One week after taking No. 4 Ole Miss down to the wire, Washington State gave another ranked opponent all they can handle, but Virginia made enough timely plays to escape, 22-20. Lo and behold, the Cavaliers are bowl eligible in the middle of October, sitting at 6-1 with the bulk of ACC play looming ahead.
Here is what we are taking away:
UVA was out-coached and “out-physicaled” right out of the gates
Tony Elliott’s claim to fame headed into year four of his tenure was that his teams were undefeated out of bye weeks. On the contrary, the ‘Hoos came out flat and seemingly unprepared after the week off, despite Elliott’s emphasis on how the locker room would not underestimate the Cougars.
Through the first half and well into the third quarter, Washington State had their way in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Their clear game plan was to methodically move the sticks, control the clock, and limit the amount of total drives in this game. With the help of several Virginia three-and-outs, the Cougars were successfully able to keep the Cavalier defense on the field for long stretches of time.
Furthermore, while offensive Des Kitchings has earned plenty of praise this season, some of his early play calling was questionable, to say the least.
On one instance in the first quarter, Virginia had third and one from the Washington State 31 and turned it over on downs. The ball never did not wind up in J’Mari Taylor’s hands on either play.
In the Cavaliers’ first drive out of the break, overly conservative play calling was bailed out by a 47-yard Will Bettridge field goal that snuck over the crossbar.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Wahoos find a way to come out on top
To the credit of the players and coaches, Virginia did what they know best in 2025 — remained relentless and competed through the final whistle.
Following a sloppy and unproductive offensive performance for a majority of the game, and finding themselves down by 10 in the fourth quarter, Virginia marched 97 yards down the field, aided by the Taylor/Harrison Waylee duo and some timely Chandler Morris throws. Bettridge, who has been nails since the NC State contest, ended up tying it with a 34-yarder minutes later.
When it comes down to it, Washington State’s special teams unit made a complete boneheaded play on the kickoff return to hand them the ball inside their own five. It is totally reasonable to call this a gift.
Can the ‘Hoos continue to win close games at this rate? The laws of statistics say no.
However, it is significant that the opponents are the ones making these mistakes and not Virginia. The Cavaliers are merely taking advantage instead. To a large extent, Virginia’s 3-1 record is one-score contests are a product of culture and discipline.
Kam Robinson continues to outdo himself
The Commonwealth native continues to affirm himself as the cornerstone of this defense, and perhaps the team as a whole. Throughout this one, Robinson managed to fortify a shaky defensive front, limiting big plays and making a few of his own in the Washington State backfield.
Of course, none was bigger than the third and 11 run inside the one where Robinson managed to jar the ball loose from the ball-carrier’s arm, disallowing the nose to cross the goal line and resulting in Virginia’s game-winning safety.
While health has been a nagging issue for Robinson amidst his three years in the program, the night and day difference with him on the field cannot be emphasized enough.
Jahmal Edrine steps up in a struggling offense
Edrine has been considered a key role piece in this offense, largely as a run blocker and occasional chains mover with his hands, but never with any sort of notable box score production to go with it. Against Washington State, with some key pieces banged up and otherwise quiet, Edrine rose to the occasion, registering a season-high 102 yards on five catches.
While Trell Harris and Cam Ross are open-field playmakers, Edrine’s reliability as a large-bodied, possession receiver was especially pivotal in this one. His fourth quarter grab in traffic kickstarted that aforementioned drive, and turned what could have been a disaster into a 19-yard gain. Morris has enough trust in the Purdue transfer to throw him those 50-50 balls, and that is critical.
Additionally, to Kitchings’ credit, Virginia found a wrinkle in its RPO game — Edrine leaked out of a check block twice for chunk plays down the sideline. It was a creative way to utilize his run-heavy tendencies and Edrine’s usual role as blocker on the boundary to set up other looks.
Virginia’s lack of a shutdown corner is problematic
John Rudzinski’s defense has had a clear inability to contain the top targets of the offenses he has faced. Against Florida State, we saw Duce Robinson make play after play, amassing nearly 150 yards. Louisville’s WR1 Chris Bell had an even bigger game. This time it was Washington State’s Joshua Meredith that had over 100 yards of his own.
The disastrous coverage breakdowns from the beginning of the year are behind us; instead, Virginia’s defensive backs are failing to make what Elliott calls “competitive plays.” In other words, the defenders are typically in the right spot but opposing wideouts are making too many contested catches anyways.
To be clear, Ja’Son Prevard has been incredible, making game-changing plays both when blitzing the quarterback and playing that shallow zone coverage. Most fans did not expect this level of production out of the Morgan State transfer. That said, he is not this shutdown DB that Rudzinski will feel inclined to deter from his scheme and leave on an island either. It may be a situation where we must accept that while the secondary has shown substantially improvement from 2024, they are far from flawless.
Next up, Virginia travels down to Chapel Hill for a meeting with Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels. More analysis to come later this week.
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