Virginia Shows Consistency and Fight in Momentous Victory at North Carolina

Earning their first FBS win in over a year required four quarters of effort and perseverance from Tony Elliott's Cavaliers

On the CW Network broadcast of the game, Tony Elliott was mic'd up during pregame warm-ups and was seen telling his players "this is why we play", referring to the challenge awaiting them against a top ten team in primetime. 

Just about four hours later, when Elliott was asked in the postgame press conference about the emotions in the locker room, his answer carried a similar tune. 

"For me, it's really just the sounds, the smiles, the smell, just everything about it. Being present in the moment - that's what you coach for," Elliott said. "It's an experience that's hard to describe, but that's why you coach, to see these young men experience joy like that." 

The consistency of Elliott's message before and after the game is very telling, as consistency is something the Cavaliers struggled with in their 1-5 start to the season. It's the reason they couldn't close out with an 11-point fourth quarter lead against JMU, why they couldn't sustain their hot starts against Maryland and Boston College, or avoid costly mistakes late in the NC State game. 

On Saturday night in Chapel Hill, Elliott's Cavaliers finally delivered that elusive consistent performance in their effort, game plan, and execution. What was the outcome? One of the most significant victories in the history of the program. In the 128th edition of the South's Oldest Rivalry, Virginia played a complete game and pulled a stunning 31-27 upset at No. 10 North Carolina, handing the Tar Heels their first loss of the season and earning the program's first-ever road win over a top 10 opponent. 

Coming out of the bye week, the hope for the Cavaliers was that the time off would give them a leg up and allow them to get out to a fast start. That ended up being the case as UVA's defense came up with a stop and Virginia's offense drove right down the field, using a 22-yard 4th down completion from Tony Muskett to Sackett Wood to set up an 11-yard touchdown run for Mike Hollins. 

North Carolina answered right away with Drake Maye throwing to Tez Walker, who made a great one-handed grab for a 25-yard touchdown to tie things up.

Both teams punted on their next possession and then the Cavaliers regained the lead with a nice scoring drive that included a one-handed catch by Perris Jones, a 4th down QB sneak by Grady Brosterhous, and a great contested catch on the left sideline from Sackett Wood, which set up a second rushing touchdown of the game for Mike Hollins on a three-yard rush. 

Not only was Virginia the first team this season to hold a lead against North Carolina at the end of the first quarter, but the Cavaliers were the first team to score on the Tar Heels in the first quarter at Kenan Stadium this season. 

UVA's lead didn't last for long, though, as Drake Maye connected with tight end Bryson Nesbit in stride on the left sideline and Nesbit streaked 62 yards to the end zone for a touchdown. 

Those are the types of big plays that have made this UNC offense one of the most explosive country, but due to a combination of uncharacteristic overthrows by the Heisman candidate Maye, drops from his receivers, and heroic efforts across the board from the UVA defense, the Tar Heel offense was kept largely in check. 

Virginia had a chance to score again before halftime, but Tony Muskett left his fade pass too far inside and Armani Chatman made the catch for the interception in the end zone. UNC capitalized on the takeaway, driving down the field using three-straight completions to Tez Walker to get into field goal range, leading to a 43-yard kick from Noah Burnette to give the Tar Heels a 17-14 halftime lead. 

Despite trailing at the half, the Cavaliers had to be pleased with their execution in the first half, especially in terms of their ability to keep the UNC offense off the field. Virginia possessed the ball for a little over 18 minutes in the first half, a trend that continued for the duration of the game with UVA winning the possession battle (37:06-22:54). 

Virginia drove into UNC territory on its first possession of the second half, but turned the ball over on downs. North Carolina took advantage again, driving 60 yards and scoring on a three-yard rush from Maye. Suddenly, the Tar Heels led 24-14 and the Cavaliers were seeing a familiar scene play out as, despite starting strong and playing solid football for most of the first half, they found themselves trailing by 10 points and staring another frustrating loss in the face. 

Instead, Virginia stayed consistent and continued to fight. At a crucial juncture in the game with UNC holding all momentum, the UVA offense delivered a brilliant drive, going 74 yards in 13 plays, capped by four-consecutive rushes by Mike Hollins, who finally got in for his third touchdown of the game. 

The Cavalier defense continued to swing the momentum back in favor of Virginia, with Jahmeer Carter getting to Drake Maye for a sack, leading to a UNC three-and-out. The punt was poor and Virginia was set up at the UNC 33-yard line. The Cavaliers couldn't fully cash in and settled for a 45-yard field goal from Will Bettridge to tie the game at 24. 

It was a brand new ball game entering the fourth quarter and the question became - could Virginia rid itself of its fourth quarter woes that led to heartbreaking losses to JMU, NC State, and Boston College? 

UNC drew first blood in the final frame, driving deep into Virginia territory, but the Wahoo defense made a stand at the 10-yard line and held the Tar Heels to a chip shot field goal from Burnette to make it 27-24. 

Tony Muskett and the Cavaliers were ready with a response again, as Muskett rolled out and found Malik Washington down the field for a 30-yard gain. Muskett then converted a 3rd and 4 with his legs and then went back to Washington on the next play and Washington did the rest, shedding multiple tacklers and diving into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown, putting Virginia in front 31-27 with a little less than nine minutes to go. 

The UVA defense took it from there, holding Drake Maye and the Tar Heels off the board on each of their final three possessions of the game. First, Virginia forced a UNC three-and-out to give the ball back to the UVA offense with a chance to put the game away. It seemed the Cavaliers were destined to do just that, as Mike Hollins rumbled to the end zone for what would have been his fourth touchdown of the game. Instead, Hollins fumbled right before he crossed the goal line and the ball bounced out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. 

It suddenly seemed Virginia was headed for the most Virginia-like loss as UNC immediately pounced on the opportunity. Drake Maye found Tychaun Chapman for 33 yards and then Tez Walker for 29 more. In two plays, the Tar Heels were inside the UVA 20 looking for the game-winning touchdown with under five minutes to play. Instead, Ben Smiley brought down Maye for a sack and the UVA defense forced three-straight incompletions from Maye, including a couple of nice defensive plays by Coen King and Malcolm Greene, and the Heels turned the ball over on downs. 

The clock game began with Virginia looking to kill the rest of the clock and UNC head coach Mack Brown burning his timeouts. UVA ultimately punted the ball away and the Tar Heels got the ball with a minute and 12 seconds left on the clock, needing to go 75 yards to win the game. 

North Carolina managed to get a couple of first downs to get into UVA territory, but then Paul Akere and James Jackson made the play of the game. Akere came on a blindside rush and hit Maye from behind just as he was releasing his pass. The ball fluttered through the air and Jackson made a diving effort to corral the ball, tucking it under his arm as he was hitting the ground. Ball game. 

Virginia's bench erupted as the Cavaliers collectively realized the feat they had just achieved. UVA entered the game a 24-point underdog and with good reason. Virginia was 1-5 and hadn't beaten an FBS opponent in 366 days. North Carolina was undefeated with College Football Playoff aspirations and was playing at home. But in college football, anything can happen, and Virginia played the better game on Saturday night. 

There were glimpses that the Cavaliers were capable of a performance like this even as they struggled to a 0-5 start to the season - UVA was within one score in the fourth quarter in four of those five losses. But on Saturday night in Chapel Hill, Virginia finally put it all together. 

"I've seen this. I've seen this coming for several weeks," Tony Elliott said after the game. "In all those games that we've been close. I've seen it coming. It's just it was at some point we had to make the decision to finish the game."

The biggest key for UVA was the emergent ground game. Virginia's offensive line played a great game, giving up only two sacks and winning the line of scrimmage to the point that the UVA running backs could rush for 228 yards, averaging 4.2 yards per rush. Tony Muskett also played a good game, especially in the fourth quarter, and finished with 208 passing yards and a touchdown. Malik Washington once again made his case as the best receiver in the ACC, hauling in 12 receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown. 

On the defensive side, Kam Robinson and Coen King led the way with eight tackles each and King added two pass breakups. Of course, James Jackson and Paul Akere should be recognized again for the game-winning play. 

Now 2-5 overall and 1-2 in ACC play, Virginia will look to build off this big win when the Cavaliers travel to take on Miami on Saturday at 3:30pm on the ACC Network. 

Subscribe to the Cavaliers Now Newsletter to receive UVA sports news in your inbox first thing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

See more Virginia football news and content: Virginia Football on Sports Illustrated

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN