Everything Tony Elliott Said After Virginia's Gator Bowl Victory Over Missouri

Despite all signs pointing toward the Missouri Tigers winning the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, the Virginia Cavaliers rallied for one more victory — their 11th of the season. Their 13-7 victory set a program record for the most wins in a single season, and they added a ninth bowl win to their resume. Following the matchup, head coach Tony Elliott sat down with the media to discuss the Cavaliers' remarkable ending to their 2025 season. Here's everything he had to say:

Tony Elliott: Opening statement...

"First thing I'd just say is God is good. Super, super happy for Dr. Williams, the administration at the University of Virginia, our football players, our staff. It's been a special year. It's been a fun group to coach. They believed when everyone around them told them not to. A lot of folks said they weren't good enough to get to this point. But what they learned is it's always about being inside-out. It's never about what people say on the outside. It's all about what you believe. It's so awesome to see when young people decide and believe and they're unselfish. They just play to a standard, they play for each other. It's been a fun, fun team to coach.

Super excited we were able to finish the season with a win versus a very, very good football team. Coach Drinkwitz has done an outstanding job of building that program. He's somebody I look to in this profession for what he's been able to do. It was fun to compete against his team. Man, that was a close, hard-fought game that could have went either way. Just grateful for the ball that bounced our way."

Tony Elliott: On what he saw from his defense...

"After the opening drive I felt like they were in good position for most of the night. On the opening drive we didn't wrap-up and let a couple plays get extended. After that they were able to settle in, rally to the ball, started to gain tackle, to eliminate some of those extra yards. What you saw from Missouri coming in is, man, their backs are really, really good. They can fall forward or break the initial tackle that leads to situations where now they're in short yardage. I thought we did a good job of being able to down the ball carrier.

Then I think complementary football from the offense with that 10-minute drive there in the third quarter that only allowed for six offensive plays for Missouri in the third quarter. But I thought they flew around. They knew the game plan. They knew they would have to stop the run. Found a way to be able to do that and then get them to third down, and then do what they've been doing all year; one of the best third down defenses in the country."

Tony Elliott: On his decision to go for it fourth on down during the second half...

"What I'm thinking is thank you for bailing me out, boys. You got to convert right here because we're being aggressive. You're trying to juggle the feel of the game, the analytics, what been going on. I knew that's an offense on the other sideline that can get going at any time, that can rip off big runs for touchdowns, and find big plays in the passing game.

I wanted to try to shorten the game a little bit where we could, see could we possess the ball. Then once you started to get into the drive and you saw the temperament and the demeanor of the guys on offense, I wasn't going to take the ball out of their hands. They were into it. They wanted to go for it on those situations. Plus it was right there in the beginning of the second half where you're going to be a little bit more aggressive to kind of see where we are on offense and defense. It was really more a feel thing, but also the analytics suggested we needed to go for some of those fourth downs."

Tony Elliott: On his next man-up-mentality and how it has prepared his program...

"When you're playing a team like Missouri with what they have at all positions, really that's what you're preparing for. You're not as much preparing for what personnel maybe you have. It's what schemes give you the best chance to find numbers and angles to be successful versus the opponent. Then just trusting that the guys are going to have that mentality. I think they learned throughout the course of the season the importance of that.

Eli has been the glue for that wide receiver room. He's played every position for us. You can't get rid of him. He's going to keep finding a way to get himself on the field. Made some huge plays for us. I'm proud of Xay Davis, a guy that hadn't seen much action and now you're thrown into a playoff caliber game and getting your first real carries and significant minutes. There's other guys who stepped up too, throughout the team.

To get to where we want to go as a program, to be able to play in games like this, win games like this, it's all about the next man up. You're talking about 14 games. That's a long season, right? The next step is to continue to play longer than that. It's all about your depth. So kudos to the coaching staff for having those guys ready, finding the right schemes to give us a chance. At the end of the day I told the guys what it was going to come down to was really the will to win. In a game like this, scheme is important, field position is important, ball security is important, but at the end of the day it's going to come down to a will to win. I think that's what you saw from our guys."

Tony Elliott: On his younger players...

"Yeah, this team is special, right? This team is special because the makeup is different. You got some forefathers, like a Clary, like a Jah, Josie, James Jackson. You have guys like Eli that have been around from the beginning. You have Chandler who just came in this year. Devin Neal came in this year. What they've been able to do is phenomenal. You take guys from totally different backgrounds, different university, different experiences, coming to Virginia, then everybody putting their own personal goals and agendas to the side to commit to the team and the overall mission of the team.

It's really special. We've gotten contributions from all those guys, guys that were here from the beginning, guys that we recruited back when probably it wasn't the most sexy thing to come to Virginia, right, to some of the guys we brought in this past portal cycles this year. It's been really refreshing for me to realize in a landscape where there's so many narratives that at the end of the day these are young people that want to win football games. If you can get them to just focus on that and focus on each other and be a team, then you can have a special season like this year."

Chandler Morris: On Elliott calling him to punt...

He called that one since Monday, I think. That was one of the first things he said in the team meeting. Hey, we're going to have to be ready. He goes, 'Chandler, what do we have to be ready for?' I'm like whiskey pressure, I think. He's like, 'New York punt.' Kind of funny how it played out."

Tony Elliott cont'd....

"That's something that we practice every week, never knowing when you're going to have to execute it. So really for 15 weeks we've been practicing. We have a lot of competition on Thursdays in practice with that particular play. Looking at it, where we were, it was kind of like here is what the analytics say. If it's a little bit less yardage to go, we'll probably go for it. It was a fourth and 10 right there in that field zone. Didn't want to tip off that we were going to pooch punt it.

We said let's go try and make a play. Man, how about these two. The one yard line, that was huge. That's what I was telling them all week. In games like this in the post-season one possession, that really right there was a possession that we were able to essentially steal from the other team because we pinned them at the one yard line."

Chandler Morris: On how many times he can remember a 19-play,10-minute drive...

''No, that one's definitely my first. That was out in the Florida heat I guess we haven't been too used to it, too. We got in the huddle a little bit. I could see the big guys up front were a little gassed. Trying to encourage them just to go finish drives and everything like that. That was a huge drive in the game. 10 minutes. Right after halftime. To be able to go out there and really take over the line of scrimmage and punch it in the end zone. Putting seven points on the board that drive was really big to get us up in the lead."

On UVA's momentum heading into the offseason...

"Yeah, a lot of momentum. I told the guys, I said, There's a couple things I've been waiting to tell y'all. I got some good news and bad news for you. Good news, welcome to the 11-win club. Bad news is the season starts today. That's the reality, right, of where we're trying to evolve to as a program, is that it's always about what's next, it's always about the process. But I think this will gives some momentum going into the off-season from a recruiting standpoint. Also hopefully from a retention standpoint, get guys to want to come back. Also maybe shed some light nationally as to what we are, what we're building here in Charlottesville."

Eli Wood: On how he's been utilized and his pooch punt...

"I don't know if we've ever executed it that well in practice. Chandler just put it right on the line, made my job easy. The other question, like, when my number's called, I got to step up like everyone else. Thanks to this guy for trusting me, throwing me the ball. Thanks to the guys up front for protecting. They had a good front today. Some big guys. We knew the wideouts had to win outside. We were going to get a lot of man coverage. Just doing my job. Having this guy trust me to throw me the ball means the world to me. I'm just so happy to share this moment with my teammates."

Chandler Morris: On UVA's key and what worked well...

"Yeah, no, I think just watching it on film all week u the coaching staff had a really good plan for us third down. I was very confident in it. Then, too, the O-line, that's a tough deal to drop back 10 times on third down. Those guys are protecting me. They did their job, which allowed me to go out there and put the ball around my receivers and have them go make plays for me."

Eli Wood cont'd...

"I'll add that it's fun playing for a quarterback like Chandler because if you get separation, get open, he's going to put it right in your chest. Just doing your job every play, you know you're going to get some opportunities. You just got to capitalize on them."

Chandler Morris: On reaching his goals and reflecting on the season...

"Yeah, no, I guess just for me personally, I mean, it's kind of how I've been raised, anytime you go somewhere, you're whole goal is to leave it better than you found it. It means the world to me to come to a university that has a ton of passion for their sports teams. I'm also extremely grateful for the opportunity that I got to come to this awesome university and really get to experience it with everyone here. It starts in the locker room. This is my favorite team I've ever been a part of. I'm not saying that because we won a lot of games this year.

You go in the locker room, everybody really does love each other, they're pulling for each other, and it's just great people which starts with Coach Elliott and his staff and bringing in the right people and everything like that. It's awesome. I mean, I'm so blessed to be in this position."

Tony Elliott: On making up for not having J'Mari Taylor with different receivers and rushers...

"I would say it's really to combat that defensive front that they have. That's one of the best defensive fronts, in my opinion, in my country. They got two outstanding pass-rushers, then they can change up the speed with the guys they bring in behind them. They've got some huge interior guys. I know that Trotter didn't play, but the rest of their linebacker corps can run. It was really more to keep them off balance.

I thought we settled in a little bit and were able to be efficient with the run. We knew coming in, regardless of who was carrying the ball, versus that team, they're top 10 scoring defense in the country, I think they were top 10 in rush defense. We knew that running the ball was going to be difficult. We knew we were going to have to do some things schematically just to try to create some angles and numbers. I think in the second half what we saw is our guys got settled in and we were able to won some one on ones that gave us more efficiency running the football in the second half."