By the Numbers: Breaking Down UVA Football's 37-17 Loss to Virginia Tech

Matt Newton | 8 Hours Ago

Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The rivalry, if you can still call it that, between Virginia and Virginia Tech took another step in a lopsided direction as the Hokies trounced the Cavaliers 37-17 in the annual Commonwealth Clash on Saturday night at Lane Stadium.

Virginia Tech now leads the all-time series against Virginia 62-38-5, has won the last four meetings in the series and 19 of the last 20, and has beaten UVA 12 consecutive times in games played in Blacksburg. In addition to possession of the Commonwealth Cup, the game also determined which team would reach the six-win threshold required for bowl eligibility. UVA is now 0-4 against Virginia Tech when needing to beat the Hokies in order to become bowl eligible. After starting the season 4-1, the Cavaliers lost six of their last seven games to finish at 5-7 overall, one win shy of becoming bowl eligible.

See the chart below for a breakdown of the stats from Virginia's loss to Virginia Tech:

Virginia	By the Numbers	Virginia Tech
274	Total Offense	456
96	Rushing Offense	202
3.0	Yards Per Rush	5.1
178	Passing Offense	254
53%	Completion %	67%
9.4	Yards Per Completion	18.2
3/3	Red Zone Attempts	4/5
17	Red Zone Points	20
5/13	3rd Downs	6/13
1/3	4th Downs	0/0
28:42	Possession Time	31:18
7-55	Penalties-Yards	5-61
2	Turnovers	0
2	Sacks	5
4	Tackles for Loss	7
1	Big Plays (20+ Yards)	4

Here are some key individual stats from Virginia vs. Virginia Tech along with some more notes:

Tony Muskett made his first start at quarterback for Virginia since November 4th of last season against Georgia Tech. Muskett relieved Anthony Colandrea and got his first start of the season, rushing for a pair of touchdowns for his second-straight game. He completed 19 of his 36 passes for 178 yards, but threw two interceptions and zero touchdown passes in what was ultimately his final college football game.

Malachi Fields was limited to two receptions for 20 yards on five targets, but those catches allowed him to extend his streak to 27 consecutive games with at least one reception. Fields is now tied with Perry Jones and Joe Reed for 10th on UVA's all-time receptions list. His 1,849 receiving yards are ninth most in program history.

Suderian Harrison had a career-night for the Cavaliers, notching five receptions for 54 receiving yards. He had six catches for 45 yards in his first 18 career games combined.

In his final game as a Cavalier, Jonas Sanker led Virginia with nine total tackles and five solo stops. Sanker finishes the season with 98 total tackles, 65 of which were solo stops. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference in unassisted tackles and ranked fourth in the league in total tackles.

With his 37-yard field goal in the second quarter, Will Bettridge is now 13th in UVA program history in career scoring with 196 points on 42 career field goals and 67 PATs.

Virginia finishes the season 5-7 overall and 3-5 in ACC play. After being picked to finish 16th (or second to last) in the ACC preseason media poll, the Cavaliers ultimately finished 13th in the ACC, but were tied with Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and NC State, who each finished 3-5 in the ACC but had better overall records.

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