By Jeff White ([email protected])
VirginiaSports activities.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A month after hoisting the Commonwealth Cup within the jubilant house locker room at Scott Stadium, Virginia head soccer coach Tony Elliott lifted one other prize in triumph late Saturday evening: the trophy awarded to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl champion.
In its first bowl look since 2019, No. 20 UVA defeated No. 25 Missouri 13-7 at EverBank Stadium, house of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. In doing so, the Cavaliers made historical past.
“Welcome to the 11-win club,” Elliott advised his gamers. “That’s history. That’s legacy, and it’s not easy to leave a legacy.”
The 11 victories are probably the most ever by a UVA staff. Only twice have the Wahoos reached the 10-win mark: in 1989 after which this season, their fourth beneath Elliott. Not unhealthy for a bunch that, within the media’s preseason ballot, was picked to complete 14th out of the ACC’s 17 groups.
“It’s been a special year,” Elliott mentioned. “It’s been a fun group to coach. They believed when everyone around them told them not to. A lot of folks said they weren’t good enough to get to this point. But what they learned is it’s always about being inside-out. It’s never about what people say on the outside. It’s all about what you believe.”
For the Hoos (11-3), it was a becoming ending to a season marked by shut video games. Virginia went to extra time 4 occasions and received three of these video games, and the Gator Bowl produced extra fourth-quarter drama.
With lower than two minutes to play, the Hoos had the ball, and a primary down would have sealed the win for them. But they ended up punting from close to midfield, and Mizzou (8-5) drove to the Cavaliers’ 21-yard line within the closing minute. Four straight incompletions adopted, nevertheless, and Virginia took over with one second on the clock. In victory formation, quarterback Chandler Morris took the snap and kneeled down, and the celebration was on.
Morris, who joined this system in January as a graduate switch, was the named MVP of the Gator Bowl. He accomplished 25 of 38 passes for 198 yards, with no interceptions. On third down, Morris was 10-for-10 passing.
“This is my favorite team I’ve ever been a part of,” mentioned Morris, who additionally has performed at Oklahoma, TCU and North Texas, “and I’m not just saying that because we won a lot of games this year. It truly was. You go in the locker room, everybody really does love each other. They’re really feeling for each other.”
No matter the result of the Gator Bowl, this could have been remembered as a breakthrough yr for Virginia, which completed the common season atop the ACC standings. But the victory over a robust SEC opponent stamped 2025 as an unforgettable season for a program that hadn’t received a bowl sport since 2018.
“It ended the right way,” mentioned UVA security Antonio Clary, who’s from Jacksonville. “I can’t even describe the feeling that I’m feeling right now. Just being bowl champions in my hometown and my last game in college, man, you just can’t ask for anything better.”
Clary, who enrolled at Virginia in 2019, was among the many standouts on a protection that held Missouri to 260 yards. The Tigers had been 3 of 12 on third-down conversions and 0 for 3 on fourth down. UVA held Mizzou (8-5) scoreless for the ultimate 56 minutes and 56 seconds of the sport.
In the locker room afterward, Elliott saluted the members of defensive coordinator John Rudzinski’s unit. “After that opening drive, you shut ‘em down,” Elliott mentioned.
Missouri had the ball first and wanted solely 5 performs to march 74 yards for a landing. The first of UVA senior Will Bettridge’s two area targets, a 42-yarder, made it 7-3 early within the second quarter, and that was nonetheless the rating at the half.
The second half belonged to the Cavaliers, who took their first lead with 4:53 left within the third quarter with an epic drive that included two fourth-down conversions. Tailback Harrison Waylee took a direct snap and bulled throughout the aim for a 2-yard landing, capping a 19-play possession that took 10 minutes and seven seconds off the clock and ranks because the second-longest drive in program historical past.
Bettridge’s PAT made it 10-7, and he added three extra factors late within the third quarter with a 39-yard area aim that gave him a program report. In 2003, Connor Hughes made 23 area targets, a single-season report at UVA that Bettridge broke Saturday evening. A senior from Miami, Bettridge completed the season with 24 area targets and now ranks second in profession scoring at Virginia with 317 factors.
Opt-outs and accidents left UVA short-handed at a number of positions. The Cavaliers had been lacking their main rusher (J’Mari Taylor), their main receiver (Trell Harris) and their prime linebacker (Kam Robinson), and others who didn’t play in opposition to Mizzou included linebacker Maddox Marcellus, broad receivers Jayden Thomas and Dillon Newton-Short and defensive backs Christian Charles, Jordan Robinson and Ja’son Prevard.
All season lengthy, although, Elliott and his employees have preached the significance of staying prepared, and unbelievable heroes emerged Saturday evening for the Cavaliers, beginning with wideout Eli Wood, who joined this system as a walk-on in 2022.
Wood completed with profession highs in catches (4) and receiving yards (71) and made a pivotal play on particular groups. On fourth-and-8 from Missouri’s 43 early within the fourth quarter, Morris took a shotgun snap and, as a substitute of passing or operating, delivered a textbook pooch punt that landed inside the ten. As the ball approached the aim line, Wood dived to knock it again, and one other UVA wideout, Cam Ross, downed it at the two.
“Eli has been the glue for that wide receiver room,” Elliott mentioned. “He’s played every position for us. You can’t get rid of him. He’s going to keep finding a way to get himself on the field. Made some huge plays for us.”
With Taylor, the one Cavalier to make the All-ACC first staff, not in uniform, Waylee carried a season-high 20 occasions for 68 yards and a landing. More sudden was the contribution of true freshman Xay Davis, who started the season as Virginia’s No. 5 tailback. Against Missouri, Davis ran 12 occasions for 41 yards.
“I’m proud of Xay Davis, a guy that hadn’t seen much action,” Elliott mentioned, “and now you are thrown right into a playoff-caliber sport and getting your first actual carries and important minutes. There’s different guys who stepped up too, all through the staff.
“To get to where we want to go as a program, to be able to play in games like this, win games like this, it’s all about the next man up.”
Safety Devin Neal and linebacker Landon Danley, who began in Marcellus’ absence, had 10 tackles apiece to guide Virginia. Clary added seven stops and deflected a move that cornerback Emmanuel Karnley intercepted. That takeaway arrange Bettridge’s second area aim.
“In a game like this, scheme is important, field position is important, ball security is important,” Elliott mentioned, “but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to a will to win. I think that’s what you saw from our guys.”