But hey, we're not going to apologize for for winning games, and we're not going to look at no such thing as a ugly loss, right? There's a lot of teams in the country that aren't 4-2, right?
There's a lot of teams that that lost to to teams that they were favored to beat, right? This is college football."
In Other News...
Virginia Had To Dig Deep To Avoid A Brutal Home Letdown
Virginias afternoon at Scott Stadium had all the makings of a flat home disappointment before the Cavaliers steadied themselves and found a way to beat Syracuse 28-25. Tony Elliotts team spent much of the game chasing, and the offense did not fully come to life until after halftime, when the Cavaliers finally started to look more like the group that could finish the job in front of its own crowd.
The turning point came when Beau Pribula connected with DaShawn Martin on a 43-yard touchdown pass, a play that helped flip the momentum and open the door for the late push. Jekail Middlebrook added two rushing touchdowns as Virginia clawed back in the second half, a rally that left Elliott praising the teams resilience after a win that could have easily slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Women's Soccer Sends A Strong ACC Message On The Road
Virginias womens soccer team kept its strong early-season form rolling with a lopsided road win over SMU, a result that should travel well as ACC play gets tighter and the margin for error shrinks. The No. 14 Cavaliers spread the scoring around and showed the kind of balance that can make a team dangerous over the long haul, with Olivia Rademaker, Sophia Bradley, Jordyn Hardeman, Aniyah Collier and Mackenzie Mize all finding the net in the victory.
For a Virginia group trying to make a statement beyond just one result, the bigger takeaway is how complete it looked away from home. Multiple scorers, steady pressure and a comfortable finish all point in the same direction, even if the full measure of what this performance means in the conference race will become clearer as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia's Win Came With New Concerns That Could Shape The ACC Race
Virginias 28-25 win over Syracuse gave the Cavaliers a much-needed boost in the ACC race, moving them to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play, but the margin of victory did not hide the uneven feel of the afternoon. There were encouraging signs, especially from the veteran core Tony Elliott has leaned on, and defensive tackle Britton turned in a career-high tackle total as Virginia found just enough late to finish off a game it needed.
Still, the bigger takeaway may be what the win cost and what it exposed. Virginia had trouble consistently handling Syracuse through the air and on the ground, and the injury list only added to the concern as the Cavaliers head into a stretch that could shape how far this season can go. Elliott has praised several older players for their leadership, but with more ACC games ahead, Virginia will need that experience to steady a team that looked as vulnerable as it did resilient. [Read more 🡒]