Virginia's Tony Elliott provides answers to burning questions ahead of Syracuse game

Tuesday, Virginia Coach Tony Elliott addressed the media — reflecting on a blowout loss at Florida State and looking ahead to a Saturday clash against Syracuse.

Here are the most important notes and quotes from Elliott, aside from a comment on quarterback Beau Pribula:

Why has Virginia struggled to respond to in-game adversity?

In short, Elliott said he is still trying to figure it out.

He returned to his concept of handling success, and how it can be more important than simply finding success.

"This group from a leadership standpoint is still figuring out who's going to be the guy," Elliott said. "I think that looking around to see who's going to go make a play instead of just going and make the play. That's what they do to start the game. And we just got to maintain that mindset. So, I got to do a better job of not just having them ready to start the game but handle the adversity in game to be able to persevere and just get through it and just keep playing one play at a time."

"[We] don't have an effort problem," Elliott said. "Guys are playing hard. I think the biggest thing is just when it does get hard, saying that, okay, this is the moment that I'm going to push and make it happen as opposed to just waiting on it to happen, if that makes sense."

Injury updates

Virginia expects to have running back Peyton Lewis available, as well as offensive lineman Grant Ellinger.

Receiver Dylan Newton-Short and defensive end Devon Baxter might not be fully healthy in time for Saturday night, although it isn't impossible.

What did Elliott tell his team after the Florida State loss?

This answer is best verbatim from the head coach. Here is what Elliott said he told his team after the ugly defeat:

"I mean, the first thing I wanted to address is that the ownership starts with me, right? I didn't have them ready to finish the game. I had them ready to start the game and play well early. I didn't have them ready to finish the game and that's all me. And I let them know that I let them down and I'll be better. So just understand that to start them down and I'll be better. So just understand that it starts with Coach Elliott. So, I'm not going to blame anybody, not going to blame any players. Everything's been evaluated. We're going to take ownership and collectively we're going to get better."

"And the guys were already in here on Sunday. The guys on the plane ride home, the bus ride home, they're already processing this and trying to figure out what happened, what we got to do. And by the time they showed up in here on Monday, they were eager to go back to work because they do understand that the only way that you're going to get better is to go back to work and take ownership of the things that you can control. And that's what I got to do a better job of helping them understand what it is that they control and can control it so that we can go out and put together four quarters."

"Like I think, you know, you've seen at times what this team is capable of And so, my job is to make sure that I'm leading the right way so that we can reach our potential week in and week out and not be a team that kind of plays to a circumstance or a situation, but we play. To a standard for 60 minutes and not just the first quarter or the fourth quarter. For 60 minutes and not just, you know, the first quarter or the fourth quarter or, you know, half of the second quarter."

Elliott's thoughts on the offensive line

The Cavaliers allowed 10 sacks against the Seminoles. That ugly no matter how it's analyzed, although some of those sacks were due to Pribula forcing plays that he should have thrown away.

"Still believe we got the best offensive line in the league, right?" Elliott said. "I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We got what we need. And for 15 minutes of that game, when you watch the first 15 minutes of the game, we were good enough to win the game."

Virginia was attacking Florida State in the first quarter. But once the Cavaliers fell into a hole, their offense struggled to adjust. Virginia had to abandon the run game, and its offensive line struggled to stop a physical and aggressive front.

"Now, we didn't make the plays that we needed to make, and they did," Elliott said. It changed the momentum and we couldn't get it flipped. But I think guys got to be challenged for sure to play well. We need our best players to play well. And then we need all of our supporting guys to do their job. They'll be challenged. But in terms of throwing, it out and saying that all is lost, I mean, we're 1-1 in conference, right?"

How to fix the defense

The Cavaliers coaches are not concerned with anything major. Elliott attributed the issues against West Virginia and Florida State to fundamentals.

"The biggest thing is we got to down the ball carriers and tackle them," Elliott said. "And we'll continue to work on it. That's on us as coaches. We got to help them improve both fundamentally and from a confidence standpoint. But the biggest thing is doing your job, being where you're supposed to be. And then when we get there, we just got to down the ball carrier."

The path forward

"We got a ton of football left to play — we just got to take ownership of it,'" Elliott said. "And that's what happens when you lose. There's a high level of of ownership and accountability where we got to get better is maintaining that edge when we're having success, right?"

Virginia has a chance to earn some success and get back to a winning record in conference play. The Cavaliers host a struggling Orange team for Homecomings, with what could be a packed crowd at Scott Stadium.

There are still seven games left to play in the regular season.

"I'm not making any excuses," Elliott said. "But man, I love my team. They show up every day. They love to work. My job is to lead them. So, if anything, I got to lead better, which I'm committed to doing. That's how we're going to approach it. And, man, we got a ton of football left. And if we play how we're capable of playing, I think we can win every game on our schedule. And if that were to happen, I think we would love the result in the end. So, that's what our focus is."

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