What Virginia HC Tony Elliott Said About Mike Hawkins Jr. & Zac Alley's Defense

Tony Elliott gave the Mountaineers a ton of credit for how they played on Saturday.

Sep 19, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez talks with Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott after the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

West Virginia QB Mike Hawkins Jr. brought his A-game last night, helping the Mountaineers to a 38-27 victory over No. 25 Virginia.

The redshirt sophomore connected on 10 of his 17 pass attempts for 190 yards and two scores and added 123 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

Virginia head coach Tony Elliott was impressed with Hawkins and talked about the challenge of going up against him during his postgame press conference.

“Well, you saw that if you misfit it kind of like we did early in the game, it goes for a touchdown. And then if you get him behind the chains, they can empty you out and create a lot of one-on-one matchups, and he made the throws. We knew coming in that we wanted to make him one-dimensional if we could, but tonight we struggled in some situations, and then I thought when we did get into some third-and-long situations, he just made the more competitive play than we did.”

Elliott has a ton of familiarity with WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley, whom he spent time with on staff at Clemson under Dabo Swinney. Coming into the game, Elliott felt that Alley was going to give the Cavaliers a lot of different looks, and he did not disappoint.

“With a lot of the exotic pressures, we probably led more with a controlled passing game as opposed to down-the-field shots," he said. "And once we got behind, it’s hard, especially when they’re getting shots on your quarterback; it’s hard to get everything to line up. They did a really good job. They were competitive. They mixed it up. They played some man coverage, and they bailed out of there. They played some Cover 2. I thought Zac (Alley) did a really good job of putting together a good plan.”

Beau Pribula, who is a dangerous dual-threat quarterback, was limited on the ground in this one. He ended the night with -1 yard on six carries — a stat no one saw coming. Elliott then explained how the Mountaineers were able to prevent his quarterback from hitting big plays on the ground.

“We knew they were going to be aggressive. They’re bringing pressures off the edge, which force the ball to be given to the back, which don’t give you a two-way option with your quarterback, and you can’t live in the QB draw the whole night. Your quarterback’s going to get beat up, especially when they’re forcing you to run in the interior. They did a really good job from a pressure standpoint.”