Virginia Cavaliers fans don’t have another ranked team to take goal posts down for after a 46-38 upset of No. 8 Florida State on Friday.
However, the Cavaliers (4-1, 2-1) are well-positioned to make the ACC championship game by running the table in league play despite an early-season loss to North Carolina State (3-1, 1-1). That’s because the Cavaliers’ 35-31 loss to the Wolfpack counted as a non-conference game.
The ACC only has eight conference games for football in the 17-team league, and the ACC has emphasized playing Power Four teams in non-conference play. That’s how Virginia wound up with a non-conference tilt with N.C. State.
The Wolfpack originally had Appalachian State out of the Sun Belt for the Sept. 6 game but then swapped out the Mountaineers for the Cavaliers to have a Power Four opponent. With the advantage in hand, Virginia is unbeaten in ACC play and has a clear path to the championship game by winning out and getting a little bit of help.
“It felt like a championship kind of game,” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott told reporters after the upset of FSU. “And that’s what we desire to be as a program.”
That said, Virginia only has two of the three remaining ACC unbeatens on the schedule. Second-ranked Miami (4-0) and Georgia Tech (4-0, 1-0) don’t play the Cavaliers or each other this season.
Virginia would need a favor from FSU with an upset of the Hurricanes on Oct. 4 and/or Georgia Tech to lose to Georgia on Nov. 28. Of course, as Cavaliers fans witnessed, an unexpected team could take down Miami and/or Georgia Tech at another point.
Virginia’s remaining schedule includes Louisville (3-0), Washington State (2-2), North Carolina (2-2), Wake Forest (2-1), Duke (2-2, 1-0), and Virginia Tech (1-3). The Cavaliers’ previous wins include a 48-7 rout of Coastal Carolina, a 55-16 blowout of William & Mary, and a 48-20 win over Stanford.
Virginia Dominated on the Ground Against FSU
GettyXavier Brown helped Virginia dominate on the ground.
Virginia dominated with the running attack against FSU on Friday with 211 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Cavaliers running back J’Mari Taylor led the way with 99 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, and fellow back Xavier Brown tallied 60 yards on nine carries. However, quarterback Chandler Morris did the most damage on the scoreboard with his legs.
Morris scored three touchdowns amid his 37 yards rushing on eight carries. He also threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns versus three interceptions on 26-35 passing.
Morris scored the game-winning touchdown in the second overtime, and he put the Cavaliers up by eight with a two-point conversion pass to wide receiver Trell Harris.
Virginia Withstood FSU’s Rallies
Virginia’s 14-0 lead didn’t last long against FSU, but no lead lasted against the Seminoles overall on Friday.
FSU scored three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter to grab a 21-14 lead, but the Cavaliers answered back with 48 seconds before halftime when Taylor broke away for a 26-yard touchdown run. Morris put Virginia back in front during the third quarter, 28-21, but the Seminoles answered each Cavalier touchdown and forced overtime. It came down to Virginia’s defense making the plays in the second overtime, capped by an interception to end the game.
“That was a heck of a football game,” Elliott said. “Both teams wanted to win, and they were going to fight. It was going to who could find a way to make one more play than the other.”
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