Virginia, obviously unprepared for anything Virginia Tech would throw its way, allowed itself to be humiliated by its mediocre in-state rival, losing 55-17 in a game that was not even that close.
The loss is a demoralizing comedown for a program that had gone 3-3 in its previous six after an 0-5 start, and the thorough nature of the beatdown by the Hokies, who came in with a 5-6 record, and no wins over any teams with a winning record, is enough to get the questions about the heat of second-year head coach Tony Elliott’s seat.
Virginia (3-9, 2-6 ACC) didn’t get a first down with an offensive play until the 1:58 mark of the second quarter, was outgained 294-60 in the first half, and trailed 24-0 at the break – and it could have been worse.
Tech (6-6, 5-3 ACC) had a 74-yard TD pass from Kyron Drones to Jaylin Lanes was called back because of a holding penalty, and the Hokies also lost a fumble at the UVA 2.
After a Virginia three-and-out on its first possession of the second half, Tech scored on its first play from scrimmage – an 82-yard short pass-and-sprint from Drones to Da’Quan Felton to make it 31-0.
UVA finally got on the board with a 25-yard field goal from Will Bettridge midway through the third, but Bhayshul Tuten returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a TD – embarrassingly for the Virginia special-teams unit, Tuten was caught in a scrum at the UVA 25, but no one thought to try to tackle him to the ground, and Tuten emerged from the scrum and ran untouched down the left sidelines thereafter.
A Colandrea-to-Malachi Fields 38-yard TD was answered by a 47-yard Love field goal, and a 34-yard pitch-and-catch TD pass from Drones to Felton on which more of the tackling issues seen earlier reared their head.
It was 48-10 going into the fourth quarter.
Just ugly.
Fields hauled in a 3-yard TD pass with 9:18 on the clock to get Colandrea his second TD pass of the night to make it a little less ugly, for a moment or two.
Malachi Thomas scored on a 6-yard run with 3:53 to go – the only red-zone score of the night for Tech – to cap the night.
The first six Virginia Tech TDs were big plays – the first, with the Hokies up 3-0 in the first, was a 44-yard TD pass from Drones to Stephen Gosnell on a fourth-and-2; the second a 33-yard rushing TD by Tucker Holloway with 13:53 left in the second, the third a 32-yard TD run by Tuten.
That’s 321 yards on those six TD plays – 53.5 yards per.
Colandrea finished 29-of-46 passing for 243 yards and two TDs, with one INT, while running for his life practically all game – he was sacked six times, and the Hokies were credited with eight quarterback hurries.
Malik Washington closed out his grad-transfer year with his 10th 100-yard receiving game of the season, catching 14 balls on 18 targets for 115 yards.
For a Virginia team that had grown down the stretch, notching wins over rivals North Carolina and Duke, losing an overtime heartbreaker at Miami and falling 31-24 at Louisville in a game that UVA led 24-17 midway through the fourth quarter, this is an ignominious conclusion to the 2023 season.
Social media and the message boards were calling for change at the top before the third quarter was over, but that’s not likely.
You maybe should expect to see Elliott, at the point of a bayonet from AD Carla Williams, making some staff changes, perhaps as soon as Sunday – the heads of offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and special-teams coordinator Keith Gaither would seem to be at the front of the line in terms of the chopping block.
The end to the night had Tech fans rushing the field to celebrate the win, and then a group of Hokies players and staff gathered at midfield to snap photos.
Their celebration apparently went too long for the liking of the grounds crew at Virginia, which turned the field sprinklers on the group to get them to scatter.
Whoever pushed that button deserves the game ball for the Virginia side.
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Chris Graham
