Tar Heels end losing streak, roll over Virginia, 41-14

By Scott Ratcliffe

The 129th edition of “The South’s Oldest Rivalry” was a memorable one for visiting North Carolina on Saturday at Scott Stadium, as Virginia’s offense fell apart in an embarrassing 41-14 loss.

The Cavaliers (4-4, 2-3 ACC) posted just 288 yards on the afternoon (only 7 of those came via the rush), and have now dropped their last three contests. Saturday’s game was one that many had circled as a “must-win” scenario if UVA had any intentions of going bowling in the postseason, but with three ranked opponents and a trip to Blacksburg left on the schedule, the necessary two wins will certainly be tough to come by.

Head coach Tony Elliott took full responsibility for Saturday’s defeat, going so far as to apologize to the UVA administration, his assistant coaches and his players in his postgame comments.

“I did not do a good job of having them prepared to play,” Elliott admitted afterwards. “So what you saw out there today, that’s on me.”

The Tar Heels (4-4, 1-3) came into the contest on a four-game losing streak of their own, were winless in conference play, and were continuing to mourn the loss of teammate Tylee Craft, who recently passed away after a bout with lung cancer. UVA’s players wore helmet decals Saturday with Craft’s jersey number, 13, emblazoned in Carolina blue to show their support.

Virginia second-year quarterback Anthony Colandrea had another rough day, seemingly running for his life on the occasions he was actually able to avoid a sack from the aggressive Carolina defense.

UNC had recorded just 15 sacks all season, but racked up 10 on Saturday, as the Wahoos’ hobbled offensive line _ missing two starters _ struggled all day to keep the Heels away from Colandrea.

Will Bettridge accounted for all six of the Hoos’ points through the first three quarters, as the offense’s red-zone difficulties continued. Des Kitchings’ unit was unable to convert on a first-and-goal from the UNC 1-yard line on the opening possession, and then couldn’t find the end zone with a first down at the Heels’ 12 late in the second quarter.

Xavier Brown set up the first-and-goal situation with what originally appeared to be a touchdown, as he stretched and dove for the pylon, but upon further examination, he was ruled down a yard short.

On the very next play, backup center Noah Josey — filling in for injured starter Brian Stevens — snapped the ball over Colandrea’s head for an 11-yard loss.

“Instead of us having a chance to go up by seven, now you’re going to be chasing four points at some point,” said Elliott. “I’m not going to put the whole game on that particular play, because there’s going to be a lot more plays as we watch [the replay] to see that we had opportunities to swing the momentum back in our direction, and we didn’t capitalize.”

Bettridge’s second field goal came with 4:02 to play in the first half, trimming the Carolina lead to 10-6 before the wheels came off for the Cavaliers. On UNC’s ensuing drive, Trey McDonald was whistled for a roughing penalty on Jacolby Criswell, placing the ball at UVA’s 41-yard line, which led to an Omarion Hampton 3-yard plunge with 1:32 left until halftime, pushing the lead to double digits.

The visitors weren’t quite done, however, as Virginia quickly went three-and-out and punted right back, and it turned out to be enough time for another dagger. With five ticks still showing, Criswell connected with J.J. Jones for their second touchdown of the half, and Noah Burnette’s extra point put the Hoos in a 24-6 halftime hole, as Colandrea was sacked for the sixth time on the final snap of the second quarter.

UVA posted just 77 total yards in the half, and Colandrea — who hadn’t thrown an interception in his previous four games — was picked off on the third play from scrimmage in the third quarter, leading to another Hampton touchdown run from 8 yards out to make it 31-6 with 12:07 to go.

Just when it looked like UVA might finally stop the bleeding, a Colandrea pass on first down from the Carolina 16 was tipped and intercepted, as Jahvaree Ritzie rumbled 84 yards to extend the lead to 38-6 with 17 seconds remaining in the third.

Graduate transfer reserve QB Tony Muskett was inserted for the final 10 minutes and change, and he was able to get the Hoos into the end zone for the third time in the last two games, finding a wide-open JR Wilson for a 68-yard touchdown with 10:07 left, marking the first of the third-year Brooklyn (N.Y.) native’s Cavalier career. Burnette tacked on a 25-yard field goal with 5:05 to play to complete the scoring.

Colandrea completed 16 of his 28 passes for 156 yards, no touchdowns and the two interceptions, and netted minus-16 yards on 15 carries, while Muskett put up 125 yards and the TD toss on an 8-of-13 day.

Kobe Pace was the only Wahoo to register double-digit rushing yards, finishing with 24 on 7 carries. Senior wideout Malachi Fields continued his streak of games with at least one reception, hauling in three catches for 48 yards. Anthony Britton led the Cavaliers in tackles with 10 (2 solo).

Carolina produced 428 total yards on the afternoon. Criswell, the Heels’ third starting quarterback on the season, went 19 for 30 for 293 yards and two touchdowns. Jones led all receivers with 129 yards on just five grabs, while Hampton rushed for 105 yards on 26 carries, adding three catches for 37 yards.

UVA Offensive Stats

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• The contest marked the 129th all-time meeting between Virginia and North Carolina, “The South’s Oldest Rivalry.” It tied with Georgia-Auburn for the second-most played rivalry in FBS. North Carolina improved to 66-59-4 in the all-time series that was first played in 1892. 
• North Carolina has won three-straight games at Scott Stadium and seven of the last eight against UVA in Charlottesville. 
• Virginia is outscoring their opponents 74-40 in fourth quarters this season including an 8-3 edge against UNC. 
• Despite the loss, Virginia has won five of the last eight meetings against North Carolina. 
• UNC’s Omarion Hampton (105 yards) is only the second player to rush for 100 yards in a game against UVA this season (Louisville’s Issac Brown, 146 yards). Hampton has 100 yards in all but one game this season and eclipsed 1,000 yards for the second-straight year. 
• The 135 total rushing yards are the fewest by the Tar Heels this season. 
• JR Wilson became the 12th Cavalier to score a touchdown with a 68-yard reception in the fourth quarter.

Player Notes

• Malachi Fields caught three passes for 48 yards and moved into 12th place on UVA’s career receiving yards list. His 1,695 career receiving yards are eight yards shy of Heath Miller (2002-04) who finished his career with 1,703. 
• Fields has now caught a pass in each of his last 23 games played. 
• Tight end Tyler Neville eclipsed the 1,000-yard career receiving mark, with four catches for 32 yards against North Carolina. He has 1,013 for his career with 689 at Harvard and 317 at UVA. 
• Jonas Sanker finished with seven tackles, including six unassisted. Sanker now has 154 career solo tackles. 
• Kicker Will Bettridge, who came into the contest with the most field goals per game in the ACC, added successful tries of 30 and 27. He now has 184 career points, four shy of matching Bill Dudley (1939-41) for the No. 15 spot on UVA’s all-time scoring list. 
• Anthony Britton recorded a career-high 10 tackles, also a game high. Britton’s previous career best was four which he achieved three times, most recently at Clemson last week. 
• With an interception in the third quarter, Anthony Colandrea’s four-game streak without an interception came to a close. His interception on the first drive in the third quarter was the first in his last 146 passing attempts. 
• JR Wilson scored his first career touchdown on a 68-yard pass from Tony Muskett with 10:07 to play, which is Virginia’s longest pass play this season and second-longest play from scrimmage.
• Wilson’s touchdown also marks UVA’s longest passing play since Kobe Pace’s 75-yard catch against James Madison in 2023. 
• With a 60-yard boot in the second quarter, Daniel Sparks now has 14 career punts (12 at UVA) of 60 yards or more. He eclipsed the 11 career 60-yard punts by Russ Henderson (1975-78) for the most ever by a Cavalier.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will have a bye week before hitting the road to face Pitt on Nov. 9 at Acrisure Stadium (time and TV to be announced early next week).