By Jerry Ratcliffe
As far as Tony Elliott is concerned, the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for his 18th-ranked Virginia football team.
The Cavaliers (5-1, 3-0 ACC) host Washington State (3-3) on Saturday (6:30 p.m., TV: The CW). UVA is a 17.5-point favorite over the Cougars, who took 5th-ranked Ole Miss to the wire last weekend in Oxford.
Meanwhile, Virginia announced the dismissal of offensive lineman Wallace Unamba from the program for violation of team policy. Elliott declined further comment during Tuesday’s weekly press conference. Unamba is a 6-foot-6, 335-pound lineman in his sixth year of college football, having previously played at Florida Atlantic and New Mexico. He was injured in fall camp and has not played this season.
It appears that Virginia will get some of its banged-up offensive linemen and others back after extra recovery time thanks to the bye.
Elliott said that starting center Brady Wilson is working himself back into practice and is hopeful that he will be available soon, along with fifth-year offensive lineman David Wohlabaugh (Kentucky transfer).
Starting left tackle McKale Boley, who was forced to leave the Louisville game, has returned to practice and will play Saturday.
Elliott said that running back Noah Vaughn is close to returning to practice, while starting punter Daniel Sparks is back “and ready to roll.” See the full depth chart below.
Tight end Dakota Twitty underwent surgery for his leg injury suffered early in the Louisville game and will be out for an extended period.
The coach said his approach to the first bye week this season (UVA will have another prior to the regular-season ending Virginia Tech game) was similar to most byes, but he modified this one a bit due to the health of his team.
“So the practice structure was very similar, but the amount of contact at the practices was different than maybe past bye weeks,” Elliott said.
The coach said that any notion Virginia will take Washington State for granted went out the window with the Cougars’ near-upset of Ole Miss last Saturday. WSU dropped a 24-21 game but had an opportunity to win late in the contest.
Earlier this season, the Coogs lost back-to-back games, giving up 59 points in each to North Texas and Washington. They flipped the script, beating Colorado State, then gave Ole Miss a scare.
How? A change at quarterback, to some degree.
Jaxon Potter had been Washington State’s starter, but was pulled during the North Texas game after he threw three interceptions to go along with two Cougar fumbles. Enter Zevi Eckhaus, who finished off that game, but also struggled the following week when he started against rival Washington.
In that game, Eckhaus was picked off twice and he lost a fumble.
Still, he helped lead the Coogs past Colorado State and then was 24 for 31 passing with two touchdowns at Ole Miss.
“I think that, and I’m just speaking from my perspective, my point of view, I think that when they changed quarterbacks and they went to [Eckhaus], I think he brought just a calming presence,” Elliott said. “Those (59-point games) got out of control because of turnovers in yield position, but [Eckhaus] seems to have calmed them down.
“He’s got moxie to him. He can run the ball. He can make all the throws. He looks like he just has it, a swagger that kind of mellowed him out. And defensively, each week they seem to be getting better and better as a unit.”
