The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Virginia’s Gator Bowl Matchup vs Missouri

The Virginia Cavaliers clinched a 13-7 victory over the Missouri Tigers in Jacksonville last night at the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It's no secret that the Cavaliers were hoping to earn the ACC title and reach the College Football Playoff this year, but unfortunately, it wasn't in their cards just yet. However, the different path allowed them to compete in the Gator Bowl and claim one final win of the season.

Although the game played out in UVA's favor, it was not without challenge. This was the lowest-scoring bowl game of the season, which directly reflects the obstacles faced by Virginia's offensive unit. Let's take a look at some of the elements from last night's contest.

The Good

After defeating Missouri, Virginia proudly wrapped up its 2025 campaign 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. Their 11th win of the season will go down as a historic achievement for Tony Elliott's program. The last time the Cavaliers claimed 10 wins was back in 1989, and 11 wins in a single season went unheard of for Virginia until now. It's safe to say that this was an unexpected outcome; few people expressed true hope for UVA before their campaign began.

The Bad

Virginia had a surplus of athletes sidelined for this matchup, but fortunately, each available player carried a next-man-up mentality and was ready to hit the field when called upon. Among those out were Maddox Marcellus, Dillon Newton-Short, J'Mari Taylor and Trell Harris. As seen, UVA was able to rally and work with who they had, but losing so many key players before such a significant game is dreadful. With that said, this allowed time for some of Virginia's younger and less experienced players to get some reps and make a case for themselves on the field.

The Ugly

When the Virginia-Missouri matchup first kicked off, Tigers running back Jamal Roberts surged his team ahead for a 5-yard touchdown during the first quarter. UVA wasn't able to start building momentum until the second quarter, and although it worked out in their favor this time around, the Cavaliers' slow start could have easily cost them the entire game.

"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," Elliott stated during his postgame press conference. "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."

With their 2025 campaign now concluded, it's time for the Cavaliers to briefly rest and recover before prepping for next season. There's a strong chance that Elliott's program will come back even more steady in 2026.