Everything From Tony Elliott After Virginia's Loss to NC State

Virginia went on the road and put up a good fight, but the Cavaliers could not defeat NC State. UVA put up over 500 yards of offense, but a couple of failed red zone trips and their inability to pressure the quarterback and stop the run was their undoing.

After the game, head coach Tony Elliott spoke to the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"You know, it's ACC football, you got to find a way, they got in position to kick the field goal, you know, that's where we got to produce right there, that's not necessarily on the offense and had the turnover there driving, fourth and one, you know, you got to, the difference was they made a fourth and one, we didn't, right, so they made a critical play when we didn't, but do it all over again, super proud of the guys, thought they battled their tails off, thought we grew up a little bit as a football team, but still no more victories. We came down here to win. Non-conference or not, we came down here to win and we came up short, so hats off to Coach Doeren and his guys for finding a way to win the game. We're going to own it, we're going to get better, and we're all going to win it next week."

1. On the fourth down call late in the game...

"At the end of the day, I didn't care who the back was. We were going to run the play, and all our backs got to produce. He just happened to be in there, I think, got dinged up a little bit. So we got to do a better job of just giving them a little bit more room, and we got to find a way. And I think all those guys in that locker room are hurting, because they came down here with the expectation to win. I told them the message was we're not coming down here to have a good showing. We're not coming down here to play the game, whether it's non -conference or not. We were coming down here to find a way to win. And unfortunately, they made about three or four more plays than us in critical moments. And that's where we got to get better as coaches, starting with myself, to help the players improve this week coming up."

2. On going for it instead of kicking the field goal...

"Yeah, When I thought about it, I know the analytics said it was close, but I wanted to get the points, get us within an opportunity to win it on a field goal with the way, and I felt like with kind of where we were, we needed points. We needed something on the board, so I know the analytics will probably say we could have went for it, but I felt like we were in range, you know, we were right there in range, and we got to find a way to make that. I think if we make that, then it's a different ball game, and now in that two -minute clutch situation, you're playing for a field goal and not a touchdown."

3. On Chandler's interception...

"Yeah, you had a back wheel out of the backfield, was over the top of him, left it a little bit short and inside, just kind of missed where you don't want to miss as a quarterback and their guy, Kudos to him, he's a defensive end and he found a way to cover the back, be in position, Turn around and catch the ball. So I thought their guy made a good competitive play But we left it a little bit inside and you know Trust me. There's nobody that, that's more frustrated and cares more than Chandler Morris."

4. On the defense...

"Yeah, I think in the going back to the first to the first half I think it took us two drives and then we got several stops that allowed us to, you know, have a 10 -point lead at half -time. And then, in the second half, we got a little bit more, you know, pressure on the quarterback, just moved them around a little bit. We tackled a little bit better later in the game, you know, found a way to get their running back on the game, on the ground, and not give them seven, eight -yard gains, so that they have very short conversions on the next play. And then, guys just made a couple plays there at the end to give us a shot. So, the football team, they're hurting, they want to win, but we're going to learn from them, we're going to get better, go back to work. It's only game two. We got everything we want in front of us. Even though this is non -conference, wanted to win it, it doesn't knock off any of our goals. All of our goals are still ahead of us as a football team."

5. On J'Mari Taylor making the transition from FCS to FBS...

"He's a good football player, you know, and I think what you see in college football nowadays, there's really good football players at all levels, just because of the way recruiting is. He's played four years in college football prior to coming here, was a starter for several years. He's very talented to begin with, he's got a great temperament, demeanor, team first guy, hard worker, doesn't say much at practice. He's a pleaser, wants to do it right, so all those qualities and characteristics I believe is what allowed him to make the transition."

6. On trying to stop Hollywood Smothers...

"He's good. I mean, if you watch him, like, he's gonna have some more big games, and prior to that big run you know we were kind of boxing him in a little bit but you give him space he's gonna make you uh he's gonna make you pay and uh and the biggest thing with him is he's got tremendous speed he's got great contact balance he knows how to run he understands run schemes I knew it was a matter of time that he was gonna have a big play just was was not hoping that was hoping that it wasn't a big 70 yard or 50 yard run whatever it was to set up a score."

7. On the pass rush...

"You got to settle into a game, found some guys that were kind of playing the way we needed them to, and then also certain situations based off of the down and distance. We didn't go with some of our speed packages at times were a little bit more base. They were converting more and getting bigger gains that kept us in more of our base personnel and not allowing us to sub to our sub -packages. We didn't have sacks either. We didn't give them sacks and we made one critical play. That's two good football teams going at it to be honest with you. That offensive line right there is really, really good and they got a ton of experience and our offensive line is down, right tackle, playing a guy that's a backup guy for us and we didn't give any sacks up either.

So, man, I'm not going to get down on that massive quarterback. He's a really good quarterback. He was going to get the ball out of his hand. You know, especially in the second half, when you're allowing him to stay ahead of the chains, it's very, very hard to get sacks. When you're ahead of the chains and then you can convert five-yard throws into nine-yard gains, 10 yard games, man, it's hard to get pressure on him. I wish we had found a way to not want those balls on the ground, but man, that was a good football game against two good football teams that were battling. They got good offensive personnel. And so, man, I'm encouraged by what we have.

To be honest with you, two games in a row, we don't have the quarterback on the ground versus two quality opponents, Coastal Carolina and NC state now am I going to challenge our guys you can you can go ask them defensive ends who gets challenged the most on that football team and it comes from me now we got to we got to do some things to help and we'll evaluate that to see if there's anything we need to do to generate some more pass rush but now we're gonna look at the film get better but I really hadn't watched the film to be able to say exactly what it was."

8. On Cam Ross...

"I mean he's been, he's dynamic very very dynamic and he had some some big plays for us and you know when we play complimentary football we have a chance to be a good football team when we play complimentary football And that's hard to do for every minute, every situation, every drive of the game, but you got to do it at a high level consistently. And I think that's where there were a couple of times where we could have done a little bit better and that's where we're going to have to grow as a football team."

9. On Sage Ennis...

"Oh man, I told him God is good because he was down, I mean he was in tears on the field. You know, fearing the worst that they really hurt his other knee. And when the tent came back and to have an opportunity to score a touchdown, God is good. I'm just happy, happy for him. We don't have a more committed guy on our football team. We don't have a better leader, a guy that is completely and absolutely sold out for Virginia football and puts his teammates first and all of his teammates know him and that's why they follow him so just happy for him to to be rewarded with a, with the touchdown."

10. On being able to convert a lot of third and longs in the game...

"And so going back to that question that we were at a lot we convert a lot of third -longs and have no sacks All right, and the quarterback didn't get hit much, you know versus that front and so just guys executing, giving the quarterback protection in the pocket and guys being where they're supposed to be and then the quarterback being dialed in on the defensive structure to know where to go through his progression and the guys made some plays. The guys went down sliding up balls, balls up over their head, man they made the quarterback right and it was a beautiful thing to see but hopefully that gives the last two games we've been, you know, over 50 % on third down, which we're going to need to be throughout better in the red zone. We've got to make those field goals in the red zone. And in Will Bettridge, he'll go to work and he'll find a way to put it through the uprights. And we're going to continue to give him opportunities to kick. So I know there's no moral victories, but we're going to get on this bus. We're not going to have our head down. We're going to stay encouraged. We're going to stay positive. My challenge to the team is we either get better we get better or we either get defined by this game or we get developed and I'm choosing to get better, I'm choosing to get developed and I believe those guys are going to do the same thing."