UVA: no decision on Saturday’s game being played as of Tuesday afternoon

By Jerry Ratcliffe

In the wake of Sunday night’s triple murder of three University of Virginia football players, the school hasn’t announced a decision on whether the final two games of the season will be played.

The question came up during Tuesday afternoon’s press conference with head coach Tony Elliott and director of athletics Carla Williams, and at that time the athletic department was still undecided.

UVA is scheduled to host nonconference opponent Coastal Carolina (9-1 on the season) this Saturday, which would be the Cavaliers’ final home game of 2021 and serve as its “Senior Day,” to honor all the seniors in the program. UVA is also scheduled to play at Virginia Tech on Nov. 26.

“We’ll make [the decision] together,” Williams said in reference to the Coastal Carolina game. “It will be a discussion with Coach and the team. Obviously they’re going through a lot and we want to make sure they’re involved as well. We’ll use our best judgment, but [the decision] will be soon. We’ll make a decision soon.”

Virginia has not practiced since last Saturday’s loss to Pitt, which would make preparation to play Coastal Carolina a challenge.

Elliott was asked if he had thought about playing Saturday’s game as a possible method of healing for the players.

“At this point, with the sequence of events and the timing, I just have been focusing on loving these players, consoling the families, trying to make sure that there’s no ripple effect with the guys on the team.

“Because, again, this is something that nobody is prepared to deal with until you’re inside of it. For me, the focus is not past today. I’m just trying to figure out a way to get everybody back together this evening so that we can see them again and spend some time, and then in due time, we’ll collaborate on the path going forward in terms of on-the-field play.”