By Jerry Ratcliffe
As Chandler Morris accepted the Gator Bowl’s MVP Trophy after Virginia’s win over Missouri, his teammates chanted, “One more year, one more year.”
Morris, a key component of UVA’s program-record 11 wins, the son of an innovative offensive mind, had just led the Cavaliers to their first bowl win since 2018, finishing the season with an even 3,000 yards passing.
Having spent some time around the Texas-bred gunslinger this season, it was easy to detect what he’s all about. Confident, not cocky. Loyal to a fault. Tough. Accountable. All about the team. He’s pretty much everything a coach would want in a quarterback.
For the game, Morris completed 25 of 38 pass attempts (66 percent) for 198 yards. During an impactful, 19-play, 75-yard drive that ate 10 minutes and 7 seconds off the clock (keeping Missouri’s dangerous running game on the sidelines), Morris was most efficient.
He was 7 for 9 passing for 52 yards, nickel-and-diming the Tigers to death, for three first downs. He also rushed three times for 7 more yards. Morris was a master of converting third downs and moving the chains. He also engineered the offense without his leading rusher and leading receiver. Heck, he even surprised Missouri with a “pooch punt” on fourth down that pinned the Tigers on their 1-yard line.
When it was all over and he was on the postgame interview stage, he was just as impressive when asked what the season — perhaps his last in college football — meant to him (Morris has petitioned the NCAA for another year of eligibility).
“It’s kind of how I’ve been raised,” Mr. Quarterback said. “Anytime you go somewhere, your whole goal is to leave it better than you found it. It means the world to me to come to a university that has a ton of passion for their sports teams.
“I’m also extremely grateful for the opportunity that I got to come to this awesome university and really get to experience it with everyone here. It starts in the locker room. This is my favorite team I’ve ever been a part of (Oklahoma, TCU, North Texas). I’m not saying that because we won a lot of games this year. You go in the locker room, everybody really does love each other, they’re pulling for each other, and it’s just great people which starts with Coach Elliott and his staff and bringing in the right people.”
Now you know why Elliott and everyone involved wants another year for Morris.
It’s not that he’s now passed for more than 9,000 yards and 63 touchdowns during his journeyman career. It’s not because his 3,000 yards passing this season is the fourth-most in a single season in program history.
It’s his leadership.
When Morris arrived, he told his new teammates that he didn’t come all the way from Texas to win seven games, but that he came to Charlottesville to win a championship.
Some skeptics scoffed.
Morris delivered.
Nah, he didn’t get the championship, but he led the team to the ACC Championship Game and to a Gator Bowl victory over the SEC’s No. 1 rushing offense, which leads us to John Rudzinski.
Coach Rud’s defense came up HUGE most of the season and definitely in Jacksonville, shutting down one of the country’s most lethal running games. Missouri gained only 159 yards on the ground on 32 carries, and other than giving up a 43-yard to SEC rushing champion Ahmad Hardy on the opening series that set up a 5-yard TD run by backfield mate Jamal Roberts, the Tigers gained only 116 yards rushing the rest of the night.
Rud’s defense shut out Missouri for the last 57 minutes of the game, holding the Tigers to a mere 37 yards in the third quarter. It was only the second time this season that Mizzou was held to under 10 points (13-7) and only the third time in the Tigers’ last 56 games they were held to single digits.
UVA’s defense has been solid most of the season, surrendering only three fourth-quarter touchdowns over the last eight games.
Rud, who produced some nationally ranked defenses at Air Force before he came to Virginia, had an effective gameplan to grab the Tigers by the tail. He recognized that without its starting quarterback, who had opted for the transfer portal, Missouri’s passing game couldn’t be as reliable. He was right.
The backup was shaky at best and with Rud’s strategy, it was like the Tigers were playing with one hand tied behind their backs.
“Defensively, [Virginia] did a lot of movement up front,” said Missouri’s Connor Tollison. “I think they put a lot of people in the box. I think they knew we were going to run the ball and they had a good plan for it.”
The plan was to load the tackle box, contain Missouri’s run and make the Tigers one-dimensional because Rud was gambling that the backup QB couldn’t throw it, and he was exactly right.
Oh, and hats off to offensive coordinator Des Kitchings as well. He called a masterful game.
“[Virginia did a good job of keeping us off balance,” said Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz. “They were running the ball, throwing screens, stymieing our pass rush. I don’t think we had a sack. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t have a sack.”
As Tony Elliott said at the end of the Jacksonville night, “This team will be remembered forever.”
