Everything From Tony Elliott Following Virginia’s Overtime Victory vs Louisville

Virginia just pulled off another colossal upset, this time over Louisville. UVA shocked the nation once again, leaving head coach Tony Elliott with a stellar reputation. By no means was it a perfect game, but it was just enough to tip the Cavaliers over Louisville.

Here's what Elliott had to say during his press conference following the game:

On finding a way to win...

"I think that managing the success of last week, and we didn't play our best last week, and we founda way to win. And so I think that's what they were leaning on. They leaned on that confidence coming out of that game to just believe all the way until the end... Super proud of our guys and hey man, a win's a win in this conference. You take them. I've been a part of some quote on quote ugly wins. There's truly no ugly wins. We came up here with the objective to win and the young men, super proud of them for their effort to just find a way."

On his thought process regarding their play...

"There wasn't a big thought process, because that's kind of what we practiced in that situation. And Danny's been prepared to execute that and lead the troops in that situation, so it was probably, if Chandler pops up and goes back to the huddle, that's probably going to be the play call you right there on third and one."

On the quarterback's role...

"I can't give away trade secrets, but each week he has something different to do. So it's just a credit to Coach Kitch and the offensive staff for just finding a way to just, you know, give us a chance in those short yard situations."

On Daniel Rickert and Mitchell Melton...

"Huge. I mean, you see, we had five sacks. Mitchell had two of them, had some other pressures. We probably left a couple out there. Uh, but they just, man, they force some tackles to get out of there early. And then also, what it does too is it allows for now space for the interior guys, right, to have some more one-on-ones, right? Because now you're pulling your slides apart, right? So that's what the guards don't necessarily have help. You can isolate the center. And now Goldie, you see Goldie's been disruptive in there, and Jason Hammond can be disruptive in there, and Hunter got a sack. So not only are they being productive on their own with their numbers, but they're creating more one-on-one opportunities for the guys inside."

On Chandler Morris...

"I've said I've said he's a warrior. He's a warrior, and he's a winner, and injury-wise, he's going to be okay. He took a tough hit, but he bounced up after a few minutes on the ground. That's just who he is. He's a warrior, and he's going to lay it on the line. He knows that's what it takes. That's why you know everybody in that locker room and in our building has complete confidence in him and follows him wherever he wants to lead us."

On UVA's passion and precision...

"Saw the passion, not as much precision, but you know, hey, it's a great opportunity for us to learn, and you know, this team, right, is kind of in I wouldn't say uncharted waters, but every week's new for them, right? It's something different, and it's an opportunity to teach. And that's what's been the funnest thing about this group is because man, now you can teach them, right? So, so before I couldn't bring up the concept of teams separate from each other in October, right? Before, you're just trying to scramble to find a way to win a game. But now we're talking about like big picture things that for them to absorb, and we needed a game where everything wasn't clicking right. I hate that we made it as close as we did, but we found a way to win. And so that gives us some great momentum going into the open week to really, really be able to coach and and teach and learn all the way around. All of us get better. Because we want to play our best week in and week out. We know how challenging that is. But the precision wasn't what it needed to be, but the passion was there and the effort was there. And at the end of the day, when you have those things as part of your DNA in your core, uh you're going to win a lot of football games. And then if we can get the precision down where we needed to be, uh, back to kind of being who we are in all three phases, uh, I thought defensively in the first half, uh, we gave up too many easy throws, and then they kind of settled in and got some stops for us. And then, you know, offensively, we were on the sideline for so long in the first in the first quarter, never really got into a rhythm. And then we fumbled a quarterback running back exchange. We got a good third down call and and J’Mari, one of our top players, just takes his eyes off of it, drops it. So just not clean from the guys that that we expect to uh to play at a high level, but man, it's a great opportunity for us to coach and teach these next two weeks."

On the bye week and having players out...

"It's huge… Poor Coach He, man, he's down. Oh my gosh. I don't know how many guys he's down. I mean, and then Boley goes down. So, now we've got Ben York, you know, red shirt freshman tackle out there, but hey, buckle up, bud. Time to go. Uh, and they found a way. They just keep battling. Uh, and thought for the most part in certain situations. And they started pressuring us a lot there in the second half, too, trying to get after the quarterback. But we found enough offense when it mattered the most. But also too, I think that's going to keep us humble and hungry and we should get, you know, several guys back over the next two weeks by the time we kick off for for Washington State, which will be huge for us, especially with the the five-game run that we have with them and then the four in-conference games before our last open week."

On his fourth quarter focus...

"So going into the fourth quarter, I tried to really, you know, set the stage at zero zero, right? We played all three quarters just to get to the fourth quarter. Let's go win it. And unfortunately, we weren't able to get it done in regulation, but in overtime,I think the experience last week really, really helped. There wasn't a ton that I had to let them know. They knew that, hey, it's overtime, right? We're we're either going to be on defense or offense, and we're going to know or we're going to set the tempo. And you know, we got to go on defense there first. Okay. So, we kind of knew what we were playing for, I think, which makes a big difference in overtime."

On Dakota Twitty...

"I think, you know, Dakota will know more when we get back and and and get more scans, but I think it's probably going to be, you know, a little while on uh on his on his lower leg right there."

On John Rogers' talent...

... So John's a guy that I've said, you know, for a long time that he's very, very talented. And I think you see kind of speed and the difference he can make, and it's just a function of, you know, consistently putting forth the work in practice so that everybody can trust him in that situation. But sometimes you've got to grow up on the field. And I thought he did grow up for us tonight and made some huge plays not just in the game, but there in overtime."

On improving in the ACC...

"Yeah, it's it's been a while. And I let the guys know that because I want them to be able to have a good perspective for the journey that they're on. But then at the same time, stay humble, right? So you do have to celebrate some of the small victories along the way, but I believe this team has, you know, bigger aspirations. You know, they desire to continue to hit more milestones and really propel this program to another level. So that, you know, those are things that we're not talking about since 2007, right? That it's more commonplace. But just super proud of the guys, and they've hit a lot of milestones, but they believe that this is where we were going to be. Believe we were going to be, you know, maybe maybe 6 and 0 going into the bye-week, but we let one get away at NC State, but I think that loss there, too, was helpful for us to grow and learn. That has helped us get to where we are. But we got a lot of football left. We're not satisfied with just being 3 and 0. Uh these these young men really, man, believe that they they got they got an opportunity to go, you know, stake their claim for a spot in Charlotte come December. I know that people have given me slack for that, but if you don't believe, you can't achieve it, right? And I think what you're seeing is this team believes. And not saying that that's going to be what happens, but man, we're each week we're focusing on just taking one step uh in the right direction."

On getting over Louisville's hump...

"Yeah, it feels good. And I tell you what, being that I'm an ACC guy, I mean, every year it had to go through Louisville, right? It was always a big game with Louisville back when we had the two divisions on that other side. And then since we've been here uh the first year, right, it's 17 -7 in the second quarter going in before halftime and we fumble in the red zone and now you know we end up losing 34 -17 and then we have the opportunity up here last time that we get it close to the to the to the fourth quarter and then last year we got a lead in the fourth quarter. So man, I got a tremendous amount of respect for Louisville just in general as a program, but also for Coach Brohm, and what he's done since he's been there. They've won a bunch of football games. They got a really good football team. They're going to beat, you know, a lot more opponents down the road. Just happy that we were able to come out on the right side of the win-loss call."

On UVA's offense and defense...

"Hey, at the end of the day, finding a way to win is the most important thing. But it's a great opportunity for us to go back to work. That offense that did those things in the previous weeks is still in that locker room. Just didn't just didn't click today. Uh, but we got two weeks to go tighten the screws, get back healthy, especially with some people, some spots up front, and get back rolling. But really, really proud of just the team for finding a way. And that's also momentum for the defense, you know. So, if we can keep that momentum, offense will get, you know, back dialed in. Special teams, we got a few things to clean up so we can go play our best football, uh, down the stretch."

On Perris' frightening injury from the past and seeing him again...

"Oh, it was so cool. So cool to be able to see him. He came over and spoke to the guys during our chapel service before our pregame meal. And man, just to see him because uh I got flashbacks of the hospital room that I went into and saw him two years ago lying on that bed, not knowing what I was going to see. To see him now working on his PhD, he's in school. He's working full-time. He's got his little brother with him. I mean, just man, that's PJ, though, right? He's an inspiration to me, and he's been that way from even before the injury. He was an inspiration to me because of how he conducted his business. So just happy for him to be recognized and and then also happy to to to be able to to find a way to pull this one out for him."

On learning about his team from these type of wins...

"I think I think you do. uh because they got challenged pretty good at halftime in that locker room, and really it was for us to find a way to play better and go win a football game because we hadn't played our best in the first half and they found a way, right? And so hopefully that's confirmation for them of you know, a big part of winning and winning consistently is internal in your heart, right? And in your belief and your love for your brother and your willingness to sacrifice. And that's what I saw. I challenged some guys in there to like, hey, we got to we got to get back to the basics, right? And so we did learn a lot about our football team. And then also, I think it creates an opportunity for us to stay humble, you know, going into the bye week, because now you know just how hard it is to win and how the margin for error is so small, and now you're not going to sneak up on anybody. You're going to have to play well week in and week out. So we get to evaluate kind of the whole week that we just went through the process to prepare and see where we can tweak and get better. Then you know get ready to play our best football, you know, back in Scott Stadium."

On Kam Robinson's defense...

"Yeah, just I mean he got some guys on the ground from his spot. A huge, big athletic play to pick that ball off and take it back for a touchdown, and he's going to get even better, you know, as he gets going the rest of this season. But I think the guys have a lot of confidence in him and his ability to go make a play, and so our job as coaches now is to just kind of, you know, keep progressing him from the total, you know, ability to just  kind of control the defense, and help guys get lined up, uh, and take his game to the next level."