By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia entered Saturday’s fourth quarter staring at a 10-point deficit against Washington State, a team it was favored to beat by more than two touchdowns, on Homecomings Day at Scott Stadium.

With bowl eligibility on the line, the 18th-ranked Cavaliers fought back to tie the score with 2:55 remaining, and then took the lead on a safety just 14 seconds later, holding on in dramatic fashion for a 22-20 win.

The Wahoos moved to 6-1 overall with the come-from-behind victory, and qualified for postseason play for the first time since 2019. UVA still controls its own destiny in regards to playing for an ACC championship, and possibly a spot in the College Football Playoffs.

It also gave the program its first five-game winning streak in 18 years, as head coach Tony Elliott was doused with Gatorade trotting to midfield at the conclusion of the contest.

The Cougars, who went toe to toe with No. 4 Ole Miss last week in Oxford, fell to 3-4 with the loss.

Coming off a bye week, Virginia failed to put up its usual big offensive numbers on Saturday — just 301 total yards — but buckled down defensively and made enough timely big plays to walk away victorious.

UVA quarterback Chandler Morris didn’t have his best game, throwing for only 179 yards (15 for 25, no touchdowns, no interceptions) and rushing four times for 15 yards, but he’ll gladly trade the numbers for the postseason-cliching win.

After falling behind early for the first time all season, Cam Ross got things tied up on a 19-yard jet sweep with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

UVA’s Donovan Platt picked off Cougars quarterback Zevi Eckhaus on the next play from scrimmage, but the Cavaliers couldn’t convert on a fourth-and-1 from the WSU 31-yard line and turned the ball over on downs.

The Cougars struck twice more before halftime and headed into the locker room with a 17-7 advantage, marking Virginia’s lowest scoring output for a first half all season. The Hoos, who entered the game with a third-down percentage of 54, were just 1 for 7 on third downs across the opening 30 minutes, and had an uphill climb to start the second half.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, and the home crowd was feeling anxious, with UVA trailing, 20-10.

The Cavalier defense registered an important third-down stop to begin the fourth period, and the offense capitalized with a 97-yard scoring drive that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Harrison Waylee, and the lead was trimmed to three, 20-17, with still 9:45 to go.

The defense rose to the occasion on Washington State’s ensuing possession. After three straight self-inflicted penalties backed the Cougars up to their own 7-yard line, Ja’son Prevard picked off an Eckhaus pass two plays later, setting up Will Bettridge’s game-tying, 34-yard field goal with 2:55 on the clock.

On the ensuing kickoff, one of Washington State’s return men signaled for a fair catch, and the Cougars started from their own 2-yard line, with a rowdy Scott Stadium crowd providing some extra pressure and noise.

After a pair of WSU incompletions — with another false-start penalty sandwiched in between — Eckhaus snapped the ball on third and 11, standing between the ‘I’ and ‘N’ diamonds in Virginia’s end zone, and handed the ball off to tailback Kirby Vorhees.

Vorhees fought to cross the goal line, but Kam Robinson and the Wahoo defense stuffed him in the end zone for the go-ahead safety with 2:41 remaining, and the majority of the 56,048 fans in attendance let out a huge sigh of relief.

It wasn’t over quite yet, but after the Cougars’ safety kick, it just took a J’Mari Taylor first-down run a few plays later to seal the deal and set off the celebration, as the Hoos were able to run out the clock.

Purdue transfer Jahmal Edrine posted a UVA team-high 102 receiving yards on just five catches, while Taylor led the way with 47 rushing yards on 17 carries. Backfield mate Xavier Brown was injured on a special-teams play late in the third quarter and did not return.

UP NEXT

The Hoos will travel down Tobacco Road next Saturday for a noon showdown (ACC Network) against Bill Belichick and his 2-4 North Carolina Tar Heels.

Scoring Summary

Washington St. 7-10-3-0 — 20
Virginia 7-0-3-12 — 22

First Quarter
WSU (9:47) — Meredith 32-yd pass from Eckhaus (Stevens kick). WSU 7, UVA 0.
UVA (4:48) — Ross 19-yd run (Bettridge kick). UVA 7, WSU 7.

Second Quarter
WSU (6:35) — Eckhaus 1-yd run (Stevens kick). WSU 14, UVA 7.
WSU (0:35) — Stevens 37-yd field goal. WSU 17, UVA 7.

Third Quarter
UVA (8:38) — Bettridge 47-yd field goal. WSU 17, UVA 10.
WSU (2:18) — Stevens 42-yd field goal. WSU 20, UVA 10.

Fourth Quarter
UVA (9:45) — Waylee 2-yd run (Bettridge kick). WSU 20, UVA 17.
UVA (2:55) — Bettridge 34-yd field goal. UVA 20, WSU 20.
UVA (2:41) — SAFETY. UVA 22, WSU 20.

Player Stats

Rushing

WSU — Kirby Vorhees 16-45; Zevi Eckhaus 10-33; Angel Johnson 5-33; Leo Pulalasi 3-24; TEAM 1-8. TOTAL — 35-143. UVA — J’Mari Taylor 17-47; Harrison Waylee 4-30; Cam Ross 1-19; Chandler Morris 4-15; Xavier Brown 3-14; TEAM 3-(minus-3). TOTAL — 32-122.

Receiving

WSU — Joshua Meredith 7-108; Leon Neal Jr. 2-19; Leo Pulalasi 2-18; Kirby Vorhees 1-10; Julian Dugger 1-8; Trey Leckner 1-5; Maxwell Woods 1-5; Tony Freeman 1-5; Angel Johnson 1-3; Landon Wright 1-2. TOTAL — 18-183. UVA — Jahmal Edrine 5-102; Sage Ennis 2-33; Trell Harris 2-21; J’Mari Taylor 2-13; Kameron Courtney 3-11; Jayden Thomas 1-(minus-1). TOTAL — 15-179.

Passing

WSU — Zevi Eckhaus 18-27-183-1-2. TOTAL — 18-27-183-1-2. UVA — Chandler Morris 15-25-179-0-0. TOTAL — 15-25-179-0-0.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Saturday was the first-ever meeting between UVA and Washington State. With the win, UVA improved to 17-11 and 12-7 at Scott Stadium in first-time matchups dating back to 2000. UVA also faced Stanford for the first time earlier this season, a 48-20 win for the Hoos.
• Saturday was Virginia’s first-ever win against a Pac-12 school. The Cavaliers came into the game 0-7 against Pac-12 foes. The last Pac-12 opponent at Scott Stadium was UCLA in 2014.
• The victory made Virginia bowl-eligible for the first time since the 2021 season. The Cavaliers are bowl-eligible after the first seven games of the season for the first time since 2007.
• The Cavaliers went ahead for the first time in the contest with a safety with 2:41 remaining in the game. It was the first UVA safety since 2021 at Miami. It was the first safety to win an FBS game since Iowa recorded back-to-back safeties to South Dakota State, 7-3 on Sept. 4, 2022.
• UVA is 52-46-2 all-time in Homecomings games. Tonight was the 100th Homecomings game in program history. UVA has held a Homecomings game every year since 1923 except for 1942, 1944 and 2020.
• Virginia is 6-1 to start the season, its best start since going 6-1 to begin the 2007 season.
• The Cavaliers have won five straight games, the program’s longest win streak since 2007.
• Virginia captured its fifth-straight win at home. UVA had only won five straight home games once in the previous 17 seasons (2019), dating back to 2008.
• UVA improved to 5-0 at home this season, its most wins at home since 2020 and the best start at home since 2019 (7-0).
• Tony Elliott improved to 5-0 coming off a bye week.
• It marked the fourth night game of the season at Scott Stadium, tied for the most in Scott Stadium history). Virginia is now 4-0 in night games this season.
• The Cavaliers improved to 3-1 in non-conference games this season. The last time UVA won three non-conference matchups in a season was in 2019.
• Virgina erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and outscored Washington State 12-0 in the fourth quarter. UVA outgained WSU, 126-8 in the fourth quarter and had the ball for 10:36 in the final stanza.
• It was Virginia’s first fourth-quarter comeback of 10 or more points since coming back to knock off Wake Forest on the road last season.
• UVA has outscored its opponents 38-19 in fourth quarters this season and 55-25 when including overtime periods.
• Saturday’s attendance was 56,048, the largest crowd of the season and the largest since the home opener against James Madison in 2023 (56,508).
• UVA pulled within three points with a nine play, 97-yard drive over the course of 3:41 in the fourth quarter. The drive matched UVA’s longest by distance this season and marked the second scoring drive of at least 90 yards this year. Both 90+ yard scoring drives resulted in rushing TDs by Harrison Waylee, who also had a school-record, 97-yard rushing TD against William & Mary (Sept. 13) earlier this season.
• For the fourth game so far this season, the Cavaliers did not allow a sack. The last time UVA did not allow a sack in four games in a season was in 2014, when it tallied five games without giving up a sack.
• Virginia has yet to lose a fumble in 2025 and came into the contest as one of eight FBS teams without a fumble lost.
• For the first time this season, UVA’s opponent scored first. Also, for the first time this year, UVA trailed at the half.

Player Notes

• Devin Neal led the team with 10 tackles, including a game-high, six solo efforts. It marked his second double-digit effort of the season.
• Wide receiver Jahmal Edrine had a season-high 102 receiving yards on five catches, seven yards shy of his career-high (109 vs. MTSU in 2022 while at FAU). It marked his third career 100-yard game and first as a Cavalier. Three Cavalier receivers have recorded a 100-yard game this season (Cam Ross & Trell Harris).
• Donavon Platt nabbed his first interception as a Cavalier on Wazzou’s third drive of the game. Platt’s last was on Chandler Morris in the Army-North Texas game in 2024.
• Ja’Son Prevard came up with his third interception of the season in seven games. The last time a Cavalier had three interceptions in a season was Joey Blount (3) and Anthony Johnson (3) in 2021.
• Wide receiver Cam Ross opened the UVA scoring with his first career rushing touchdown on a 19-yard end around.
• Daniel Sparks punted six times for 318 yards for an average of 53 yards per punt. He downed three balls inside the 20-yard line and his 65-yard punt in the second quarter was a season long and the fourth-longest of his career. It was also his 16th career punt of 60 yards or more.
• Noah Josey (LG) made his 35th consecutive start, dating back to 2022, while Chandler Morris (QB) tallied his 20th consecutive start.