Colandrea sacked nine times in UVA’s 33-7 loss to No. 13 SMU

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia couldn’t get its offense going against a stingy defense from visiting No. 13 Southern Methodist in Saturday’s home finale at Scott Stadium, as SMU rolled to a 33-7 victory to spoil Senior Day.

The Mustangs remained unbeaten as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (10-1, 7-0), all while clinching a spot in the championship game, and they also took one step closer to a possible trip to the College Football Playoffs. SMU racked up 434 yards behind a strong performance from quarterback Kevin Jennings.

Conversely, the Cavaliers (5-6, 3-4) could only muster 173 yards of total offense (108 passing, 65 rushing) all afternoon, and will now have to win next weekend in a stadium they haven’t tasted victory in since 1998 in order to become bowl-eligible.

Head coach Tony Elliott was visibly distraught as he stepped into the media room to take questions after a long talk with his team in the locker room, and ultimately blamed himself for the loss.

“Offensively, we didn’t do a good job protecting the quarterback,” said the coach. “Obviously, we took care of the ball, but never could establish a rhythm. Playmakers have got to make plays. We just didn’t do a good job, and starts with me, so I have to figure out — quickly — how to get this offense back in rhythm.”

Elliott stuck with Anthony Colandrea as his QB1 throughout the contest, deciding not to insert backup senior Tony Muskett, even in the fourth quarter when the Wahoos trailed, 26-0. Colandrea was sacked nine times for 70 yards and threw for just 108 yards against the Mustangs on 18-of-27 passing.

“Everyone’s going to talk about the quarterback situation, and again, when you’ve got nine sacks, you’re not protecting the quarterback,” said Elliott.

Behind by seven in the opening quarter after a Brashard Smith touchdown run, UVA’s Daniel Sparks punted it back to the Mustangs right around the goal line. SMU return man Roderick Daniels decided to run it out and was quickly met and hung up by Cavalier defenders, and his forward progress would have been stopped. However, he spun and made a move trying to free himself and wound up getting tackled in the end zone, and just about everyone in attendance thought it was a Virginia safety.

The officials — who did not turn to a formal video review of the play — determined that Daniels had reached the 3-yard line and the Mustangs dodged a bullet, taking over with 5:33 on the clock to a chorus of boos from UVA fans.

The Cavaliers came away with a stop and forced a punt, but turned the ball over on downs on a sack of Colandrea right around midfield.

SMU went on to miss a field goal, and the Hoos marched it down inside the 20 and looked poised to get some points on the board. However, a would-be first-down run by Kobe Pace on fourth-and-1 from the 19 was called back for a Virginia illegal substitution penalty coming out of a timeout, and Will Bettridge misfired on his 41-yard attempt.

The Mustangs doubled their lead on the ensuing possession on a 17-yard toss from Jennings to Jordan Hudson to make it 14-0 with 5:52 left in the half, then tacked on a Collin Rogers 35-yard field goal for a 17-zip halftime advantage.

Sparks came on to punt on three of the first four drives of the second half, with another turnover on downs (via sack) mixed in, while SMU added a third-quarter field goal to push the lead to 20.

Jennings, who threw for 323 yards, took it in himself to extend it to 26-0 early in the fourth quarter before the Hoos finally got on the board with 4:16 remaining.

Charlottesville native Malachi Fields (4 catches for 42 yards) was the recipient, as he continued his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch (26 games).

On that fourth-down play from the SMU 4-yard line — following a forced fumble by Kam Butler and recovery by fellow senior Chico Bennett Jr. — Colandrea ran away from defenders nearly 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage before hoisting it up towards the end zone, and Fields plucked it and hauled it in to avoid the shutout.

Third-year running back Xavier Brown was injured early in the second quarter, and Elliott revealed that he will miss the rest of the season with a broken collarbone. Pace was also a little banged up, and freshman Noah Vaughn got his largest workload of his young career, rushing 10 times for a team-high 44 yards.

Vaughn was asked how the team can bounce back heading into the final week of the season.

“I feel like it starts on Monday,” the Maryville, Tenn., native responded. “When we get back to practice, really, it starts with how we deal with [Sunday], making sure we get our bodies back right, and just being professional about everything we do.

“But I think when we come back to practice Monday, you’ve got to take a hard reset, and you’ve got to look at everybody in between the walls, and you’ve got to realize that we’re all we’ve got. And when we realize that and we get out there and we play together as a team, I don’t think we’re a beatable team.”

Vaughn also took some of the blame for the pressure on Colandrea, admitting that he and others could have done a better job in pass protection.

The Mustangs added another Jennings touchdown pass to Matthew Hibner with 1:42 remaining for the final result.

UVA Offensive Stats

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• At 5-6 overall, UVA enters its final game of the season one win away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2021. 
• UVA is now 2-6 against ranked opponents under head coach Tony Elliott. 
• For the first time since 2021 and sixth time in program history (1949, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2019, 2021, 2024), the Cavaliers played their third consecutive game against a ranked opponent. 
• In its last six home games against top-25 opponents (dating back to 2018), Virginia is 3-3. 
• The Cavaliers held SMU to 111 rushing yards, its lowest output in an ACC game this season and second-lowest overall. 
• UVA scored its lone touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers are outscoring their opponents 91-59 in the fourth quarter this season. 
• Virginia is the Mustangs’ second opponent in their last 10 games to not give the ball away. SMU entered Saturday’s game 10th in FBS and third in the ACC in turnovers gained per game (2.0). 
• UVA is 2-2 when winning the turnover battle this season, dropping contests against Louisville and SMU.
• With the victory, SMU clinched a spot in the ACC Championship game on Dec. 7 in Charlotte. SMU is 7-0 in ACC play in its first season in the conference. The Mustangs have won 16 straight conference games dating back to their time in the American Athletic Conference.
• SMU has won 10 straight road games, the second-longest streak in program history.

Player Notes

• Malachi Fields (4 receptions, 42 yards, 1 TD) has caught at least one pass in 26 consecutive games. 
• UVA’s only TD of the game was a Fields’ reception in the end zone in the fourth quarter. It marked his fifth touchdown of the season and 11th of his career. 
• With 127 career receptions, Fields needs only two more to crack UVA’s top-10 career leaders list. 
• Fields now has 1,830 career receiving yards, still good for ninth all-time in program history. 
• Noah Vaughn rushed for career highs in both rushing attempts (10) and rushing yards (44). 
• Jam Jackson tied his career high with nine tackles, including six solo. Jackson also had nine takedowns against Maryland (9/14) earlier this season. 
• Kempton Shine has now made 36 consecutive starts dating back to his tenure at Eastern Michigan, the sixth most amongst active FBS secondary players.
• With one successful PAT, Will Bettridge tied fellow placekicker Wayne Morrison (1979-92) for 13th on UVA’s career points list. In 30 career games, Bettridge has 193 career points with 67 PATs and 42 field goals made. 

• Daniel Sparks recorded a season-high 333 total yards punting and tied his season high of seven punts. 

UP NEXT

Virginia will close out the regular season next Saturday night (8 p.m., ACC Network) in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech.