Morris divulges details of a brilliant night that earned him a ESPN Helmet Sticker & upset

By Jerry Ratcliffe

We can think of 30 reasons why Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris was given a coveted “Helmet Sticker” award from ESPN’s College Football Final crew late Saturday night.

Morris had a hand in 30 of Virginia’s 46 points in the Cavaliers’ dramatic, double-overtime upset of 8th-ranked Florida State. The UVA quarterback passed for two scores and ran for three others in the monumental win.

That’s what the Texas-raised quarterback came to Charlottesville for, to win games and to prove to himself that he could compete at the Power 4 level. After stints at P4 Oklahoma and TCU, Morris played last season at North Texas, but wanted another crack at college football’s highest level.

“That was the whole reason why I kind of made this move, was that I wanted to get back to the Power 4 level, not necessarily to prove people wrong, but really just to prove myself right,” Morris said after the FSU win. “I know I can compete at this level. I’m just hungry.”

Well, the big dog ate and ate and ate some more Friday night, as he completed 26 of 35 pass attempts for 229 yards and two scores, rushed for 37 yards and three more touchdowns.

With the five-TD responsibility, Morris ranks No. 8 in the nation in the “points responsible for” category with 86 this season (10 TD passes, 4 rushing scores and a 2-point conversion pass).

He’s ranked in the nation’s top 25 in a number of statistical categories:

• No. 11 in the country in passing yards with 1,279
• No. 15 in pass completion percentage at 71.6
• No. 21 in TD passes with 10
• No. 23 in total offense with 1,448
• No. 33 in passing efficiency with a 157.06 rating

The one category Morris is likely most proud of is a 4-1 record, which could easily have been 5-0. Beating Florida State meant a lot to him, but he had a greater understanding of the overall meaning of the upset.

“It’s awesome,” said Morris, who now has 7,486 career passing yards and 57 TD passes. “Just understanding how hungry this university is and just to understand what we have in our locker room. We’ve got a great team. The staff went out and got great players, great people, too.

“It’s just awesome for this university, awesome for our locker room, our staff, just everyone involved. It’s pretty sweet.”

Coach Tony Elliott, who used to coach with Morris’ dad, Chad, at Clemson, describes his quarterback as a warrior, and knew what kind of impact that Morris could make on this program.

“I’m just so happy for him,” the coach said. “That’s why he came here, because he believed. He believed in me, he believed in the staff, he believed in the players in the locker room and he believed that he could come in and help this program take the next step.”

Morris kept the pressure on the unbeaten Seminoles all night long, particularly late when he hit running back Xavier Brown on a wheel route from 15 yards out with 7:58 in the see-saw battle, putting Virginia up 35-28. That TD came on the very next play after Morris had scored a rushing touchdown from 8 yards out on a keeper, but it was called back because of a penalty.

So on the next call, from the 15-yard line, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings called for the wheel route, isolating Brown on FSU linebacker Elijah Herring. Piece of cake.

“Yep, we got him on a linebacker and I trust my running backs on a linebacker … just put it over the top, let him go make a play, and that’s just what he did,” Morris said.

Brown said the play worked just like it was drawn up.

“Perfect ball,” Brown said. “All I had to do was catch it. [Morris] made my life easy.”

Ironically, it was the same play that ended the Virginia loss at NC State when Morris was intercepted by an unlikely defensive end who covered it well. Later, Morris said he should have just thrown the ball out of the end zone.

But interceptions can happen, and Morris has learned to brush off mistakes, learn from them and move on.

“I’m a gunslinger, I take risks,” Morris said. “Some of them, I gotta get back in the film room and clean them up. I can’t be making some of those decisions, but I’m a gunslinger and I can wipe it pretty easily, understanding that one play is not going to define this game and that my team is going to need my best from then on out.”

He was picked off three times by FSU’s defense, the first two he was upset with, not so much the one at the two-minute warning when he was just trying to make something happen.

When it came down to the nitty-gritty, Morris wasn’t shy about delivering the death blow to the Seminoles.

Tied at 38-38 after the first overtime, he passed for six yards to Cam Ross to the FSU 19, followed by Brown’s 10-yard run and another 1-yard carry to the 8. FSU was offsides on the next play and UVA was faced with a second-and-goal at the 4.

From there, Morris took it in, making a mad dash for the right side of the end zone’s pylon. By rule, UVA had to go for a 2-point conversion attempt and he found Trell Harris, who got behind cornerback Jerry Wilson for the 8-point lead, 46-38.

Virginia’s final score came into the roar of the jam-packed, student-filled “The Hill,” which was raucous and anxiously anticipating rushing the field.

Morris was oblivious.

“You know, you just kind of black out and just go out there,” Morris said. “I didn’t even realize we were at that end, to be honest. Just trying to go get in the end zone and create a little pressure on [FSU] during the overtime.”

Virginia doesn’t run Morris a lot, maybe because he was injured in the opening game of the season when he tried to score, rather than slide and missed most of the second half. He said his runs are an adjustment he and Kitchings make during the course of a game.

“But I mean, I’m a competitor,” the QB said. “I want to stick my nose in there when I can and help out the team.”

And those are all reasons Morris earned a Helmet Sticker over the weekend.