Virginia Wins Ugly, Downs Georgia Tech 16-9 for First ACC Victory

The UVA defense carried the Cavaliers to their first ACC win under Tony Elliott on Thursday night in Atlanta

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

It was the epitome of an ugly win, but Tony Elliott has his first ACC victory as a head coach. 

The Cavalier offense put up just three points in the second half, but thanks to a superhuman effort by the UVA defense to smother backup quarterback Zach Gibson and the Yellow Jackets, Virginia (3-4, 1-3 ACC) defeated Georgia Tech (3-4, 2-2 ACC) 16-9 on Thursday night in Atlanta to snap a three-game losing streak and finally win its first ACC game of the season. 

The UVA offense got off to a horrific start, turning the ball over twice in its first five plays. The first was a Perris Jones fumble and the second was a Brennan Armstrong pass that went off the hands of Keytaon Thompson and was intercepted by LaMiles Brooks, who returned it 37 yards for a touchdown, Georgia Tech's sole touchdown of the game. 

The Virginia defense allowed only three points in the game to a Georgia Tech offense that was forced to rely on backup quarterback Zach Gibson after starter Jeff Sims exited the game with an injury in the first half. The Yellow Jackets punted 10 times, seven of which were three-and-outs, and also committed two turnovers. The first was a crucial takeaway for the UVA defense, as Georgia Tech nearly took advantage of the Perris Jones fumble to score a touchdown, but Fentrell Cypress II broke up Sims' pass in the end zone and Coen King ran under the ball for an interception. 

Armstrong followed that up by throwing the pick-six, but the Cavalier offense responded well after that, putting together a long 9-play, 75-yard scoring drive. A 31-yard completion to Lavel Davis Jr. and multiple pass interference calls on passes intended for Keytaon Thompson helped to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Brennan Armstrong. That gave the Cavaliers the lead, as Georgia Tech had missed the extra point following the pick-six. 

The UVA offense struggled to put lengthy drives together beyond that one 75-yarder, but a quick strike score midway through the second quarter gave the Hoos a lead that would last through the end of the game. Armstrong rolled to his left a fired a great pass down the field to Dontayvion Wicks, who made a series of incredible juke moves to avoid several Georgia Tech tackle attempts and ran 44 yards for a touchdown. 

That score was also the 57th-career touchdown pass for Brennan Armstrong, making him UVA's all-time leader in touchdown passes, breaking Matt Schaub's record. 

The UVA passing game struggled as a whole once again, though, as both Wicks and Lavel Davis Jr. had costly drops and Armstrong missed several open throws. Davis' drop should have been an easy touchdown, but instead Virginia had to settle for a 28-yard field goal from Will Bettridge that made the score 16-9 midway through the 3rd quarter. 

It was disastrous game for the true freshman Bettridge, who missed field goals of 39 and 29 yards and also missed an extra point, leaving a total of 7 points off the board. That, combined with UVA's general inability to sustain long scoring drives, kept the margin at one possession for the entire second half despite a dominant performance from the Virginia defense. 

In the second half, Georgia Tech managed just 41 yards of total offense, including -11 rushing yards, and was 1-9 on third down. The UVA offense was even worse on third down, not converting any of its eight third down attempts. The Cavaliers had 226 yards of total offense in the second half, but managed only three total points. 

That kept Gibson and the Yellow Jackets in the game with opportunity after opportunity to tie the game. Virginia's stout defense never relented.

Playing in his home city of Atlanta for the first time in his collegiate career, Nick Jackson came to play, leading the UVA defense with two sacks, eight total tackles, and a fumble recovery. His second sack forced the Yellow Jackets into a 4th and 11 that they were unable to convert as they turned the ball over on downs near midfield with less than two minutes left in regulation. By the time the Yellow Jackets got the ball back, only 36 seconds remained for Gibson to move them 80 yards down the field. The backup quarterback was unable to overcome that challenge, as he ran out of bounds near midfield with zeroes on the clock and the Cavaliers escaped Atlanta with the ugly win.

Former Georgia Tech transfer Chico Bennett Jr. was also fantastic with seven total tackles and two sacks. Paul Akere registered two sacks and Michael Diatta contributed one for a UVA defense that recorded eight total sacks. 

The Virginia offensive line, on the other hand, had perhaps its best game of the season from a pass protection standpoint. Armstrong was not sacked a single time and was only hurried once. There is still plenty of room for improvement for that group from a run-block perspective, but this was a very encouraging performance for the UVA offensive line. 

This game was far from a confidence-builder, especially for the Virginia offense (and kicking game), but getting back in the win column coming off of the bye week to start the second half of the season is monumental. A big test awaits next weekend back in Charlottesville against Miami, but the Cavaliers can at least come into that matchup with some sense of momentum. 

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