UVA offense shines again in 48-20 win over Stanford in ACC opener

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia set the tone early in its ACC opener against Stanford Saturday night, building a comfortable lead by halftime and pulling away for a 48-20 victory under the lights at Scott Stadium.

The UVA offense had another big night, racking up 400 yards by halftime and finishing with 590 total yards, including eight plays of 20 yards or more.

In the first-ever meeting between the Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 ACC) and Cardinal (1-3, 1-1), UVA quarterback Chandler Morris and speedy wideout Trell Harris hooked up for a hat trick of touchdowns in the first quarter to establish a quick advantage.

The first came on the Cavaliers’ opening possession, as Morris zipped one to Harris, who plunged across the goal line from 3 yards out for a 7-0 lead. The drive featured a pair of big plays by JMU transfer Cam Ross — one for 20 yards, another for 25 more — to put the Wahoos in scoring position.

Stanford answered with a touchdown pass to tie it up, and then it only took one play — a 75-yard strike to Harris over the top of the Stanford defense — to put Virginia ahead to stay.

Following another Cardinal punt, Morris and Harris struck again with still 3:36 remaining in the opening quarter. This time, Morris was flushed out of the pocket and hoisted one up over the Stanford safety’s head, and Harris began to celebrate his third TD reception of the night, and UVA led 21-7.

Morris, who on the night went over 7,000 passing yards for his career, added another score with his feet in the second quarter on a well-designed fake give and subsequent 13-yard trot to make it 28-7.

Stanford star running back Micah Ford found the end zone just before halftime to make things interesting going into the locker room, but Morris marched the Hoos downfield to open the third period en route to his fourth touchdown toss of the evening — a dart over the middle to a crossing Sage Ennis — to push the lead back to 21.

A Stanford three-and-out (highlighted by a Jacob Holmes third-down sack) led to a Will Bettridge field goal to make it a 38-14 ballgame with 5:35 left in the third.

The Cardinal answered right back with a long TD pass before Bettridge booted home another field goal to start the fourth quarter, and then backup signal caller Daniel Kaelin found Eli Wood in the back-right corner of the end zone for the final tally.

Morris finished the game completing 23 of his 31 pass attempts for 380 yards and the four scores, and also rushed for 19 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

The three-headed rushing attack of J’Mari Taylor, Xavier Brown and Harrison Waylee combined for 185 of the team’s 206 yards on the ground. Harris led all receivers with 145 yards and a trio of touchdowns — on just four catches, while Cam Ross sprinkled in 88 yards on seven grabs.

Linebacker Kam Robinson made his season debut, finishing with a team-high 7 tackles and a fumble recovery, as the Hoos’ defense recorded a season-best five sacks and held the Cardinal to just 35 yards rushing.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers have a quick turnaround and a short week before undefeated, top-10 Florida State comes to town Friday night for a national primetime matchup (7 p.m., ESPN).

Scoring Summary

Stanford 7-7-6-0 — 20
Virginia 21-7-10-10 — 48

First Quarter
UVA (11:08) — Harris 3-yd pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 7, Stanford 0.
Stanford (8:27) — Blackburn 5-yd pass from Gulbranson (Kenney kick). UVA 7, Stanford 7.
UVA (8:17) — Harris 75-yd pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 14, Stanford 7.
UVA (3:36) — Harris 27-yd pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 21, Stanford 7.

Second Quarter
UVA (9:05) — Morris 13-yd run (Bettridge kick). UVA 28, Stanford 7.
Stanford (0:55) — Ford 3-yd run (Kenney kick). UVA 28, Stanford 14.

Third Quarter
UVA (11:21) — Ennis 13-yd pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 35, Stanford 14.
UVA (5:35) — Bettridge 28-yd field goal. UVA 38, Stanford 14.
Stanford (4:18) — Farrell 68-yd pass from Gulbranson (pass failed). UVA 38, Stanford 20.

Fourth Quarter
UVA (12:26) — Bettridge 26-yd field goal. UVA 41, Stanford 20.
UVA (4:26) — Wood 4-yd pass from Kaelin (Bettridge kick). UVA 48, Stanford 20.

Player Stats

Rushing
Stanford — Micah Ford 13-44; Cole Tabb 7-27; Tuna Altahir 1-5; Sedrick Irvin 2-5; Bryce Farrell 1-1; Team 1-(minus-2); Ben Gulbranson 6-(minus-45). TOTAL — 31-35. UVA — J’Mari Taylor 15-85; Xavier Brown 10-55; Harrison Waylee 9-45; Chandler Morris 5-19; Kameron Courtney 1-6; Team 2-(minus-4). TOTAL — 42-206.

Receiving
Stanford — Bryce Farrell 4-135; C.J. Williams 9-103; Myles Libman 2-24; Caden High 2-14; Benji Blackburn 2-6; Micah Ford 1-4. TOTAL — 20-286. UVA — Trell Harris 4-145; Cam Ross 7-88; Dakota Twitty 2-47; Jahmal Edrine 3-46; J’Mari Taylor 3-27; Sage Ennis 2-21; Eli Wood 1-4; Jayden Thomas 1-4; Harrison Waylee 1-2. TOTAL — 24-384.

Passing
Stanford — Ben Gulbranson 20-29-286-2-0. TOTAL — 20-29-286-2-0. UVA — Chandler Morris 23-31-380-4-0; Daniel Kaelin 1-1-4-1-0. TOTAL — 24-32-384-5-0.