Everything From Virginia Head Coach Tony Elliot After The Cavaliers Loss To Wake Forest

It was a disappointing loss for Virginia at home against Wake Forest. Head coach Tony Elliot talked to the media after the loss. Here is what coach Elliot said on Saturday night.

On Chandler Morris…

“I mean, he came back out, I know he's in street clothes there, and said he was feeling all right. We'll know more when we get some more tests early in the week, tomorrow and Monday. But man, you've got to, anytime you get hit in the head or up above the neck, you've got to make sure that you take that with a lot of caution, and so being very cautious. But from what I seen out there, he seemed like he was doing okay.

On the problems offensively….

“I think when you look at it, we had a low pass there coming out for 15 15-yard gain that was negated. Then we had a false start penalty that put us, you know, behind the chains and just off in the inches, you know, they do a really good job, as I said that up front, of making it challenging in the run game. It took us a little while to get going, and then Chandler goes down. Then we have some opportunities in the red zone that we don't capitalize on, and never really were able to create, you know, the momentum offensively, and we were looking for that, that explosive play, to get us going. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it until it was too late.”

On Daniel Kaelin performance…

“He was out there trying to win a ball game, so I have no problem with his effort, and he came in and made some really good throws. Put us in position, you know, right out the gate to score points in the red zone. That's on us, coaching wise, in that third-down situation, we were trying to kind of disguise what we were doing, and he did what he was coached to do. And so that's really not on him right there. That's more on us from a coaching standpoint. But hey, we're right there inside the 10 right with a chance to tie the ball game with under a minute to go. So man, super proud of Danny to come in and give us a shot right like, ultimately, he gave us a chance to win. And so all of us have to shoulder, you know, the blame. We will have coaches, players, everybody in the program, and go back to work and get ready to chase our best four quarters down in North Carolina.”

On what he seen from the coverage team on special teams on the punt return for a touchdown…

“I thought they did a good job. They chose not to rush the punt, and so they put everybody on hold. Got some double teams in, in the guys that we had in one one-on-one matchups were in position to potentially down the ball, and we didn't. We didn't down the ball. So, you know, we don't talk about relaxing when the ball hits the ground. That's just an opportunity for all of us to coach better, right? To prepare better so that it doesn't happen again.”

On if the playbooks is limited when Daniel Kaeling is in the game…

“I think in a ball game like that, man, you're just trying to find whatever you feel like works within the playbook. So I don't think you should shrink your playbook. I thought I felt like we found some stuff in the quick game, that he was getting a little bit of a rhythm with getting the ball out of his hands, still trying to stay consistent with the run game, and it wasn't, you know, producing as much as we liked early on. We found some big plays there later in the game. But, you know, I think in a game like that, you're just trying to find, you know, whatever you can to spark the offense. And so I wouldn't say that the playbook was limited, because Danny takes reps, you know, every day in practice, you know, just like the starters, and we alternate groups, you know, from time to time. So I think it was more a function of, we never really could establish a rhythm offensively, and then when we did, we'd have some, some things that that we can control, that we didn't take advantage of.”

On how crucial ball security was in the outcome of the game.

“It was pivotal. I think they got six points off the fumbles, right? So six points off the fumbles, and seven points off a punt return, so special teams and ball security. We've been preaching it. Sometimes we have to learn. I think these guys got an opportunity to learn. I don't think anybody was trying to put the ball on the ground. You know, the ball got knocked out of, out of Danny's hands, but he's getting ready to pass, and, you know, he's going to get blamed for that. But we've got to strain a little bit harder to make sure that the protection is cleaner so he can get that ball off. And then man J’mari, he's fighting, and a guy made a heck of a play. He's going down to the ground, you know? So we got to go back to work, and now, you know, where we are late in the season, when we do our drill work, man, we just got to be intentional with everything that we're doing. Uncharacteristic for us to put the ball on the ground and not get any turnovers. We had several games defensively where we generated some turnovers, and we didn't do great on third down. We didn't capitalize, you know, you think about and you know, now it's gonna be a great opportunity to teach and for everybody to really learn. You know, those touchdowns in the red zone, when we talk about touchdowns in the red zone, you got two field goals. You get two touchdowns in those situations after the block punt, and then for the big, long run down there, if you get two touchdowns, that's eight points, that you left out on the field, as opposed to the six points that you got right, so now it's a totally different, totally different ball game.”

On the usage of the last timeout on the final drive…

“The ball was caught under the sticks, right? I can't even remember how long it was, 36 seconds, or something like that. I think it was 36 seconds. If we don't call the timeout there by the time they spot the ball and get your best call in, then you're probably going to run another 15, you know, 18 seconds off the clock. And then now you're inside of 20. So it was a, let's stop the clock, get our best call in, try to get the first down. The clock will stop again, and then we'll be ready to roll. So it's really just trying to save as many seconds. Now, had that been a first down right? If it were a first down gain, then we wouldn't call the timeout right there, because the clock was stopped for the change to set, and we'd have an opportunity to get the best call in. Then it was a down-and-distance situation, you know, your tempo calls are probably not your ideal calls in some of those situations. So it was really just to try and save some time and get us our best play call.”

On his thoughts of the defensive effort…

“They responded to some field position challenges by holding them to field goals; they got off the field in some situations. I think when they stop, them down inside the goal line on fourth down. So we stopped them with a goal-line stand. So they, man, they did their part to kind of, kind of keep us within, within striking range and unfortunately, we didn't play complementary football to be able to put enough points up to win.”

On running a fade on the last play…

“You got either ors for zone or man. That's just kind of where it took the progression on that ball over there.”

On if he reminded the players of what is still out there and on the line…

“So I talked to him in the locker room, and I told them that all of our goals that we started the season with are still out there, right? We never had a goal that said we wanted to go undefeated in the ACC right? Our goal is to win the conference championship and the state championship, and we still have an opportunity ahead of us with the next two ball games. So let's not let this beat us twice. Yeah, we got humble pie. I mean, coaches, players, all of us. We got to own it. We got to, you know, go back to work, figure out where we can get better and stay together, because we still got everything ahead of us.”

On if he would have kicked or gone for two points at the end if Virginia scored…

“Probably I would have kicked in and tied it up the way defense was playing. Get it to overtime. Yeah, I wouldn't have. I would have kicked that right there and then, and then played it out, especially with the way the defense was playing.”

On the message to the team and what it was like for the team to grow through the loss…

“I mean, they're hurt, so they want to win, right? And they believe that they were going to win all the way down to the last, you know, 13 seconds on the clock. I asked them, I said, did anybody not believe we all were like, we believe, okay, so, but they're hurt, they're disappointed. They're a group that will respond. The biggest challenge is staying inside out, because, you know, I know we're talking about a loss right now, but where we're at is because we stayed inside out, we stayed together, and we've responded. And that's really what to me, the heart of a champion is, you know, when you have defeat, you can, you can respond quickly. And biggest challenge for me and the staff is to make sure that we don't allow this to beat us twice, right? Because, you know, we start to now fracture and listen to outside voices and do all that kind of stuff. And, you know, we played with fire, right? And we got burned. We kept it close when we didn't necessarily have to, right? And we turned the ball over in some critical situations. And no, and I'm not discrediting Wake. They played their butts off. They won a game. They're well coached, and they deserve it. At the same time, when we're going to look at this film and we're going to realize, man, we had a lot of opportunities that we didn't capitalize on, we didn't take advantage of, and eventually, in the month of November, right? That's what's going to happen. We're kind of in a little bit of a new frontier. I've been talking a lot about the importance of games in the month of November and how close they are, and how the margin for error is very, very small. So obviously I got to do a better job of making sure that they truly understand that, so that they're prepared to go out and perform, so they don't, you know, put themselves in jeopardy anymore.”

On the momentum of the crowd and the running game…

“The crowd was awesome. I really appreciate everybody for showing up and staying there all the way to the end. We don't have a chance there at the end without the crowd, right, like they play a big part in what we do and give us energy to be able to go out and perform. So really, really appreciate the crowd, and now we're gonna need them, you know, especially for the last one when we get back here. Now, we've got to be road warriors, you know, down at Duke this week. But it was huge. And hey, you know, Jamari was two yards from 100, you know, he was 164, you know, we found some big runs there, right? It just it hasn't been as efficient, you know, as I I like, especially on first and second down when we can get but, you know. I think people are going to gear up to stop the run, but we've got to strain a little bit better and go back to work, man, backs gotta, gotta fall forward. I think that's what we're doing earlier. And we've got to make sure that we're not swinging for the fence and trying to hit the home run and taking the base hits. So we're gonna get back to work. We're going to strain and get better. I have noticed over the last couple of weeks that it has, you know, started to improve relative to a couple of weeks before that.

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