Virginia (2-1) faces Coastal Carolina (3-0) in what is shaping up to be a must-win game for coach Tony Elliott and his ‘Hoos.
The game kicks off shortly after 2 p.m. ET. ESPN+ has the broadcast.
UVA comes into the game off a 27-13 loss to Maryland in Week 3.
Coastal Carolina won on the road at Temple last week, 28-20.
Details: Virginia vs. Coastal Carolina
Day/Time: Saturday, 2 p.m.
Location: Brooks Stadium (20,000)
Television: ACC Network • Jeff McCarragher (play-by-play), Nathan Ross (analyst), Joanne Bethea (sideline)
Radio: Virginia Sports Radio Network, Virginia Sports Mobile App, TuneIn App, SiriusXM Channel 111 or 202
Line: Virginia -3.5
Over/under: 54
Projected final score: UVA 28-24
That couldn’t have started any better
Update: 2:06 p.m. Virginia won the coin toss, elected to kick, Coastal fumbled the kickoff, and Eli Wood came up with the recovery.
Anthony Colandrea connected with Malachi Fields on a third-down play with a 7-yard TD pass.
Virginia gets the lead 1:24 into the game.
Coastal answers
Update: 2:14 p.m. The Virginia pass defense is, again, suspect. Laying off receivers, allowing short stuff and trying to tackle, and still not getting PBUs on deep balls.
Big issue.
Ethan Vasko was 4-of-6 for 51 yards on Coastal’s first possession, which ended with Kade Hensley field goal frmo 30 yards.
Virginia 7, Coastal Carolina 3, 10:11/1st.
Tip drill INT
Update: 2:31 p.m. Antonio Clary gets the tip-drill INT in plus territory after an exchange of punts following three-and-outs.
On the first play after the INT, Xavier Brown broke off a 29-yard run into the red zone.
Grady Brosterhous scored on a read-option from five yards out.
Virginia 14, Coastal Carolina 3, 4:47/1st.
Credit where due
Update: 2:39 p.m. Jonas Sanker had a nice PBU on a third-and-5 pass to get the D off the field.
Ground and pound
Update: 2:57 p.m. A 13-play, 64-yard drive stalled at the Coastal 7, ahead of a 24-yard field goal from Will Bettridge.
The rushing attack has 96 yards on 15 attempts.
Xavier Brown has 54 yards on three rushes.
Virginia 17, Coastal Carolina 3, 11:14/2nd
Mistakes get Coastal back closer
Update: 3:07 p.m. A dumb pass-interference penalty on Jam Jackson on a third-and-7 at the Coastal 26 extended the Chants’ possession.
An eight-yard run on third-and-10 set up a fourth-and-2 at the UVA 29.
Ethan Vasko connected with Jameson Tucker for a 29-yard TD. Ballsy play call there, but they got single coverage, so all Vasko had to do was drop the ball into the bucket.
The Tucker kid should have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the TD.
Virginia 17, Coastal Carolina 10, 7:26/2nd
More ground, more pound
Update: 3:19 p.m. Another Grady Brosterhous TD run caps a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive.
Virginia has 163 yards on the ground.
Virginia 24, Coastal Carolina 10, 2:59/2nd
Cuttin’ it close … again
Update: 3:34 p.m. The Virginia offense scored on the final play from scrimmage of the first half for the second straight week, on a 47-yard field goal by Will Bettridge.
The play setting up the kick was interesting. Virginia had called its last timeout with 15 seconds left, and the play call was a handoff to Jack Griese for five yards.
Anthony Colandrea spiked the ball with one second left.
Virginia 27, Coastal Carolina 10, at the half.
First half wrap
I have to start off with the broadcast. I worked for several years on ESPN+ broadcasts down at VMI, mostly baseball, but a couple of football games were in there, too.
The quality here is VMI-level.
Which is to say, there’s just not a lot of resources available here.
The person doing the graphics is consistently behind on the down and distance.
The broadcast guys, who I assume are nice guys, are out of their element.
I’d love to get a shot at doing this game with my guy at VMI, Wade Branner.
Now, to the game: it feels like Virginia is dominating the game more than the stats show us.
Virginia has a 249-129 advantage in total offense, for instance.
It feels like a lot more than that.
I love the emphasis on running the ball: 29 attempts for 188 yards.
Great job by the O line there.
Coastal doesn’t have a sack and only has one QB hurry on the ledger.
Again, great job by the O line there.
Antonio Clary has an INT and a pass breakup.
Bettridge shanked the wedge, but it still went through
Update: 3:59 p.m. Virginia gets three more on its first possession of the second half, on a 45-yard field goal from Will Bettridge.
The kick didn’t look like it went higher than about 11 feet at any point during that kick, but it somehow went through.
The scoring drive was six plays, 47 yards.
Nothing spectacular.
Virginia 30, Coastal Carolina 10, 12:27/3rd.
And as far as the broadcast: the director doesn’t seem to be aware that his mic is hot. I fear that he’s going to say something that ends up on Awful Announcing before the day is over.
Complementary football
Update: 4:12 p.m. The UVA D got a fourth-down stop inside the ‘Hoos 10, then flipped the field with a 75-yard run by Xavier Brown, ahead of scoring on a 1-yard run by Kobe Pace.
Brown has 152 yards on six rushing attempts.
Virginia has 286 yards on the ground.
Virginia 37, Coastal Carolina 10, 6:26/3rd.
Coastal is still hanging around
Update: 4:21 p.m. The UVA D has been burned for a couple of big gainers in the second half, and the second one led to a Coastal score.
Ethan Vasko connected with tight end Kendall Karr for a 65-yard pitch, catch and run for a while, and then Vasko finished the drive off with a 3-yard scramble.
Vasko has 123 yards passing on two completions in the second half.
Virginia 37, Coastal Carolina 17, 4:21/3rd
Big-time throw puts another six on the board
Update: 4:45 p.m. The success of the running game opened up a play-action for Anthony Colandrea, who found Malachi Fields standing all alone in the end zone on a 37-yard TD pass.
Colandrea is a modest 13-of-20 for 131 yards and two TDs.
The ground game has 325 yards on 46 attempts.
The last time Virginia had 300+ on the ground was the 2018 season opener (42-13 win over Richmond).
Virginia 43, Coastal Carolina 17, 12:12/4th
The pass D leaves a lot to be desired
Update: 4:58 p.m. The backup QB, Noah Kim, completed two floaters for big gains, including a 15-yard TD pass as he threw across his body, late and over the middle.
Seriously, the pass D needs some work.
Coastal has passed for 296 yards, and no offense, but they’re not that good to be throwing it like that.
Virginia 43, Coastal Carolina 24, 9:00/4th
That’s a wrap
This was among the Bottom 5 TV game broadcasts I think I’ve ever watched. The director never did figure out that he didn’t have the field mic or the ref mic on, so we didn’t get any feeling of what it was like there at the stadium.
Oh, well.
Virginia was able to keep things simple and still put up 500+ yards of offense, basically, big pounding little up front.
Al Groh would be proud.
Anthony Colandrea was 13-of-20 for 131 yards and two TDs.
Virginia ran for 384 yards, with Xavier Brown going for 171 yards on nine attempts.
Just ridiculous.
It was a must-win game, and the Virginia kids did what they needed to do.
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Chris Graham
