Everything From Tony Elliott After Virginia's Victory Over California

Virginia was able to pick up another road win this weekend during their week ten matchup against California. The final score of 31-21 wasn't as close as their previous games, providing a bit more confidence to the program. Following the matchup, UVA head coach Tony Elliott spoke in a press conference and shared his thoughts on Saturday's victory.

On Kam Robinson and if anybody told him to get down...

"No, when I saw that he picked it off, I said, "He ain't going down. He's going to go score." Then I told him afterward, I said, he's like, "Coach, I was going to score." I said, "Look, I'm going explain to you why in the future I need you to go down, but but man, just happy that he was able to make that play." And and it's good good complimentary football right there. We went for it on fourth and two and came up a little bit short, and, you know, playing the odds that the time was against the opponent with no timeouts and just keep them out of the end zone and much less didn't know that we were going to end up with seven points of our own."

On Eli Woods’ critical touch and what allowed him to get so many reps…

"We had some cramping. You know, Trell was down with some cramping and so he's a backup there and then JT goes out the game with an ankle and so now he's the backup at that position. So, that's what caused so many reps and he made a huge play with the big long pass down there I think inside the 10, inside the five. But what Eli really is kind of the glue that holds that position together. I mean, everybody in that room loves him. He's got a tremendous amount of respect. He's a guy that's been here for a long time. He's so unselfish. He doesn't care. He learns all the positions, he does whatever you ask him to do and he's just so happy that when his number was called, he got the opportunity and and he made some plays."

On the importance of the offense getting back on track…

"Yeah, I mean, it's the month of November, right? And the way we kind of outline our season, man, this is go time. This is where we got to be trying to prime up and get rolling on all cylinders. And so it was important for them to get off to a fast start and put together some drives, score some points. I think in the first half what we had four scoring opportunities out of five drives. We missed the field goal there, but other than that, it was good to see them get going and then when we needed to and late in the game, they were able to to put together a drive to to milk a lot of the clock to give us a chance to to win the game."

On the importance of getting ahead of the sticks…

"Man, it's huge. Everything starts really for us off the run game. We're at our best when we can run the football and have play action, set things up, and then also, you know, a second and five call is a whole lot easier than a second and 10 call. And so, I thought Chandler did a good job in the passing game of checking the ball down, keeping us ahead of the chains, and then when we handed it off, I thought we were effective enough, and then we finally popped a couple. But staying effective, staying ahead of the chains, gives you the ability to really access all of your offense. And for us, we want to attack. We want to be aggressive, but you can't be aggressive if you're not staying ahead of the change."

On if he feels that there were opportunities to separate and avoid the drama at the end…

"I felt like we did. You know, we had some things to improve in special teams, you know, that kind of resulted in some missed opportunities and we had a punt there that was on the 25 yard line that resulted in points, and then I rolled the dice and called the fake right there where we could have took three, you know, and it could have changed everything, and then that's one of those deals where you don't get it and the momentum kind of changes a little bit and their defense ended up bailing us out and getting a stop, but still, it just created some flow in the momentum and then we picked it back up. So I definitely thought it was an opportunity to separate, but that's stuff that we can go back and we can work on and and improve throughout the course of the week as we get ready to play a good weight force team at home."

What he saw in the moments that didn’t go according to plan…

“They just continue to believe, you know, that they're going to find a way to win the game and the one right there on the trick play, we kind of knew that something was coming. Didn't know exactly what. You know, that field zone 42 yard line coming off of a change there. That's a prime shot. So, we got to do a better job coaching right there to have our guys prepared to defend that. But, man, this on the sideline, good energy. Guys just believe. They know it's a fourth quarter game and then what we talk about a lot and I told him before the game, I said look, I read this in a book that I was reading. It says a warrior is anything and everything the moment demands, right, so I told him I said, look, we are coming in with an expectation that we want to put the game away and not let it be close, but we're also humble enough to know that it could be a one-score game so we got to be prepared to be anything and everything the moment demands to find a way to win."

On the offensive and defensive plays…

"Yeah, I thought the defense was doing a good job throughout the course of the day, man. We put them on the short field, right, because of a special teams, you know, but we put the ball on the 25 yard line, right? There's at least three points, right? If not seven. And we had some traffic issues, had guys running to each other, and then they scored right there. But I thought they were doing a good job of getting enough stops in during critical situations to put the offense back on the field with an opportunity to either change field position or go score points. And you know, I think the other thing too that we got to make sure that our guys understand is that you know what, it ain't always about points. Sometimes it's about field position, right? And we also had some situations  where we had on a safe punt return call, we had a blind side block and a holding, right? That put us in a minus four, right? So in that situation, realistically, if you get one first down, you win that scenario and then you try to pump the ball out of there, right? So, I wouldn't say it's a wasted possession, but when you're backed up, man, you're really just trying to make sure that you get field position and you don't, you know, you don't give up a safety or you don't have a turnover down there and you can put your defense back on the field with an opportunity to to impact field position."

On what his program did this week to prep them for Uluave and Ferrelli…

"Oh man, those are two really, really good players. Two of the best in our league. And I hate that for Uluave. That's how you say it, correct?... I'm the number zero, right? I hated that because man, he's a competitor and he really helps and makes their defense go. But the biggest thing was just trying to focus on what we do, and strain for those inches that I said that we've been off a little bit offensively. And I thought the guys did a good job of straining for those inches. And then just with the ability to run the ball and then move the pocket, passing game, I think you're able to kind of keep people off balance just a little bit."

On addressing his UVA’s possibilities while focusing on the next game…

"Yeah, just keep the main thing the main thing, and at the end of the day, all that stuff down the road doesn't matter if you don't take care of the business in front of you. And I think the team has really adopted, you know, that mindset and mentality that they know that we got to do it one step at a time and focus on what we can control. I'm constantly reminding the guys to simplify their lives and cut off social media and it's only going to get hard this week because, you know, this is the week where they start doing all the rankings and all that kind of stuff, and hopefully, you know, I can get ahead of it and and tell the guys that none of that stuff matters, and really from the beginning I told them that preseason rankings don't matter, midseason rankings don't matter. The only ranking that matters is where you're at at the end of the season, and if we don't take care of business week to week, then we're not going to be in that conversation."

On how his experience at Clemson helps his team navigate this season…

"I've leaned a lot on the many things that I observed and watched and listened and heard Coach Sweeney do with the teams that I was a part of, and really how do you create that mindset and that mentality? Because that's really what it is. You know, everyone calls them the cardiac calves, but really it's a mindset, man. These guys believe, right? They're going to find a way to win, right? It's a mindset and then because of that mindset, they're able to go out and just find a way. And so, try to get ahead of it, you know, won't talk about it much. Everything we structure in our week is a daily focus, man. We just focus on each day and what we need to do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to get ready and then how we finish on Friday. So, we won't change our approach. If anything, man, we'll just be hammering more. Hey, cut your phone off, quit talking to friends. Hey, cut your family off. Like that's the hard part. You got to cut everybody off to be honest with you because everyone's going to you, you don't want to start talking about it. And the moment you start listening, then you're distracted and you don't put in the quality work that you need to be successful."

On Corey Costner’s interception…

"That’s a big play... and I thought the guys did a solid job of kind of keeping him under check just a little bit. But man, that's a big time play and I'm so happy for him. His confidence is going to go up and and with him and JP at that position, man, we need both of those guys and they need each other and the competition is really, really good there and it's bringing out the best. Man, JP's made some some plays. Now Corey makes a play and so now you feel really good about what you have at that position that whoever's in the game can go make a make a play like that."

On what Cam Ross can do…

"It's great to have him back in the return game and then some big plays on offense. So most definitely and down the stretch, man, we're in November, right? This is really the championship phase of the season in every man, every play is going to be critical and in every aspect of the game and those special teams plays, right? We had some big ones that helped and then we had some where we didn't execute that could potentially hurt us. So every player and we're going to need everybody on our roster, right? It's that time of year, man. Guys are banged up. They're beat up, man. The guys are going down in the middle of the game. Noah's ankle, you know, flares up on him again. He's down. JT's down. You know, Trell's down with cramping. Heck, Eli cramps him on the touchdown. It's crazy. And so, it's next man up. And so, you just got to have everybody ready to go, but they're all critical."

On Ben York…

"Yeah, Ben York ankle. So hopefully it won't be too bad. So, mostly I think it's what, three ankles today and then cramps. I think that was it."