Cavaliers get program-best 11th win with Gator Bowl victory
After dominating much of the second half of the Taxslayer Gator Bowl, No. 20 UVa had to hold on tight to beat No. 25 Missouri. And with a Devin Neal pass breakup in the end zone, the Hoos finally secured the 13-7 victory, the program’s record 11th on the year.
That second-half momentum hung largely on the way the Cavaliers (11-3) controlled the line of scrimmage and the clock. Their first drive after halftime,
a methodical 19-play march down the field that took 10:07 off the clock, ended when Harrison Waylee punched it in from 2 yards out. That score, the lone TD in the second half, put the Cavaliers up 10-7 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers (8-5) ran three plays on the ensuing possession and punted. By the time they got the ball back, Virginia was up by game-winning margin and there were just 57 seconds remaining in the period.
In fact, from that point until the game’s final possession, Missouri would run just 13 plays total.
That final drive, though, was a big one. The Tigers seemed to remember that they had a running game to lean on. After Ahmad Hardy got consistent carries for the first time since his team’s opening possession to the tune of 25 yards, the Tigers leaned on Jamal Roberts, who had capped the opening 74-yard drive with a 5-yard TD. Late in the fourth, Missouri called his number again and between he and QB Matt Zollers, the Tigers looked like they might be in a spot to deliver a come-from-behind win.
Eventually, they ended up forcing UVa to call its second timeout of the half with 26 seconds left to play, as Missouri was set up on a 1st and 10 at the Cavalier 21. Tony Elliott and Co. needed time so they could try to stop the bleeding.
After Zoller’s 1st-down throw thereafter fell incomplete, so too did his 2nd- and 3rd-down passes as well, the latter coming following heavy pressure and a QBH by UVa’s Daniel Rickert. Zollers went down hard to the turf and clearly banged the back of his head on the ground as he fell. He was pulled off the field for medical reasons, which forced walk-on Brett Brown to throw a hail-marry type pass on 4th down.
For a brief moment, it looked like he was going to make some magic happen in Duval County, but Neal’s PBU knocked the ball away instead, giving the “Cardiac Cavs” one last close victory of 2025.
In what might end up being his final game as a Wahoo, Chandler Morris finished 25 for 38 passing for 198 yards. While those stats might not stand out among his better games of the year, he took home the Gator Bowl MVP in large part because seven of UVa’s 13 conversions on 3rd down came through the air. Not only that, but across the entire game, Morris didn’t miss a 3rd-down throw, going 10-for-10 for 119 yards.
Waylee finished with 68 yards on 20 attempts to go with his team’s lone TD.
Will Bettridge went 2-for-3 kicking with FG makes from 42 and 39 yards.
Neal led the Cavaliers with 10 tackles, five solo, while backup LB Landon Danley added 10 stops as well.
