No. 17 UVa punches ACCCG ticket in decisive 27-7 win over VT
In the 106th meeting between No. 17 Virginia and Virginia Tech, it didn’t matter that the Hokies had beaten the Hoos four straight times, 19 of the last 20, and 23 of the 25. With a chance to clinch their first trip to the ACC Championship game, the Cavaliers left no doubt, taking back the Commonwealth Cup with a decisive 27-7 victory.
With the win, UVa (10-2, 7-1 ACC) punched its ticket to set up a rematch against Duke in Charlotte next Saturday night.
It was about as good of a start as the Hoos could’ve hoped for going in. On the Hokies’ first drive, quarterback Kyron Drones threw a pick to set UVa’s offense up at Tech’s 46. It took Chandler Morris and Co. seven plays to find the end zone from there, with J’Mari Taylor bringing the ball to the 1 with an 8-yard rush, then punching it in for the score.
The touchdown lit a fuse in the announced crowd of 58,832, the largest Scott Stadium has seen since Virginia Tech visited in 2011.
On their next drive, the Hokies drove 52 yards in 11 plays, stalling out at the 28 before John Love missed a field goal attempt from 45 yards out.
Their next 1st down didn’t come until eight drives later.
UVa’s defense completely shut down the Hokies, holding their offense to just 197 total yards and just six 1st downs. Virginia Tech punted on seven straight drives, then, facing yet another 3rd down on the eighth, Antonio Clary picked off Drones for a second time, setting the Hoos up at Tech’s 37.
Meanwhile, UVa’s offense bounced back from two straight punts, including a three-and-out, to score a second touchdown with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by a jump pass from Taylor to Sage Ennis in the end zone.
Three drives later in the third quarter, the Hoos added a 27-yard field goal, then followed it with their third touchdown of the day, a keeper from Morris from 8yards out to cap a 12-play, 74-yard drive. The Cavaliers were up 24-0 entering the fourth, then added another field goal from Will Bettridge to go up 27-0 with 6:42 remaining.
It wasn’t until Tech’s final drive that the Hokies finally converted a 1st down and four plays later, facing 4th and 2, avoided the shutout when Shamarius Peterkin hauled in a short reception and took it 57 yards for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 27-7 with just 4:21 remaining.
But it was too little, too late, as UVa got the ball back, converted three 1st downs and earned the school’s second ACCCG appearance next week and their second 10-win season in program history, the first since 1989.
Morris finished 21-for-35 passing for 185 yards, 25 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Taylor finished with 80 rushing yards, with one rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown as well.
After the win, Tony Elliott said it was a statement that will last for the next 365 days, but after that, they’ll have to do it all over again with the Hokies, as they’ve done 106 times before.
“Just because of what happened tonight, it don’t carry over to next year,” he said. “But I think it gives us confirmation. It gives us motivation. It gives us encouragement, a little bit of validation that we’re definitely headed in the right direction to make this a competitive rivalry and make Virginia a program of relevance locally and then also nationally.”
Next, the Hoos will have an opportunity to cement themselves nationally, where, after Cal’s 38-35 upset of SMU, they will face the Blue Devils in a rematch of UVa’s 34-17 win earlier this month in Durham.
