Everything From Tony Elliott After Virginia's Gripping Win Over Washington State

Early on during Virginia's matchup against Washington State, it looked like WSU was going to clinch the victory. A substantial lead during the second quarter boosted the Cougars ahead of the Cavaliers, but a late-game surge rounded out the score, allowing Tony Elliott's program to clinch the 22-20 victory.

After the gripping matchup, Elliott sat down with the media and shared his thoughts on what went down on the field. Here is what he had to say:

On the offense breaking through...

"You know, this is the first time we've trailed kind of at the half, and we didn’t play great in all three phases to start the game, and so it was really a challenge to all three phases to play better and look more like themselves in the second half, and we knew that it was going to start with the defense finding a way to get a stop with that opening drive in the second half, and they were able to do that which created some momentum, and then we kind of stalled out there a little bit, but then they just kept finding ways to stop the run and get off the field... eventually, offense looked like, you know, what we're capable of with a 97-yard drive right there for a touchdown, and then man, big play by JP there at the end, and then capitalizing on a special teams error by them... and then pinning their ears back and finding a way to, in that situation, you really just don't want to give them a first down, so that when they punt you get good field position, but they actually scored points right there, so good team effort, man, a good opportunity to learn. There are a lot of things we can learn from it, but at the end of the day, the football team made a decision at the half to come out and find a way to win the football game, and they did."

On UVA's plan to be aggressive and get a safety...

"Yeah so the plan was to be sound, and what we were doing to be aggressive, but to play under control because the last thing you want to do in that situation is be over aggressive in your play, and now you've got a personal foulm you fall on the quarterback the wrong way, you get a pass interference and now it's a first down, so in that situaton, you want to be as sound as possible and the way we had been playing the run, I felt like that we could hopefully contain the runs, be able to break the pocket, and get out and get on the perimeter and they did a really good job. But man, if you saw me, I was running around trying to get everybody to stay under control in that situation because you've got them where you want them, but you can easily let them out if you're too aggressive with your play. Now we philosophically want to be aggressive, but with your style of play, you have to be smart in that situation, and it worked out for us."

On Ja'Son Prevard's growth and impact...

"Yeah, he's been huge. He's made some really big plays and he knows that I feel like he's got more in the tank and I think he's, you know, each week he's getting better and he still has a ton of room to grow, but he just finds a way to make plays and we need him to be able to do that and I think he's starting to kind of create some energy and some confidence for the rest of the guys on defense to kind of follow suit and try to make some plays."

On UVA's first bowl eligibility since 2021...

"It was awesome to be able to fist bump Williams in the hallway and just let her know how much I appreciate her support and all the administration's support, the faculty and the staff, and all they're doing for this program, and really that's for them. I know that's something that they've been wanting and we've been building and working towards, but with the football team, you know, we haven't talked about that, to be honest with you. Two weeks, we didn't discuss it. We're just focusing on one week at a time, and now, we're kind of in a little different situation. We're not sneaking up on anybody, but this team has big goals, and I think a lot of people may have, especially at ACC media days, you know, looked at me like I was crazy when I said that this football team is thinking beyond just being bowl eligible. They want to go and compete and play in the biggest bowl possible, and so far, they've found a way. At the end of the day, we're going to celebrate a victory. That's a good football team that we found a way to win. It went down in the fourth quarter last week versus the No. 4 team in the country. That team's getting better, but at the end of the day, I felt like the team took a step in the direction of solidifying the belief that it takes to win games, and that's really what you saw in the second half, and we'll go back to work as a staff and as a team, I'm confident in that of cleaning up all the other stuff..."

On Chandler Morris' potential injury...

"...I think Chandler got fell on in the first half, and he's been battling that, the same one from earlier in the season, so he's going to battle that all year long, but hes a warrior and he bounced back and I'll know more once we meet in the morning about the status of that, but the fact that he came back in and played in the second half lets me know that he should be alright, and you know, offensive football is very rhythmic, and it's 11 guys all on the same page at the same time. I felt like in the first half, as a football team, it's the hard part about managing success. Sometimes you have to go out there and you have to feel it for yourself and it felt like our pad level was a little bit high and we were just, in the past when we were falling forward and pushing the change, we were falling back, we were falling sideways, we weren't staying ahead of the change and then we have a penalty, or we’d have something that set us back, so we couldn’t get into a rhythm, and time of possession —they had really good time of possession in the first half, and then I felt like we started to get a little bit better rhythm, you started to see more of the explosives in the second half. We were able to kind of establish a little bit more in the run game, and still working with the group that we got up front, I mean, earlier in the season you had Brady in there, you had Drake in there, so we're still kind of settling in there, but hey, they showed glimpses of what the've been, 97 yards no sacks, we just have to continue to press on the little things, the details, but that same offense is in that locker room, so we're going to keep working. They're going to take pride in the way they perform, and at the end of the day, they found enough, but also it gives us humble pie for us to keep on working, and for me, I like it as a coach because it gives me the opportunity to keep challenging to chase their best game, because I still don’t think that our football team as a whole has played its best game in all three phases for four quarters."

On his message to the team in the locker room at half...

"I told them, I said, look, boys, there won't be a whole lot of yelling, because me yelling and just trying to create energy is not going to get it done. This is a decision. It's going to take a decision from everyone in this room to go fight for what it is that you want. In the first half, I felt like the team in the other locker room wanted it more than we did, and  I think we flipped it in the second half and our team wanted it a little bit more and found a way to make more plays down the stretch, and then I felt like we took pride in what we talk about a lot and that's the fourth quarter, finding a way to win it. So the message was really like, hey, this is not a me giving you the answer type of deal. This is a collective group of young men deciding that everything that they want and that they work for, they're going to go scrap and battle and find a way, and that allowed them to create their own energy to reengage their focus, and if you watched it, and this is the hard part about managing the success. Late in the second quarter, I got a little bit upset because I started to see some things that were uncharacteristic of who we say we are as a team, and that was guys not jogging all the way off the field. We've got a timeout, and I've got a couple of guys that are walking in the back, so I'm jumping their tail about that because when we were jumping on people, it's when guys were running on and off the field, and that's what is so hard about this game. They committed under all circumstances to the little things, the details, but I'm super proud, and it shows the maturity and the humility of this football team that when they were challenged in that aspect, they responded. What you started to see is, I mean, that defense is getting on the field fast. That offense is running out there with a little bit more sense of urgency, and so then the details and all those things start to pick up and the energy picks up, and then here goes a big play, and before you know it, you start to establish a bit of a rhythm."

On the crowd's impact...

"You think about the last two home games that went down to some critical plays late in the game, where we're triggered by false starts. Florida State and then you had three of them in a row right here, and that's huge because now we have an opportunity to be a little but more aggressive, and then they have to become a little more conservative, so to speak, because now they're first in 25 because they’ve got three straight... I think that people probably say I say it too much, or what is he talking about, but it takes us all. Where we want to go as a football program and what we're capable of becoming, man, it's going to take games like this... a win's a win. So we're learning, we’re growing, and now to have a crowd to have an impact on it, man it's huge, and the energy not just then, but all the way through the second half, when the energy is up... it just creates more juice and excitement for those guys on the field, and so it was awesome to see the crowd, so I appreciate everybody showing up and I appreciate people being here early. The students were awesome and man. This football team still has more opportunities to grow. We can grow all the way around — that's really special."

On any updates on Xavier...

"I don't [have any] yet, other than he went down with his left knee, so they took him in to get some X-rays. They haven't told me the results of the X-rays. I'll know more definitely by the time we get back together on Tuesday. I'm hopeful that it's not too serious because he was playing at a high level and he's been awesome throughout the course of the season. He's battled injuries in the past, and he's been a warrior, so hopefully it's not too bad, but I don't have an update yet."

On Cam Ross...

"Oh, Cam Ross, that's more precautionary when you take a hit like that. You don't want to put the young man in any further danger... We'll get some more evaluation on the morning with the doctors check on how serious it is, but the early indication was that it was nothing major or long-term, but you do have to be careful in that situation. He wanted to play, but you have to do what's right and by the protocol with the medical staff when you start talking about hits up above the neck."