Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott looks on before UVA's game against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. — Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Tony Elliott: "We Can't Continue to Lose to Ourselves"

Watch Tony Elliott's postgame comments following UVA's 22-20 loss at Syracuse

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Sep 25, 2022 10:12 AM EDT

In this story:

Virginia Cavaliers

Read the full opening comments from head coach Tony Elliott in the postgame press conference following Virginia's 22-20 loss at Syracuse in the ACC opener on Friday night:

"It's tough. It's a tough locker room and they're just guys looking for answers. And the truth is, you know, we can't continue to lose to ourselves. We got 12 penalties. We got some critical mistakes by some of our older guys. Offensively, another situation, a little adversity early in the game and the guys started to abandon their technique and go away from the things that we've been teaching them to do and just trying to play ball and that's just not who I am. That's not who we are as a program and because of that, we're not playing complimentary football. The defense gave us some short fields. We couldn't capitalize. As soon as we hit a big play, then we have a mental mistake. You know, we have a holding call, a false start, something that gets us behind the chains... But I give the guys credit, man. They fought back in the second half and they started to have some success and then you saw a little bit of momentum, what it does. Now we didn't have the explosives that we're accustomed to and that we'd like to have, but we found a way to score some points and the defense kept us in the game long enough and kept giving us opportunities. But overall, when you have 12 penalties, they turn the ball over four times. You don't come away with points off those turnovers like you should, then you haven't earned the right to win the game."

Watch the video below to hear Tony Elliott's full postgame comments in which he discusses the halftime adjustments the Cavaliers made on the offensive side of the ball, his satisfaction with the performance of the defense, why Jestus Johnson started over Ty Furnish at center, the decision to replace Brendan Farrell with Will Bettridge at kicker, the team's issues on special teams, and what Virginia must focus on moving forward:

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