Takeaways From Tony Elliott Talking NC State Matchup

What Did Elliott Say?

On Virginia's 2023 matchup against NC State and his takeaways from that game

• Elliott: "The takeaways were discipline. You've got to stay disciplined. You're playing against a very good opponent, especially at the end of the game. You've got to finish it the right way. And very similar, they're a physical football team, want to run the football. They got an even more dynamic quarterback. Now they're very similar to what they've always been in the trenches.

• They're big up front, athletic linebackers can run and then they have athletes in the secondary. So it's a typical NC State team. It fits Coach (Dave) Doeren's identity and how they approach it. He's a defensive guy and he wants to wants to win up front with the defensive line to be physical and then offensively, you know, he wants an offense that can line up, put their hand in the dirt and come after you. So that's what you see out of them."

On NC State's receiving corps

• Elliot: Their receiving core is big. They're all long guys. They're fast. The quarterback's got a cannon, so he can make every throw. They can run by you. And if you back off of them, they can make you miss the underneath stuff. So we're going to have to get lined up. We're going to have to communicate. We're going to have to stay on top of routes. We're going to have to get some pass rush. So the quarterback doesn't have, you know, time to find the, to find the open guys.

• (Justin) Joly, he's as good as we're going to see in this league, big physical guy that can stretch the field as well. And then they're running backs and catch the ball out of the backfield. So their skill is as good as we're going to see in this league. And so we got to create some pass rush to try and see if we can either get the ball out quick and then keep everything in front and rally to it or we're going to have to, you know, affect the quarterback so that, you know, he doesn't have time to find those deep balls on the perimeter.

• But then also he can find those intermediate balls over the middle of the field where they can stretch. And if he hits them on the run, they have the ability with the speed to have a step on you. That could create some chunk plays."