Virginia postgame quotes that matter from Tony Elliott after loss to West Virginia

Virginia was dealt its first loss of the 2026 season Saturday. It was a shocking upset, as the Cavaliers lost by double digits for the first time since November of 2024.

Postgame, Coach Tony Elliott fielded questions from the media, providing insight into his team's performance as well as the road ahead.

A learning opportunity, first dose of adversity

Elliott said his team's belief never wavered.

Even as the Mountaineers started gradually taking over the game, Virginia's head coach said he thought his team continued to fight and never relented.

An example was on a key fourth down, when Beau Pribula connected with Rico Flores Jr. for a clutch 26-yard catch.

"It was good to see those guys respond in that moment, which tells you kind of what's at the core," Elliott said. "Now, for me, I have to do a better job of of making sure that that I have them prepared to be able to to play at that level, that level of intensity for for four quarters. "

"I told the team prior to that in the first two games, you really hadn't faced adversity... I knew going into this game with that bunch on the other sideline and their ability to score quickly and be explosive, that we were going to have some adversity, and I thought that there were there were times when we responded the right way in all three phases, and then I thought like there were times where we could have responded better in all three phases, and then that's my job as a coach to identify exactly what was off in those moments and do a better job of of helping the guys to to be better in those in those tight moments."

How did the Mountaineers wreck Virginia's defense?

The big star of the game was West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., who totaled over 300 yards and five touchdowns. Three of those were rushing touchdowns.

Elliott admitted that the Cavaliers' made some crucial mistakes in terms of defensive alignment and strategy.

"You saw that that if you misfit it, kind of like we we did early in the game, it goes for a touchdown, and then if you get them behind the chains, they can empty you out and create a lot of one-on-one matchups, and he made the throws," Elliott said. "We wanted to make him one-dimensional if we could, but tonight we we struggled in some situations. And then I thought when we did get into some some third and long situations, he just he just made the more competitive play than than we did. So I got to do a better job of having the the guys prepared to to go make the competitive play in those situations."

Why did the offense struggle at times?

"It's hard to kind of get everything to line up [when they're getting shots on your quarterback]," Elliott said. "But they did a really good job. Thought they they were competitive. They mixed it up. They played they played some man coverage and they bailed out of there, and then they played some cover too. So I thought that I thought [defensive coordinator Zac Alley] did a really good job of of putting together a good plan against us."

Elliott also added that Virginia lost the ability to play from ahead once the Mountaineers quickly established an offensive prescence. With the ball (and lead) in hand, the Cavaliers could dictate the game. Instead, West Virginia started sending aggressive blitzes in passing situations.

"And then they're bringing pressures off the edge, which force the force the ball to be given to the [running] back, which don't give you a two-way option with your with your quarterback," Elliott said. "And then you can't live in the in the QB draw the the whole night. Your quarterback's going to get beat up, especially when they're forcing you to run in the in the interior, so we'll study it."

"I felt like it was it was probably less taking Beau's running away as they did a really good job from a pressure standpoint, especially when we got into some have to throw it down the field type of deals and get four receivers out. Then they were able to overload some of our pressures, and and we got to do a better job. [It starts] with me as a as a coach of having him prepared to be able to to handle those situations."

"All of the goals are still on the table"

Before the season began, Elliott and his veterans crafted goals for the 2026 season. Here are some of them:

Win the home opener
Win the ACC opener
Go undefeated at home
Go undefeated overall
Win the ACC

The actual list is longer, but a few of those goals were already achieved and there are many others that are still in play.

"I told the team that all of our goals are still on the table, right?" Elliott said. I think the only the only goal that's not on the table is to go undefeated. So we still we got an opportunity to continue to control our own destiny in the league. And I think the the ultimate objective is to get back here in December. So that's still out there.

"I told the team that their DNA where they come from was a team last year that had a tough loss in the state of North Carolina early in the season, and then they went on a run to to respond the right the right way."

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