Virginia comes up short against NC State in 35-31 non-conference thriller

By Scott Ratcliffe

On a scorching-hot Saturday in Raleigh, Virginia and NC State went toe to toe and battled it out for 59 minutes, but a late UVA turnover allowed the home team to set up in victory formation in a 35-31 barn-burner.

The Cavaliers (1-1) let a 10-point halftime lead slip away, but were driving deep in enemy territory for what could have been the go-ahead score with just over a minute to play. With the game on the line, UVA quarterback Chandler Morris lofted a pass that was picked off in the end zone, however, and the crowd at Carter-Finley Stadium was able to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Trailing 31-28 after J’Mari Taylor’s 66-yard touchdown trot — his third of the day, and one that matched the longest carry of his career — put Virginia ahead, the Wolfpack (2-0) took the lead for good in the final minute of the third quarter on a Hollywood Smothers TD run of his own, and the Pack was able to keep the Wahoos off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Will Bettridge hit the left upright on a 47-yard field-goal attempt with 13:20 remaining that would have trimmed the State lead to a single point.

Morris and the Cavaliers drove the ball inside the Pack’s 10-yard line and came up just short on a fourth-and-1 pitch to a diving, stretching Taylor with 6:37 on the clock. The play was reviewed and upheld by the officials.

The Virginia defense finally got the stop it needed with 2:23 to go, forcing a State punt, and Morris took over with 2:12 showing and 81 yards away from the end zone. The Hoos, with a timeout of their own plus the two-minute break in their pocket, marched quickly downfield, highlighted by back-to-back 17-yard gains from Morris to Jahmal Edrine, and Tony Elliott’s troops had all the momentum — along with having the Wolfpack fans on the edge of their seats — as they continued to move the ball with the clock ticking away.

Morris connected with a diving Cam Ross for a 20-yard toss down to the State 12-yard line, and it looked like the Hoos might pull it off, but Wolfpack defender Cian Slone was in the right place at the right time for the game-sealing interception with 1:02 on the clock.

“[The Wolfpack] made a critical play when we didn’t, but [I’d] do it all over again,” Elliott said of the see-saw affair. “Super proud of the guys, I thought they battled their tails off, I thought we grew up a little bit as a football team, but still, no moral victories — we came here to win.”

Taylor, a transfer from NC Central, outhustled the State defense for a 39-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening drive, giving the Cavaliers a 7-0 advantage.

Taylor found pay dirt again on the very next drive, this time muscling his way in from 9 yards out with 3:41 left in the opening period, giving UVA a 14-7 lead. Once again, State quarterback CJ Bailey had an answer, engineering a 9-play, 75-yard scoring drive to tie it back up.

Bettridge booted through a 29-yard field goal with 4:08 left in the first half to make it 17-14, and the UVA defense came up with a quick three-and-out on the Wolfpack’s ensuing possession, which led to a 48-yard Ross punt return down to the State 27-yard line.

A few Xavier Brown carries later, Morris found tight end Sage Ennis for his first career touchdown, pushing the lead to 24-14 with 17 seconds until halftime, and the Hoos took that into the locker room after converting on 10 of their 13 third-down conversions across the opening 30 minutes.

When the third quarter resumed, the Wolfpack cut it closer with a Smothers TD scamper, and then reclaimed the lead on Bailey’s second rushing score of the contest, and the Hoos trailed by a 28-24 margin midway through the third.

UVA jumped back in front on Taylor’s 66-yarder to make it 31-28 with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

State had the last laugh, however, as Smothers’ 9-yard touchdown run turned out to be the final score of the game with 45 ticks left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers racked up 514 yards of total offense on the afternoon, with 257 of those coming via the ground attack. Taylor led all rushers with 150 yards on 17 carries. Morris shook off his shoulder injury from the season opener and completed 30 of his 43 attempts for 257 yards and the TD toss, with his only interception coming at the worst possible moment.

UP NEXT

The Hoos return to Scott Stadium next Saturday for a meeting with in-state foe William & Mary (Noon, ACC Network).

Scoring Summary

Virginia 14-10-7-0 — 31
NC State 7-7-21-0 — 35

First Quarter
UVA (10:37) — Taylor 39-yd run (Bettridge kick). UVA 7, NCST 0.
NCSU (8:26) — Bailey 30-yd run (Vinesett kick). UVA 7, NCST 7.
UVA (3:41) — Taylor 9-yd run (Bettridge kick). UVA 14, NCST 7.

Second Quarter
NCSU (14:23) — Rogers 27-yd pass from Bailey (Vinesett kick). UVA 14, NCST 14.
UVA (4:08) — Bettridge 29-yd field goal. UVA 17, NCST 14.
UVA (0:17) — Ennis 3-yd pass from Morris (Bettridge kick). UVA 24, NCST 14.

Third Quarter
NCSU (10:46) — Smothers 14-yd run (Vinesett kick). UVA 24, NCST 21.
NCSU (6:39) — Bailey 12-yd run (Vinesett kick). NCST 28, UVA 24.
UVA (5:11) — Taylor 66-yd run (Bettridge kick). UVA 31, NCST 28.
NCSU (0:45) — Smothers 9-yd run (Vinesett kick). NCST 35, UVA 31.

Player Stats

Rushing
UVA — J’Mari Taylor 17-150; Chandler Morris 3-56; Xavier Brown 8-27; Noah Vaughn 4-24. TOTAL — 32-257. NCST — Hollywood Smothers 17-140; CJ Bailey 6-44; Jayden Scott 8-30; Will Wilson 2-6; Team 2-(minus-4). TOTAL — 35-216.

Receiving
UVA — Jahmal Edrine 6-68; Trell Harris 7-52; Cam Ross 5-40; Kameron Courtney 3-27; Dillon Newton-Short 1-16; J’Mari Taylor 2-13; Dakota Twitty 1-12; Sage Ennis 2-10; Eli Wood 1-10; Xavier Brown 2-9. TOTAL — 30-257. NCST — Terrell Anderson 3-44; Justin Joly 4-41; Noah Rogers 2-38; Wesley Grimes 2-33; Keenan Jackson 2-25; Hollywood Smothers 2-13; Teddy Hoffmann 1-6. TOTAL — 16-200.

Passing
UVA — Chandler Morris 30-43-257-1-1. TOTAL — 30-43-257-1-1. NCST — CJ Bailey 16-23-200-1-0. TOTAL — 16-23-200-1-0.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia dropped to 22-38-1 all-time against NC State. The Wolfpack have won four-straight against UVA and six of the last seven. The Cavaliers are 9-18 against NC State in Raleigh, N.C.
• Saturday marked the first non-conference game between the two schools since 1948.
• The Cavaliers’ 31 points are the most in the series since the 2012 contest in Raleigh, which is also the Hoos’ most recent win (33-6) of the series.
• Virginia amassed 514 yards of total offense, the most in a game since compiling 525 at Coastal Carolina last season. Today’s performance marks the third time under head coach Tony Elliott in which the UVA offense produced at least 500 yards (at NC State – 2025; at Coastal Carolina – 2024; vs. Richmond – 2022).
• The last time UVA had 500 yards of total offense and lost was at Pittsburgh in 2021, when the Cavaliers recorded 514 yards of total offense and fell 48-38.
• Virginia rushed for 257 yards, the third time under Elliott that UVA has accumulated 250 or more rushing yards (at NC State – 2025; at Coastal Carolina – 2024; vs. Richmond – 2022;). It was the first 250+ yard rushing performance against an ACC school under Elliott and since recording 262 against Boston College in 2020.
• The Virginia offensive line did not allow a sack for the second-straight game.
• UVA converted 13 of its 19 third down attempts (68%) while NC State was 1 for 7. The only Wolfpack third down conversion came on their penultimate possession of the game.
• UVA committed its first turnover of the season with an interception in the end zone with 1:07 to play.
• Virginia started the game with back-to-back 75-yard touchdown drives. The Cavaliers had the ball for 20:04 in the first half compared to 9:56 by the Wolfpack.
• With a 9-yard TD rush by Taylor and a 3-yard TD reception by Sage Ennis, UVA now has six touchdowns in goal-to-go situations in as many opportunities this season
• NC State has now won 28 of its last 29 non-conference games at home and improved to 32-2 in non-ACC home games in 13 seasons under its current head coach Dave Doeren.

Player Notes

• J’Mari Taylor broke for a 39-yard rushing touchdown on the very first drive of the game. It marked his 13th straight game with a rushing touchdown, dating back to his tenure at NC Central. He now has 28 career touchdowns, five of which have been while at UVA.
• Taylor now has seven career multi-rushing TD performances. He had two rushing TDs in his Cavalier debut against Coastal Carolina (8/30). Taylor is the first Cavalier with multiple rushing touchdowns in back-to-back games since Mike Hollins did so in 2023.
• Taylor’s five rushing TDs on the season are more than any UVA rusher finished with last season, and the most since Hollins finished with seven in 2023.
• Taylor is also the first Cavalier tailback with three rushing touchdowns in a game since 2023 when Mike Hollins had three against then-No. 10 North Carolina.
• Taylor is the first UVA player with four rushing TDs in the first two games of the season since Kevin Parks (5) in 2011.
• For the second consecutive game, Cam Ross had at least 140 all-purpose yards. Against NC State, he had 40 yards receiving, 19 on kick returns, and 81 on punt returns, including a 48-yard punt return at Carter-Finley Stadium.
• Noah Vaughn’s 20-yard rush in the first quarter was the longest of his career.
• Sage Ennis’ 3-yard touchdown reception with 17 seconds left in the first half was the first of his career. Prior to the TD, Ennis briefly exited the game due to an apparent injury.