Hokies blast Cavaliers in season finale, 55-17

By Scott Ratcliffe

To say it was a long day for the Virginia football team in Saturday’s season finale against Virginia Tech would be putting it mildly. The visiting Hokies put up a program-record amount of points in the 104th edition of the all-time Commonwealth Clash series with the Cavaliers, cruising to a 55-17 victory at Scott Stadium.

Tech posted 500 total yards on the day, jumping out to a sizable advantage before Wahoo fans could catch their collective breath, and UVA was forced to try and play catch-up the rest of the way — it didn’t turn out so well.

Virginia failed to send its seniors out on a positive note and concluded the 2023 campaign with a 3-9 overall record, including a 2-6 mark in ACC competition, and will now turn the page to the offseason.

The Hokies (6-6, 5-3), meanwhile, defeated the Hoos for the 22nd time in the past 24 years and clinched bowl-game eligibility with the victory.

“It starts with me,” said Virginia’s Tony Elliott, who came up short in his first meeting as head coach against the bitter in-state rivals. “I have to do a better job of having the team ready to play — week in and week out — and I’ll evaluate that. But I just didn’t feel like we had the right look in our eye from the opening, really from the time we ran out for the game, and that’s on me.”

Tech struck first on a long opening drive, capped by a John Love field goal from 41 yards out with 9:58 left in the first quarter, and never looked back.

UVA punted the ball away on its first three possessions before the Hokies pushed their lead to 17-0 with 13:53 to play in the first half on a 33-yard touchdown run by Tucker Holloway.

After an Anthony Colandrea interception on Virginia’s ensuing drive, Tech was right back in the red zone, but the Cavalier defense got a big stop on third-and-goal from the UVA 3-yard line when Dave Herard popped the ball loose from VT quarterback Kyron Drones, and Jonas Sanker (game-high 10 tackles, 8 solo) recovered to provide a little bit of momentum.

It was all short-lived, as Colandrea was sacked a few plays later on third down, and Bhayshul Tuten capped the first-half scoring with a 32-yard scamper to make it 24-0 with 5:30 on the clock.

The Hoos finally strung together a few first downs and crossed midfield just before halftime, but back-to-back sacks by the Hokies in the final minute of the half squashed any hopes of the home team getting on the scoreboard.

The song remained the same in the second half, as Tech struck again on its first snap of the third quarter. This time, Drones connected with Da’Quan Felton for 84 yards, and Wahoo fans looked up to see a 31-point deficit with still 11:12 to go in the period.

On the ensuing possession, Biletnikoff Award finalist Malik Washington caught a pass for 31 yards into Hokie territory to set up a Will Bettridge 25-yard field goal, and the Hoos were finally on the board, albeit down 31-3, with 7:44 left in the third.

Just after Cavalier fans belted out the last few lines of “The Good Old Song” for the first time all day, Tech was back in the end zone after Tuten took the kickoff back 94 yards to the house.

Washington went over the century mark one last time in a Cavalier uniform (10 times in 12 games) on the next possession, and Malachi Fields caught the first of his two second-half touchdown passes to cut the deficit to 38-10 two plays later, but that’s as close as it would get from there.

UVA gained just 286 total yards (243 passing, 43 rushing) in the loss. Colandrea was 29 for 46 through the air for 243 yards, 2 scores and a pick. In 8 games this season, the true freshman completed 154 of his 246 attempts for 1,958 yards, 13 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Another first-year, Donte Hawthorne, gave Wahoo fans a glimpse of the future, as he led the team in rushing with 16 yards on 4 carries in his collegiate debut.

Washington had 14 catches (on 18 targets) for a team-high 115 yards, setting a program — and conference — record with 110 receptions for the season. He also added to another school-record tally, finishing the year with 1,426 receiving yards.

“That stuff is good, and we talked about it a lot and I’m happy with the season I had,” said Washington. “I’m not completely satisfied, but I’m happy with the season I had. I know that I put in the work with my brothers for it. Each and every day we came with an attack mindset. I’m grateful for the season I had, but it could’ve gone better.”

Fields hauled in 6 catches for 89 yards and the two scores, his fourth and fifth of the season. He finishes his sophomore season with 811 yards on 58 catches.

The Cavaliers are scheduled to open the 2024 season at Scott Stadium on Aug. 31 against Richmond. The team will find out over the coming weeks and months who will stay, who will go, and who the coaching staff can bring in through recruiting and the transfer portal to build toward next season and beyond.

“We’ll watch the tape and see exactly what the breakdowns were, but they made the plays consistently, we didn’t, in all three phases,” Elliott admitted. “We gave away some snaps, and then ultimately, it got to a point where you’re in such a deficit, it’s hard to come back from that.”

Player Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Wide receiver Malik Washington caught a career-high 14 passes for 114 yards. It marked his seventh-straight game with 100 yards receiving. He finished the season with 110 receptions, 1,426 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.
• Washington broke the ACC single-season records for receptions (110) and receptions per game (9.16) in a season. His 1,426 receiving yards are the fifth-most in a single season in ACC history.
• Washington passed LaJohntay Wester (FAU) for the national lead in receptions.
• Washington is the sixth player in ACC history with 100 receptions in a season, joining Jamison Crowder (Duke), Steve Ishmael (Syracuse), Sammy Watkins (Clemson), Josh Downs (UNC) and Jordan Addison (Pitt).
• The 14 receptions were second-most ever in a game by a UVA player behind Alvin Pearman’s 16-catch performance against Florida State in 2003.
• Washington recorded his 10th 100-yard receiving game of the season, the most by any UVA receiver in a season and career.
• Washington accumulated 1,706 all-purpose yards (1,426 rec. & 273 KR) in 2023, the fifth-most in a single-season in UVA history.
• Washington extended his consecutive games with a reception streak to 37 games.
• Malachi Fields established career highs in receiving touchdowns (2) and receiving yards (89). He finished the season with 58 receptions for 811 yards and five touchdowns. The 58 receptions in 2023 are tied for the 16th-most in a season in program history.
• Jonas Sanker made a team-high 10 tackles (8 solo), had one tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup in the contest. He led UVA in tackles in seven of the 12 games this season. Sanker finished the year with a team-high 107 tackles, the most by a UVA defensive back since Quin Blanding – 137 tackles in 2017.

Game Stats

Scoring Summary
Va. Tech  10 14 24 7 — 55
Virginia      0   0 10 7 — 17

First Quarter
VT (9:58) — Love 29-yd field goal. VT 3, UVA 0.
VT (3:21) — Gosnell 44-yd pass from Drones (Love kick). VT 10, UVA 0.

Second Quarter
VT (13:53) — Holloway 33-yd run (Love kick). VT 17, UVA 0.
VT (5:30) — Tuten 32-yd run (Love kick). VT 24, UVA 0.

Third Quarter
VT (11:12) — Felton 84-yd pass from Drones (Love kick). VT 31, UVA 0.
UVA (7:44) — Bettridge 25-yd field goal. VT 31, UVA 3.
VT (7:28) — Tuten 94-yd kickoff return (Love kick). VT 38, UVA 3.
UVA (6:07) — Fields 38-yd pass from Colandrea (Bettridge kick). VT 38, UVA 10.
VT (4:34) — Love 47-yd field goal. VT 41, UVA 10.
VT (0:18) — Felton 34-yd pass from Drones (Love kick). VT 48, UVA 10.

Fourth Quarter
UVA (9:18) — Fields 3-yd pass from Colandrea (Bettridge kick). VT 48, UVA 17.
VT (3:53) — Thomas 7-yd run (Love kick). VT 55, UVA 17.

Player Stats

Rushing
UVA — Donte Hawthorne 4-16; Kobe Pace 8-14; Jared Rayman 3-12; Amaad Foston 1-8; Jack Griese 2-7; Mike Hollins 1-(minus-2); Anthony Colandrea 10-(minus-12). TOTAL — 29-43.
VT — Bhayshul Tuten 16-117; Kyron Drones 7-50; Tucker Holloway 1-33; Malachi Thomas 7-29; Grant Wells 2-12; Jaylin Lane 3-12; Team 1-(minus-1). TOTAL — 37-252.

Receiving
UVA — Malik Washington 14-115; Malachi Fields 6-89; Jack Griese 3-25; JR Wilson 2-13; Ethan Davies 1-4; Kobe Pace 3-(minus-3). TOTAL — 29-243.
VT — Da’Quan Felton 3-133; Dae’Quan Wright 3-64; Stephen Gosnell 1-44; Malachi Thomas 3-5; Bhayshul Tuten 1-2. TOTAL — 11-248.

Passing
UVA — Anthony Colandrea 29-46-243-2-1; Jared Rayman 0-1-0-0-0. TOTAL — 29-47-243-2-1.
VT — Kyron Drones 10-22-244-3-0; Grant Wells 1-1-4-0-0. TOTAL — 11-23-248-3-0.