A week after a deflating 38-27 loss to West Virginia in Charlotte, Virginia came home to Scott Stadium seeking redemption. However, this Saturday was no normal game. It was UVA Strong Day, the program’s annual game honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. Tony Elliott made every remaining member of the 2022 team a captain for the game, and during the second-quarter two-minute timeout, the families were recognized in the end zone as Elliott presented each with flowers.
This was the first-ever meeting between the programs, and the Cavaliers entered the game as 20.5-point favorites. It quickly became apparent that Virginia had no intention of letting Delaware hang around, and it had covered the spread by halftime, leading 28-3.
To be fair, Delaware is in its second FBS season, and it lost starting quarterback Nick Minicucci, the Conference USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, to an apparent right leg injury in the second quarter. Minicucci and Diego Pavia were the only two quarterbacks in the country to throw for 3,500 yards and run for 10 touchdowns last season, and without him, the Blue Hens’ offense had nowhere to go.
Here are my five takeaways from the win.
Virginia righted the ship before the heart of the ACC schedule
There is the classic saying of “don’t let a loss beat you twice.” Outside of some especially dejected fans, the question was not whether Virginia could put away an overmatched opponent; it was whether the glaring flaws from Charlotte would follow the Cavaliers home.
Mostly, they did not. Similar to last week, Virginia started off the game with a methodical opening drive in which Pribula went 8-for-8, Elliott trusted his team to convert a fourth down, and they finished it off with a touchdown.
After the opening-drive touchdown, Virginia’s second possession stalled on conservative calls and a missed field goal, and the ‘Hoos went three-and-out right after Delaware’s field goal cut the lead to 14-3. Many Virginia fans were likely starting to have flashbacks to last week, when the game followed a similar script and, as we all know, that was the point when it all started going downhill against West Virginia. However, on its next two possessions, including one with under two minutes to go, Virginia exhibited surprisingly aggressive, creative passing schemes that resulted in two quick touchdowns to put the game to bed.
Last week, West Virginia scored on four of its next five possessions after falling behind 14-7. On Saturday, Virginia held Delaware to just a field goal. Last week, Virginia faded after halftime and looked like the less physical team. On Saturday, it scored on its first possession of the second half and kept its foot on the gas until late in the fourth quarter, even with the backups in. The defense was also flying around in the second half, resulting in two interceptions.
The play calling opened up, and both quarterbacks made it work
After West Virginia, my biggest criticism was that the offense had no third gear. West Virginia figured out that it could just stack the box because Virginia simply refused to throw the ball aggressively down the field.
On Saturday, the answers showed up on the first drive. The first play was a Pribula keeper. The third was play action, both looks I had labeled as largely absent last week after using them to great effect versus NC State. Virginia went tempo to the line, hit a quick bubble screen and went for it on fourth down instead of settling. In particular, the two-minute drill before halftime was aggressive, which has not always been the case. In his postgame news conference, Elliott specifically mentioned using that drive as valuable in-game reps for situations down the road.
The results followed this new approach. Virginia threw for 437 yards, its most in a game since 2021 against Pittsburgh, at 9.9 yards per attempt. A week after the idea of an explosive pass seemed almost unthinkable, the ‘Hoos had completions of 74, 52, 23 and 22 yards.
Pribula was about as efficient as a quarterback can be. His four first-half touchdowns, one more than his three incompletions, were a career high; his previous best was three, at Missouri against Kansas in 2025 and again against Norfolk State this season. He added a 14-yard touchdown run on an option keep, accounting for five scores.
Then Eli Holstein showed something different. The Pitt transfer went 8-of-12 for 153 yards, floating a perfect ball over a defender to Xay Davis for 22 yards and, on third-and-10 in the fourth quarter, dropping a deep ball in the breadbasket for a 74-yard touchdown to Josiah Abdullah. Pribula is at his best as a runner and play-action passer; Holstein is the purer thrower, with elite touch. Last week, I wondered whether Holstein might be the better option. Saturday was a reminder that Virginia is in a rare position to have a backup of Holstein’s caliber, as was clear when Delaware’s backups came in. I still think both Pribula and Holstein exhibit elite traits, and it’s possible to get top-five ACC quarterback play from them if we leverage their strengths.
The caveat is the opponent. West Virginia loaded the box and dared Virginia to beat it over the top, and every future opponent will try the same until the Cavaliers prove they can stretch the field. I imagine this will be a key focus for Elliott and Kitchings in practice as they prep for Florida State.
The question I still have is why we did not see any of this last week when West Virginia, which got lit up for 389 passing yards by Oklahoma State this week, was begging us to beat them deep.
Rico Flores Jr. and Kameron Courtney may be the answers at wide receiver
Questions about the receiver room have followed this team since the spring. This room was identified in the preseason as the weakness of the team and these concerns were magnified when Flores, who was brought in to be the No. 1 receiver, missed the first two games with a hamstring injury.
However, the first half of the Delaware game suggested Virginia may have found its top two, and what stood out was not just the production but how it came.
After one catch in his debut against West Virginia, Flores was the first read from the opening snap. Pribula targeted him on each of his first two throws, and Flores caught nine of Pribula’s 21 first-half completions, more than 40 percent of Virginia’s catches before halftime. His touchdown came on a crisp 7-yard whip route, faking the slant and breaking outside. He looked most comfortable working the middle of the field, which seems to be a favorite area for Pribula. Flores gives Pribula the reliable intermediate target that was missing in Charlotte, when the passing game lived on short throws and contested go routes.
Courtney’s 52-yard score was a dump-off he turned into a touchdown by breaking multiple tackles and keeping his balance down the sideline. It was a career long by 18 yards and the first receiving touchdown of his career; his only previous score was a 23-yard end-around against William & Mary last season. The second was even better. Pribula threw under pressure, and Courtney went up over two defenders to win the ball for a 19-yard touchdown with one second left in the half. Courtney is someone who has long been expected to break out, and this was his statement performance. “There’s probably nobody on offense that has me on him more than Kam Courtney,” Elliott said afterward, “because … I think he’s got a ton of potential, ton of upside, and we got to see that tonight.”
The rest of the room is sorting itself out behind them. Da’Shawn Martin remains the vertical threat, drawing a deep pass interference call and running free on a slightly overthrown bomb in the third quarter. Jacquon Gibson, who was All-MAC at UMass with 63 catches for 616 yards last season, had two catches for 10 yards. Twelve different players caught a pass. But most importantly, Virginia needed a No. 1 receiver to emerge, and for one half, at least, Flores looked like one.
The defense played one of its best games, and Keke Adams had himself a night
Delaware came in 11th nationally at 325.7 passing yards per game. It left with 71.
The Blue Hens went 7-of-27 through the air, 2.6 yards per attempt, with two interceptions. They finished with 160 total yards, 12 first downs and a 4-for-14 mark on third down. Virginia forced three-and-outs on Delaware’s first two possessions.
The pressure came from everywhere. Sichan John and Matthew Fobbs-White had sacks on back-to-back plays early in the third quarter to force a punt, and Jewett Hayes added the third. Donavon Platt came off the edge like a heat-seeking missile for a tackle for loss. Maddox Marcellus led the team with five tackles, and Virginia’s defenders seemed consistently ready to jump and knock the ball down. It was the most batted balls I have seen from this group in a while, and several nearly turned into interceptions.
Then there was Adams, who picked off Braden Streeter twice, the first two interceptions of his career, added a tackle for loss late, and nearly had a third on the final play of the game before it slipped through his hands at the sideline.
While the defensive statistics are elite, if we’re being honest, this defense was not stress-tested. After Minicucci went down, Streeter finished 2-of-16 for 9 yards, and many of his throws were not competitive. But this is the kind of game a defense is supposed to have against an offense missing its starter, and Virginia did almost everything you could ask for.
The offensive line still has work to do, in protection and in the run game
For all the fireworks through the air, the line of scrimmage was the one place Virginia did not dominate, and against a Conference USA front, that is worth flagging as a concern, especially since the line was supposed to be a strength of this team.
Delaware sacked Virginia quarterbacks five times and finished with eight tackles for loss. Pribula took two sacks on the opening drive, even while going 8-for-8, and the problem was a familiar one: pressure on the blitz with nobody picking up the free rusher, including some poor pass protection from the running backs. On the second drive, another unblocked rusher off the edge dropped Pribula for a loss. In the second half, Holstein was sacked on back-to-back plays to set up a third-and-38.
The run game was not much better. Virginia finished with 119 yards on 41 carries, 2.9 per carry, and 50 of those yards came in the first half. Sacks count as rushes in college, but even the backs alone managed just 96 yards on 25 carries between Davis, Middlebrook, Brown and Vaughn. One thing of note: Tennessee transfer Peyton Lewis, whom many had pegged as the starter when he signed, sat out with an undisclosed injury. He has just 10 carries for 17 yards in two games, and it will be interesting to see whether he can carve out a bigger role the remainder of the season or if he is being phased out.
The best stretch for the running game came once the rain arrived in the third quarter and Virginia leaned on Vaughn, a drive that ended with Pribula’s option keeper. Davis also lost a fumble, though I’m chalking that up to a good play by Delaware and not indicative of a larger trend.
The broadcast noted that Virginia’s offensive line averages 23.6 years old. A group that experienced should win the line of scrimmage against Delaware. Florida State’s front will be a significant step up, and if the protection issues follow Virginia to Tallahassee, the downfield passing game from Saturday will not have time to develop.
Bonus: Second place in the ACC is up for grabs. Wake Forest beat 16th-ranked Louisville 30-27 on the road Saturday, dropping the Cardinals to 1-1 in conference play. Miami looks like the class of the league, but the second spot in the ACC Championship Game is wide open, and Virginia (1-0 in the ACC) still controls its own destiny.
Bonus: The kicking game is suddenly a question. Will Bettridge missed a 37-yarder on Virginia’s second drive, a week after his 41-yard try sailed wide right in the fourth quarter against West Virginia. That is misses in back-to-back games from the program’s all-time leading scorer, who set a school record with 24 field goals a year ago. Bettridge has earned plenty of rope, and it is too early to panic. But last season’s “Cardiac Cavs” lived in one-score games, including a double-overtime win over Florida State, and Virginia will need him automatic again. Something I will be keeping an eye on.
What’s next
Virginia has passed three of its four tests with flying colors. The one it failed was the only one against a Power Four opponent away from Scott Stadium. That makes the trip to Florida State on Oct. 3 at 3:30 p.m. a good test of both open questions: how this team plays against better competition, and how it plays on the road.
The Seminoles are 2-2 after beating Central Arkansas 34-7 on Saturday, with a loss at Alabama the week before. They also have not forgotten last September, when Virginia beat eighth-ranked Florida State 46-38 in double overtime and the fans stormed the field at Scott Stadium. Expect a motivated Florida State team, one playing for Mike Norvell’s job in front of a fan base that has seen the clip of Virginia’s field storming on every highlight reel for the past year.
A win in Tallahassee would go a long way toward answering whether last week was a fluke. A loss would make the road back to Charlotte much narrower.
