By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia’s chances to participate in the ACC Championship Game took a big boost Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, as the Cavaliers survived their final road test at Duke, 34-17.

Bouncing back from last week’s loss to Wake Forest that snapped a seven-game streak, UVA had a healthy Chandler Morris back in the offensive mix and got several timely plays from its defensive unit to get back in the win column.

As a result, the Cavaliers (9-2, 6-1 ACC), slotted at 19th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, are tied with Georgia Tech (9-1, 6-1) atop the conference standings with one game to go.

On Saturday, Virginia limited Duke’s normally high-powered offense to just 255 total yards (213 passing, 42 rushing) on the day, and racked up 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss and 8 passes defended.

The defense had to do its damage without Kam Robinson for most of the afternoon, as the star linebacker was injured midway through the opening quarter. Robinson returned to start the second half, but immediately reaggravated his injury on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils (5-5, 4-2) trailed by a 31-3 margin before scoring a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to get within two scores with 9:30 to play, but the Wahoos were able to add a Will Bettridge field goal with 5:42 remaining for the final result.

Morris was knocked out of the Wake game and his status was uncertain for most of the week, and the veteran signal caller looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. He completed 23 of his 35 attempts for 316 yards with a pair of touchdown tosses and two interceptions in the all-important contest.

Two of his weapons had monster games as well, as J’Mari Taylor rushed for a game-high 133 yards and two scores, while Trell Harris led all receivers with 161 yards and a touchdown on 8 grabs.

Taylor got things started with a big gain on the game’s first play from scrimmage, but was then seen limping to the sideline. The Cavaliers’ leading rusher was able to return on the same possession, however, capping off the 14-play drive with a 5-yard TD run with 8:13 left in the opening quarter.

The Hoos forced Duke into three consecutive three-and-outs to start the ballgame, but the Blue Devils got on the board with a field goal on their next possession, trailing 7-3 with 5:33 left in the half.

The Cavaliers answered with another scoring drive of their own, with Morris finding Sage Ennis on a 12-yard strike with 1:39 until halftime, but they weren’t done yet. After another Duke three-and-out, UVA got it back with 1:01 to go and benefited from a 56-yard pickup by Harris inside the Duke 10-yard line. Bettridge closed the half with a 44-yard field goal, and Virginia went into the locker room with a comfortable 17-3 advantage. UVA outgained Duke by a 308-50 margin in total yards in the first half, holding the Devils to 26 yards through the air and 24 on the ground.

The Hoos added to the tally on the first drive of the second half, as Harris hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Morris to extend the lead to 21.

Duke was threatening in the red zone on its ensuing possession, but UVA’s Mitchell Melton singlehandedly put an end to any thoughts of cutting into the lead. The Ohio State transfer delivered a strip sack of Darian Mensah on fourth-and-8 to keep it a three-score affair.

Three plays later, Taylor found an opening and busted loose, outrunning Blue Devil defenders for a 78-yard scamper to the house, giving the Hoos a 31-3 lead heading into the fourth.

Mensah then led the first Duke touchdown drive of the day, hooking up with top wideout Cooper Barkate from 11 yards out with 10:23 left to make it 31-10.

The home crowd was roaring again less than a minute later when Duke’s Tre Freeman picked off an errant Morris delivery and took it to the house, and all of a sudden, it was 31-17 with still 9:30 to go, making things a lot more interesting.

The Hoos caught a break on their next march, as a Duke facemask penalty put the ball at the Devils’ 32-yard line. A few snaps later, Bettridge put the final nail in the coffin with a 42-yard boot with 5:42 remaining to put it out of reach.

The Devils proceeded to turn the ball over on downs, and the Cavaliers brought in reserves to kill the clock and take the final knee in victory formation.

Among the many heroes on the defensive side of the ball were Fisher Camac, who tied for the team lead with 6 tackles (3 solo) with a pair of sacks, while Emmanuel Karnley, Devin Neal, Donavon Platt, Ethan Minter and Christian Charles each came up with key pass breakups throughout the evening.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will have an extra week to prepare for the regular-season finale against Virginia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 29 (kickoff time and TV designation TBA) at Scott Stadium.

Scoring Summary

Virginia 7-10-14-3 — 34
Duke 0-3-0-14 — 17

First Quarter
UVA (8:13) — Taylor 5-yard run (Bettridge kick). UVA 7, DU 0.

Second Quarter
DU (5:33) — Pelino 49-yard field goal. UVA 7, DU 3.
UVA (1:39) — Ennis 12-yard pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 14, DU 3.
UVA (0:00) — Bettridge 44-yard field goal. UVA 17, DU 3.

Third Quarter
UVA (6:49) — Harris 20-yard pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 24, DU 3.
UVA (2:27) — Taylor 78-yard run (Bettridge kick). UVA 31, DU 3.

Fourth Quarter
DU (10:23) — Barkate 11-yard pass from Mensah (Pelino kick). UVA 31, DU 10.
DU (9:30) — Freeman 18-yard interception return (Pelino kick). UVA 31, DU 17.
UVA (5:42) — Bettridge 42-yard field goal. UVA 34, DU 17.

Player Stats

Rushing

UVA — J’Mari Taylor 18-133; Harrison Waylee 16-62; Xay Davis 3-12; Davis Lane Jr. 2-11; Chandler Morris 2-9. TOTAL — 42-224. DU — Nate Sheppard 12-43; Anderson Castle 3-3; Darian Mensah 8-(minus-4). TOTAL — 23-42.

Receiving

UVA — Trell Harris 8-161; Cam Ross 7-63; Jahmal Edrine 2-34; J’Mari Taylor 1-25; Sage Ennis 1-12; Kameron Courtney 2-11; Harrison Waylee 1-7; Eli Wood 1-3. TOTAL — 23-316. DU — Landen King 2-48; Jeremiah Hasley 3-47; Cooper Barkate 3-45; Sahmir Hagans 1-35; Que’Sean Brown 3-14; Nate Sheppard 3-9; Andrel Anthony 1-8; Anderson Castle 2-7. TOTAL — 18-213.

Passing

UVA — Chandler Morris 23-35-316-2-2. TOTAL — 23-35-316-2-2. DU — Darian Mensah 18-35-213-1-0. TOTAL — 18-35-213-1-0.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia won its ninth game of the season, the ninth time in program history and first time since 2019 that the Cavaliers have won nine games in a season.
The 9-2 start to the season is the best 11-game start since 2007.
Virginia has won four-straight road games to match a school record set in 1984 and 1990. The Cavaliers finished the regular season 4-1 on the road.
UVA improved to 6-1 in the ACC, the first time UVA has won six of its first seven ACC games since 2007 and only the fourth time ever (1989, 1995, 2007, 2025).
The Cavaliers are assured of at least a 6-2 record in ACC regular-season games for the first time since 2019. That year, UVA went on to face Clemson and Tony Elliott, who at the time served as the Tigers’ offense coordinator, in the ACC championship game.
Virginia tallied its fifth win of the season while ranked in the AP poll (No. 20). The last time UVA had five or more wins while ranked in the AP top 25 was in 2004, when it was ranked in every game that year.
Virginia improved to 42-34 in the all-time series with Duke, which was first contested in 1890. UVA’s 42 wins over the Blue Devils are third-most against any other opponent in program history. The Cavaliers have won nine of the last 10 meetings against Duke.
UVA has totaled at least 30 points in eight games this year, a feat not achieved since the 2021 season.
The Cavaliers started the game with their longest opening drive of the season, which spanned 6:47 and ended with a five-yard touchdown by J’Mari Taylor.
Duke’s first touchdown in the fourth quarter marked the first surrendered by UVA in a play from scrimmage in its last seven quarters of action (123 minutes and 34 seconds). The last touchdown from scrimmage by a UVA opponent was Cal (Nov. 1), which score early in the fourth quarter.
UVA has scored first in 10 of its 11 games and is 9-1 when scoring first this season.
UVA held the Blue Devils to season lows in several categories, including total offense (255) rushing yards (42), passing yards (213), pass completions (18), points scored (17) and first downs (11).
Duke entered Saturday’s game as the No. 4 passing offense (312.9) in the country, while also averaging 35.2 points per game, good for fourth in the ACC and No. 22 in FBS.
The Virginia defense held the Blue Devils to 16 yards of total offense in the first quarter. This is the lowest Duke has had in a quarter this season.
Virginia held Duke to three first-downs in the opening half. Duke is the third UVA opponent to be held to less than five first-downs this season.
Virginia held the Blue Devils to 50 yards of total offense in the first half. Duke is the fifth opponent that UVA has held to under 100 yards in a half this season.
For the sixth time this season, UVA held its opponent to without a touchdown in the first half.
UVA doubled its opponent’s total yardage (540 to 255) for the second time this season (W&M; 700 to 263)

Player Notes

Trell Harris (8 rec, 161 yards, 1 TD) is the first Cavalier wide receiver with at least 150 yards receiving since Malik Washington against Louisville in 2023. Harris’ eight receptions and 161 yards are career bests.
Harris’ third reception of the game, a 29-yard catch in the second quarter, marked the 100th of his career.
J’Mari Taylor (18 rushes, 133 yards 2 TD) has scored at least one rushing TD in 19 of last 22 games dating back to his time at NC Central. Taylor now has 13 touchdowns this season, the most by a Cavalier in a season since Keith Payne had 14 in 2010. Taylor also now has 36 career rushing touchdowns.
Taylor broke a 78-yard TD rush in the third quarter, which is tied for the 11th-longest rush in school history (Alvin Pearman vs. Virginia Tech in 2004).
For the fourth time this season, Taylor rushed for multiple touchdowns. The last UVA player to record four multi-rushing TD games was Brennan Armstrong in 2021.
With Taylor and Harris’ performances, UVA had a 100-yard pass catcher and 100-yard rusher in the same game for the first time since 2023 against William & Mary. Perris Jones (134 yards rushing) and Malik Washington (112 yards receiving) were the last duo to accomplish that feat.
Taylor and Harris combined for a total of 319 all-purpose yards, the most by a Cavalier duo since Keytaon Thompson (151) and Ra’Shaun Henry’s (179) 330 all-purpose yards at Louisville (Oct. 9, 2021).
Chandler Morris (23 for 35, 316 yards, 2 TD) went over the 300-yard mark for the second time this season (the other was against Stanford, when he had 380) and the 11th time of his career.
Morris’ touchdown pass in the second quarter to Sage Ennis was the 60th touchdown pass of his career. Morris now has 61 career passing TDs.
Fisher Camac (6 tackles, 3 solo, 2 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 QBH) is the third Cavalier to record a multi-sack game this season, joining Mitchell Melton (2 vs. Louisville) and Daniel Rickert (2 vs. Stanford). Camac upped his season total to 4.5 and now has 13 career sacks.
On fourth down in the third quarter, defensive end Mitchell Melton recorded a strip sack and recovered his own forced fumble. It was Melton’s third forced fumble this season, which leads the team. Melton is one three Cavaliers in the last 10 years with at least three forced fumbles in a season. Jonas Sanker had three in 2023, and Micah Kiser had five in 2016.
Defensive tackle Jacob Holmes matched his career high of six tackles. Holmes also had one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Cornerback Emmanuel Karnley finished with a career-high three pass break-ups. Karnley also started in Saturday’s game at Durham, his seventh of the season and fifth consecutive start.
With two catches, receiver Jahmal Edrine reached 100 receptions for his career.
Linebacker and team captain James Jackson appeared in his 50th career game.
With 10 points, Will Bettridge (2 for 2 FG, 4 for 4 PAT) is now tied for third on UVA’s career scoring list with Gene Mayer (1912-15). Bettridge has 293 career points.

This Weekend’s ACC Results

Friday
Clemson 20, Louisville 19

Saturday
Notre Dame 37, Pitt 15
Virginia 34, Duke 17
Georgia Tech 36, Boston College 34
Miami 41, NC State 7
Wake Forest 28, North Carolina 12
Florida State 34, Virginia Tech 14

Next Week’s Schedule

Friday, Nov. 21
Florida State at NC State, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Nov. 22
Miami at Virginia Tech, TBD
Pitt at Georgia Tech, TBD
Louisville at SMU, TBD
Duke at North Carolina. TBD
Delaware at Wake Forest, Noon (ACC Nework)
Syracuse at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Furman at Clemson, 4:30 p.m. (The CW)
California at Stanford, 7:30 p.m. (ACC Network)