Five takeaways from UVA football’s 20-point win versus Virginia Tech

The Virginia Cavaliers beat the brakes off of the Virginia Tech Hokies in their regular season finale on Saturday night, winning 27-7 in front of a raucous, 58,000-deep home crowd. With the win, the ‘Hoos finish their regular season at 10-2 (7-1 ACC) and claim their spot in the ACC championship game.

With UVA’s third Commonwealth Clash victory this century, we have five takeaways:

UVA football has arrived

Virginia just completed a 10-win season. This has been the near-perfect year for Tony Elliott’s program. A 10-2 overall record including a 7-1 mark in the ACC ties a program record for wins and is the most in 36 years since George Welsh led the Cavaliers.

And, arguably most importantly, UVA beat Virginia Tech for the third time this century to rip the Hokie-shaped monkey off the program’s back.

It’s the first win against Virginia Tech in Elliott’s four-year tenure in Charlottesville, the first since 2019, and just the second in the lifetime of Virginia’s undergraduate student body.

No matter what the ‘Hoos did in the first 11 games, this is the game that they absolutely had to win. Letting Virginia Tech doom the program’s fifth-ever nine-win season would have been an absolute catastrophe. All that progress through the 9-2 start thanks to a loaded transfer class would’ve been for naught.

Especially with the Hokies hiring former Penn State head coach James Franklin to lead their program into the future, getting this win proved that Virginia is fit to contend in a highly-competitive commonwealth.

Welcome to UVA football immortality, Chandler Morris

Chandler Morris became the third Virginia quarterback to lead the program to a win against Virginia Tech this century on Saturday night.

He threw for 182 yards (21-for-35) and rushed for another 25 including an electric eight-yard touchdown rush.

His final stat-line was hardly gaudy. It was what the Cavaliers needed to manage the game and keep the Virginia Tech offense in a living hell all night long. Morris did not turn the ball over, hit his receivers consistently, and escaped pressure to ensure that the ‘Hoos didn’t fall behind the sticks. Virginia Tech sacked him just once across 60 minutes.

Back in January in the first team meeting of 2025, Morris told his teammates that he wanted to win the ACC championship.

When Morris jogged off the field for the final time with nearly nine minutes remaining in the game, he etched his name into Virginia football lore and secured himself an opportunity to make good on his ultimate goal for his year in Charlottesville.

John Rudzinski’s defense guided injury-riddled UVA offense to victory

The 2019 victory against Virginia Tech was euphoric, partially because it was the first one in 16 years, but also thanks to how close the game was. The Cavaliers clinched the victory in the final minute after the Hokies had a chance to score a go-ahead touchdown but were thwarted by a strip sack and defensive touchdown.

While there was no equally dramatic play from the Wahoo defense on Saturday night, the 60-minute performance was absolutely dominant. The Hokies finished with a mere 197 yards of offense and just seven points. There was an eight-drive stretch when Virginia Tech totaled only 23 yards and failed to get a first down. The Hokies went scoreless for 55:39 of game play.

Virginia picked off Kyron Drones twice. The first came from linebacker Maddox Marcellus – who stepped up in a major way in Kam Robinson’s absence – in the first quarter. Seventh-year senior Antonio Clary came down with the second, putting a full circle close to his Wahoo career with a second win against the Hokies.

Drones, who told the ESPN broadcast on Friday that “we live rent free in Virginia’s head … we’re planning to dominate them,” threw for 78 yards on 4-for-16 passing. He added an electric 35 yards rushing on 11 carries for 3.2 yards per carry. In a word: Dominant.

It pays to play the NIL game

Following a disappointing 5-7 season in 2024 which included a 20-point loss to the Hokies in the season finale, Elliott and his staff hit the transfer portal HARD, emboldened by massive anonymous donations to the program’s NIL and revenue-sharing funds.

That led to commitments from difference makers on offense like Morris, J’Mari Taylor, Brady Wilson, Jahmal Edrine, Harrison Waylee, and others along with a defense with a handful of effective pass-rushers and a deep secondary that has made life difficult for every opponent the ‘Hoos have faced this season.

In this era of college football (and college sports), you have to pay to play. The Virginia program has benefitted from and capitalized on major investments in 2025. By beating Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers look set to be able to continue to count on significant monetary support from wealthy donors. The energy around this program is real and the momentum should only continue to increase ahead of 2026.

Virginia will play for an ACC championship

The icing on the cake from this result?

This Virginia team was picked to finish 14th in the ACC in the preseason.

By beating the Hokies, Virginia now looks ahead to Saturday’s ACC championship in Charlotte where they’ll kickoff at 8:00 p.m. ET.

It will be UVA’s second-ever ACC championship game appearance after the ‘Hoos lost to Clemson in 2019. Virginia twice (1989 and 1995) split the ACC crown – back before there was an ACC Championship game – during the Welsh era.

If the Cavaliers come out on top, that will mark their first outright ACC title in program history. It would also send Elliott’s squad to the College Football Playoff for the first time.

As of initial publishing, Virginia’s opponent in the ACC championship remains uncertain. SMU and Duke are both alive for the moment. With SMU trailing Cal for much of the Mustangs’ regular season finale, the Blue Devils look like the favorite to take on the ‘Hoos in Charlotte.

We’ll have you covered with extensive previews of whichever team the Cavaliers will face in the championship game this week. For now, enjoy this one, Wahoo fans. You’ve certainly earned it.