By Jerry Ratcliffe

After playing its worst half of the season and trailing visiting underdog Washington State by 10 points at the break, Virginia’s players were expecting to get blasted by Tony Elliott at halftime.

Watching one of America’s most explosive offenses in the country cough, stumble and sputter, Elliott had every right to unload on his Cavaliers, who trailed 17-7, generating a mere 109 yards of total offense.

The UVA coach had been spotted yelling at some of his players late in the second quarter for walking and not hustling off the field, a sacred no-no in Elliott’s manual.

Instead of unleashing his wrath on the team in the halftime locker room, Elliott remained under control.

“I said, ‘Look, there ain’t going to be a whole lot of yelling, because me yelling and trying to create energy is not going to get it done,’” Elliott said after the game.

Instead of screaming, he challenged his team, ranked No. 18 in the nation and a 17.5-point favorite over the Pac-12’s Cougars. Elliott challenged them to make a decision.

“This is going to take a decision from everybody in this room to go fight for what is it that you want,” Elliott told the Cavaliers. “Because in the first half, I felt like the team in the other locker room wanted it more than we did. So the message was really, ‘Hey, this is not me giving you the answer. This is a collective group of young men deciding that everything that they want and that they work for, trapped in a battle to find a way to reengage their focus.”

Elliott’s message was received loud and clear.

Virginia’s defense held Wazzu to a three-and-out to open the second half and then quarterback Chandler Morris, who played hurt due an aggravated shoulder injury from earlier in the season, led the Cavaliers to within field goal range on UVA’s first possession, Will Bettridge booting the first of two field goals, this one from 47 yards, to make it 17-10.

Still, Virginia trailed 20-10 going into the fourth quarter when the Cavaliers began to return to their previous form, the one that vaulted them into the top 25 a few weeks hence.

Morris opened the fourth quarter with a 97-yard touchdown march, six runs by J’Mari Taylor and Harrison Waylee, and 3-for-3 passing for 58 yards. Waylee took it in from a yard out in a momentum-swinging carry and Virginia trailed 20-17 with 9:45 to play.

Backed up inside its own 25, Washington State had three straight penalties, bringing up a third-and-19 when defensive back Ja’Son Prevard picked off his third pass of the season with seven minutes to play. Prevard’s return gave Virginia great field position at the Wazzu 35.

Seven plays later, Bettridge knotted it a 20-all from 34 yards out and 2:55 to play.

Was Virginia headed to a third straight overtime game, after knocking off Florida State and Louisville in extra periods?

The Cavaliers defense had stiffened in the second half, particularly stonewalling the Coogs in the fourth quarter. Washington State’s kickoff return man made a mistake downing the kick at the 2, the first mistake in Wazzu’s disastrous final possession.

An incompletion, followed by another procedure penalty to the 1, and another incompletion, made it third-and-11 when out of a no-huddle, shotgun formation, QB Zavi Eckhaus handed off to running back Kirby Vorhees, who was smothered by Virginia linebacker Kam Robinson and defensive tackle Hunter Osborne in the end zone for a 2-point safety.

Virginia 22, Washington State 20.

Wahoo fans were more likely to see Haley’s Comet than a walk-off safety for a win. No one in the press box, media dating back more than 40 years, had ever seen one. College football apparently hasn’t had a game-winning safety since 2022.

The Cougars had to kick the ball back to Virginia, by safety rule, with 2:41 to play and Virginia ran out the clock on three Taylor runs, making the Cavaliers 6-1 for the first time since 2007 and bowl eligible for the first time since 2022 (UVA has not played in a bowl since 2019 due to the covid pandemic in ‘21 and ‘22).

While the Cavaliers offense did not resemble the same one that was rolling up some of the explosive yardage and point totals like it did before, it found enough to survive.

Meanwhile, John Rudzinski’s defense put on a chest-pounding performance in the fourth quarter, holding Washington State to a paltry 8 (that’s not a typo) yards. UVA owned the pigskin for 10 minutes and 36 seconds in the fourth period, keeping the Cougars offense on the sidelines.

“We came back out with a different mindset … we can’t allow this,” said Robinson.

With WSU backed up to the end zone on its last possession, Robinson said he wanted to end it right there and on the safety play, “All I seen was ball,” he said. “I seen one in our jersey color, so I’m like, should I go hit him?”

Clearly he did, and saw the ref signal for a safety.

“It was game over,” Robinson said.

Prevard, one of UVA’s heroes in its win over Florida State with his interception in the end zone that sealed the double-overtime upset, said that play didn’t pop into his head until after he picked off the Washington State pass that led to a tie score in the fourth quarter Saturday night.

The ball was deflected high into the air before he hauled it in.

“Oh my God, I had flashbacks after the play, but during the play I’m just looking at the sky like, ‘Where’s the ball?’” Prevard said. “We knew they had a long way to go, so I baited them. I acted like I was going to come down on the flat route, but when he raised his shoulder, I knew he was going to throw the deep out. I jumped in and intercepted.”

It’s the third consecutive game where Virginia’s defense has come up big. While the offense had received most of the headlines, it was the defense that made game-winning plays, the interception against Florida State, two major turnovers for scores at Louisville and then the fourth-quarter domination vs. Wazzu.

“It’s huge,” strong safety Devin Neal said of the stops. “Those types of wins, our backs against the wall. It’s a little bit ugly, but we got it done and that’s what it’s all about, getting the W.”

Virginia now has 6 of those W’s, but it is hungry for more. Being bowl-eligible is nice, but just a road sign on the way to its final destination.