Tony Elliott Leaning on Big Game Experience to Prepare Virginia for Tennessee

After coaching in several big games as an offensive coordinator at Clemson, Tony Elliott is leaning on that experience as he prepares his team for Saturday's season opener against Tennessee

Tony Elliott and his coaching staff have had their hands full in preparing their team for Virginia's first opponent on the 2023 football schedule. Tennessee is ranked No. 12 in the preseason AP Top 25, have several likely future NFL players on the roster, and is coming off a season in which the Volunteers went 11-2 and dominated the ACC Champion Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl. 

But in addition to readying his team with the X's and O's of offensive and defensive strategies, Elliott has prioritized an additional objective of preparing his team for the environment of the "big game" awaiting the Cavaliers in Nashville. 

"This week it's been about trying to prepare these guys for the environment," Elliott said in a press conference on Tuesday. "It's going to be loud. There will be a lot of excitement. I think more so the crowd as much as the anticipation of wanting to play."

This will be Virginia's first game in 294 days with the 2022 season being cut short as a result of the tragic shooting in which three UVA football players - Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry - were killed. In their first time returning to the field for a real game since that tragedy, there will be no opportunity for the Cavaliers to tune up or shake off the rust as they face by far their greatest challenge since Tony Elliott took over the program. 

Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans, has a capacity of 69,143 and is sold out for Saturday's game. Technically, this is a neutral site game, but it's essentially a road game for the Cavaliers in Nashville. This will also be UVA's first time playing an SEC opponent since facing Florida in the 2019 Orange Bowl. 

"This football team hasn't played in a long time - been a very long offseason," Elliott said. "So helping the guys understand how to channel that emotion, not play the game before you show up. Don't play the game in the locker room. You're going to have to make sure that you manage - and kind of the analogy I've been using is gas in your tank - you gotta manage it. You can't use it all in the first quarter, first five minutes. You got to be able to use it each quarter, each play, and not be too emotionally involved in the game."

This will be Elliott's first marquee college football matchup as a head coach, but he's leaning on his extensive big game experience from his time at Clemson to prepare his team to mentally handle the added distractions that come with playing in a big game environment. In his seven seasons as the offensive coordinator at Clemson, Elliott coached in four national championship games, six College Football Playoff semifinal games, six ACC Championship games, and several other highly-ranked regular season matchups. 

"What I've learned in games like this is the emotions are high early, and then it comes down to who can lock in, focus. And then when you get into the course of the game where there is momentum changes, can you stay steady so that you can continue to do what you need to do to give yourself an opportunity to be in position," said Elliott. "But definitely focusing on just teaching these guys how to manage their emotions. Don't play the game the night before, right? Don't play it on the bus ride to the stadium. So just giving them tips on how to manage themselves so they're prepared to play for four quarters."

Those messages have taken root with the team. And who better to confirm that than cornerback Malcolm Greene, a graduate transfer from Clemson who played in a few of those big games Elliott is talking about. 

"Embrace the moment and make sure that we be great where our feet are, but don't make the moment bigger than it is," Greene said of Virginia's mentality going into the game. "And just make sure that we are intentional about the energy that we bring into every single day of practice, the energy that we go to Nashville with, on the bus, in meetings. Every single day, when we wake up in the morning, just making sure that we have our hair on fire, ready to go. Nothing can be taken for granted. This is an opportunity that we will be ashamed if we don't take advantage of it." 

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