Elliott explains why he’s likely going with AC at QB

By Jerry Ratcliffe

While Anthony Colandrea is coming off the worst game of his career, Virginia coach Tony Elliott appears to be sticking with his starting quarterback.

Colandrea was picked off three times in less than three minutes and completed only 8 of 21 passing attempts in UVA’s 35-14 loss at No. 8 Notre Dame last Saturday.

The three picks raised Colandrea’s total to 11 on the season (second-most in the ACC), and seven over the last three games. The sophomore’s passing efficiency rating has dropped to 14th among the 17 starting quarterbacks in the conference.

Elliott kept the door slightly open for a change to backup Tony Muskett during Tuesday’s weekly press conference, but essentially gave Colandrea, who was benched at halftime in South Bend, a vote of confidence.

“If we were to run out there [today], right now AC would have an opportunity to go out there and show everybody how he can respond, because there haven’t been very many top-25 road wins,” Elliott said.

The coach was referring to Colandrea’s performance in leading the Cavaliers to a 24-19 upset of then-No. 23 Pitt the week before the Notre Dame loss. Pitt was also ranked No. 18 in the College Football Playoff system prior to the loss to Virginia.

In that game, Colandrea threw for 170 yards and led the Cavaliers to a pair of third-quarter touchdowns and a fourth-quarter field goal that gave UVA its fifth win of the season.

While Elliott said if the decision were to be made Tuesday, it would be Colandrea, he pointed out that he and the coaching staff will monitor QB play the remainder of the week and give both Colandrea and Muskett reps with the first team to be fair. However, Elliott believes Colandrea deserves a chance to redeem his faulty play at Notre Dame.

“For me, it’s let’s finish the workweek,” Elliott said. “We have tomorrow, we have Thursday. Then Friday is a prep day if we need to go, but right now, AC would have an opportunity to go out there and show everybody how he can respond.”

Elliott said he is weighing Colandrea’s body of work this season and not just the last outing, where his QB was under duress from a dominant Notre Dame defense, the No. 1 pass defense in the country.

“He’s coming off of that, really three minutes of bad football in the end of the second quarter, which warranted Tony an opportunity to go in there and finish out. [Colandrea] has put us in position to win a lot of football games. Unfortunately we came up short in a couple, but we also have won a couple because of the position he put us in.

“That’s kind of where we are. If that changes, then I’ll be ready to make that decision at the end of the week.”

Colandrea has shown the ability to extend plays with his feet and is the third-leading rusher on the team, much of those runs by design, particularly with the quarterback draw. He has also had some spectacular passing performances, though not of late.

Over the last four games — losses to Clemson, North Carolina and Notre Dame, plus a win at Pitt — Colandrea has completed 55 of 99 pass attempts for 527 yards and three touchdowns (seven picks). The most yardage he passed for during those four outings came at Clemson when he was 15 for 26 for 159 yards and two scores.

“I have to be fair and just, and what I believe, you had one quarter of football, but he’s also put us in position to win games,” Elliott emphasized. “We take the lead in the fourth quarter versus Louisville with a chance to win with AC at quarterback.

“Those are more the things that I’m factoring when I’m looking at where we are right now and then obviously the outcome of this game gives me more information to make a decision based off of how we move forward after this game, but right now I’m just operating off of what I got right in front of me.”

For fans wondering if the future — with Colandrea having two years remaining — plays into Elliott’s decision, as opposed to Muskett, who has two games remaining, the coach indicated he’s not thinking about next season or beyond.

“To be honest with you, the future really hasn’t factored into the decisions that I’ve made this week. I’m really focusing on trying to figure out how to win Saturday for these seniors and find a way to go out to Blacksburg to win next week,” the coach said.

Elliott said that “you’ll fry a bunch of brain cells” attempting to plan the future in college football because of the transfer portal and other factors.

He said he doesn’t want Colandrea thinking about next year, but rather to focus on this week and helping Virginia get bowl-eligible against a 9-1 SMU team (6-0 in ACC play), which is a 9.5-point favorite.

The coach did point out that he did the same for Muskett last season when Muskett was the starter and some fans were pushing to put Colandrea in the game.