It’s finally here – the 2025 UVA Football season.
The ‘Hoos open with Coastal Carolina, with kickoff scheduled for some time shortly after 6 p.m.
I’ll be updating this Live Coverage blog throughout the game, with analysis of the game once things get going on the field.
Virginia is a 13.5-point favorite.
Pregame Coverage
- UVA Football | Five things to watch for when the ‘Hoos face Coastal Carolina
- UVA Football | A lot of ‘cat and mouse’ trying to figure out Coastal Carolina
- UVA Football | Notes, press conference quotes, depth chart for Week 1
- UVA Football | They’re claiming to have made improvements to the fan experience
First quarter
First UVA possession: The ball gets into plus territory with a first down at the CCU 35, but the drive stalled, in large part due to two poor decisions/poorer throws by Chandler Morris, both of which could have/should have been intercepted.
Will Bettridge was short from 51 on a field-goal try.
He’d made a couple of 50-yarders in practice, which is why he was sent out there.
The D got a quick three-and-out, so, all is good, from that standpoint.
Second UVA possession: Couldn’t get the deck chairs arranged on fourth-and-short near midfield, burning a timeout. Not good.
Empty backfield, Morris pressured, incomplete, short, to Jayden Thomas.
Coastal broke a cardinal rule: Kian Afrookhteh had made a 42-yard field goal, but Tim Beck took a formation penalty called on Virginia for a first down at the UVA 20.
On third-and-3 at the UVA 13, a bad snap was recovered by James Jackson.
Still no score, 5:22 left in the first.
More sputtering from the offense: Morris is 1-of-5, with three passes that could have been picked, and he’s not comfortable in the pocket.
Virginia scores first! Morris connected with Cam Ross on a third-down pass for 46 yards to the CCU 1. J’Mari Taylor scored on the next play.
Virginia 7, Coastal Carolina 0, 1 second left in the first quarter.
Second quarter
A procedure penalty on CCU on a punt that had pinned the ‘Hoos inside their 10 forced a retry, which Virginia promptly blocked.
Caleb Hardy with the punt block.
First blocked punt by the UVA special teams in six years.
Instead of a first down inside their own 10, the ‘Hoos are set up first down at the CCU 36.
Virginia converts the short field: Morris was 3-of-4 for 30 yards passing on the drive. Harrison Waylee with the 1-yard scoring run.
Virginia 14, Coastal Carolina 0, 11:22/2nd
Best drive of the day: Seven plays, 90 yards, with three seven-yard runs by Noah Vaughn, three big passes from Morris – two to Trell Harris, one to Ross, the one to Ross for the 29-yard TD.
Virginia 21, Coastal Carolina 0, 3:27/2nd
The two-minute offense went 80 yards on eight plays. Key play: 48-yard catch by Trell Harris, highlight-reel, one-handed grab at the CCU 2.
The TD came on a 2-yard pass from Morris to Jahmal Edrine.
Virginia 28, Coastal Carolina, 0, 18 seconds left/2nd
First-half recap
The $30 million roster era got off to a slow start, but, damn, it looks good.
Virginia scored on four of its final five drives of the first half, all TDs, and leads Coastal Carolina, 28-0, at the halftime break.
Chandler Morris missed on four of his first five pass attempts, but from the 2:08 mark in the first half on, Morris was 15-of-19 for 226 yards and two TDs.
Cam Ross had five catches on seven targets for 103 yards and a TD, a 29-yarder in the second quarter.
Trell Harris had three catches on five targets for 93 yards, with a 48-yarder that set up a short 2-yard TD pass from Morris to Jahmal Edrine.
The defense may have been better, limiting the Coastal offense to 86 total yards and five first downs, and CCU was 0-of-8 on third downs.
MJ Morris, the Maryland transfer, who started four games at NC State in 2023, was 5-of-16 for 49 yards in his first half of action as the QB1 for Coastal.
Virginia rang up 332 yards of total offense.
Third quarter
Chandler Morris forced out after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit on a 28-yard scramble to the CCU 2.
J’Mari Taylor scored on a 2-yard TD run on the next play, his second TD run of the night.
All of this came after Ethan Minter intercepted MJ Morris on the first play of the second half.
Minter returned the pick for a TD, but the play was called back because of a block-in-the-back penalty.
Morris is walking back to the locker room – done for the night.
Virginia 35, Coastal Carolina 0, 10:37/3rd
Coastal finally breaks through: 14-play, 79-yard drive, capped by an 8-yard TD run by Ja’Vin Simpkins.
Not to minimize the achievement, but John Rudzinski was substituting liberally on that drive, as you should do, in an opener with a 35-0 lead.
Virginia 35, Coastal Carolina 7, 4:26/3rd
Cam Ross returned the kickoff 100 yards for a TD.
Speed.
First kickoff return for a TD for Virginia since 2019 (Joe Reed).
Virginia 42, Coastal Carolina, 7, 4:12/3rd
Fourth quarter
Danny Kaelin leads his first college scoring drive: 15 plays, 53 yards, leading to a 32-yard Will Bettridge field goal.
Kaelin is 2-of-6 passing. They’ve kept things simple for him.
Virginia 45, Coastal Carolina 7, 11:13/4th
Quick scoring drive that didn’t get a first down ends with a 41-yard Bettridge field goal.
Virginia 48, Coastal Carolina 7, 7:03/4th
Final: Virginia 48, Coastal Carolina 7
Quick recap: The only scare for Virginia in its season-opening 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina was the injury sustained by the new starting QB, Chandler Morris, after a third quarter scramble.
Morris left the game after the helmet-to-helmet hit, and was walked back to the locker room after a quick review in the medical tent on the sidelines.
He returned to the sidelines in street clothes in the fourth quarter, so, hopefully a good sign.
Chandler was 19-of-27 passing for 264 yards and two TDs, and a team-leading 50 yards on the ground.
Cam Ross was the game MVP, with seven catches on nine targets for 124 yards and a TD, and a 100-yard kickoff-return TD.
The defense was stellar, holding Coastal to 86 yards in the first half.
The Chanticleers didn’t move the ball until UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski started subbing in guys not on the pregame two-deep.
Even with that, Coastal finished with 254 yards of total offense, and was just 1-of-14 on third downs.
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Chris Graham
