CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Thirty-five college football seasons ago, Virginia hosted Georgia Tech in the first-ever November clash of undefeated ACC teams.
The Cavaliers were No. 1 in the polls, an unimaginable height for a long-downtrodden program. The Yellow Jackets, blemished only by a tie with North Carolina, were No. 16.
Conference and national championships hinged on the outcome as a national television audience focused on Scott Stadium.
Saturday night’s ACC championship game presented UVA with its grandest opportunity since.
First outright ACC title.
First 11-win season.
First College Football Playoff appearance.
The endings were dreadfully similar for Cavaliers faithful.
Indeed, this inspiring Virginia team, one forged on the belief of its head coach, endured a gutting defeat Saturday against an opponent it dominated last month on the road.
Duke 27, Virginia 20. The first overtime contest in an ACC football championship history that dates to 2005.
“There’s nothing I can say to take away the pain,” Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott said.
The pain of stumbling against a team you routed 34-17 and outgained 540-255 three weeks ago.
The pain of erasing a 20-10, fourth-quarter deficit and forcing overtime with a gut-check touchdown drive of 96 yards in 1:22, only to have the architect of that march, Chandler Morris, throw a final-play interception.
Virginia experienced similar hurt in 1990, when Georgia Tech’s Scott Sisson kicked a field goal in the waning seconds to dash the Cavaliers’ storybook hopes.
Saturday was arguably the program’s most crushing loss since.
“It’s going to sting, for sure,” said linebacker James Jackson, a central figure in the decisive sequence of a four-hour marathon that turned drunk late.
On fourth-and-goal from the 1 in OT, Duke’s Darian Mensah rolled and retreated frantically to his right before finding tight end Jeremiah Hasley in the end zone for their second touchdown connection of the evening.
Duke tight end Jeremiah Hasley (85) runs to score a touchdown against Virginia in the first half of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
But on the play, officials flagged Jackson for roughing Mensah, and the 15-yard penalty meant the Cavaliers started their overtime possession at the 40 instead of the 25. Perhaps panicked by the longer distance, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings called for a gadget.
It ended disastrously for Virginia.
Morris took a shotgun snap and tossed the ball to J’Mari Taylor as if for a sweep. Taylor then threw a lateral back to Morris, who looked downfield toward Eli Wood.
Wood had caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds remaining in regulation, but on this play, he was blanketed. Luke Mergott intercepted the pass, setting off a wild Duke celebration and leaving many Cavaliers, especially Morris, inconsolable.
“I told him I loved him,” receiver Cam Ross said of Morris, “that we wouldn’t be here without him. … That dude, I can’t even put into words. The type of person he is. The type of leader he is. When he hangs his head after a play like that, it’s hard to see.”
Morris was not among the UVA players who met with reporters, but since transferring from North Texas during the offseason, he has been a public beacon of confidence and swagger, reflecting his Texas roots.
He didn’t come to Virginia to go 6-6, he told anyone within earshot. He came to Charlottesville to win a championship, and he darn near pulled it off.
Duke’s first outright ACC championship since 1962 leaves the College Football Playoff selection committee with a fascinating decision: Will the conference champion awarded the fifth and final automatic bid to the 12-team field be Duke (8-5) or the Sun Belt’s James Madison (12-1)?
Having seen both teams in-person multiple times, I would select JMU, but forecasting the whims of a 12-member panel that votes privately is impossible.
What is possible is dissecting Virginia’s first loss in four overtime games this season.
The Cavaliers’ regular-season drubbing of Duke was forged with a defense that rattled Mensah throughout and a balanced offense that ran and passed at will.
The Cavaliers (10-3) did none of the above Saturday night.
Among their limitations was an offensive line that rotated McKale Boley and Ben York at left tackle because of an ankle injury Boley sustained last week against Virginia Tech. Right guard also was problematic as Drake Metcalf was flagged for a hold and false start, prompting coaches to sub in Ethan Sipe.
As a result, Morris rarely had a clean pocket.
“McKale Boley played with a high ankle sprain off of basically two days’ rest, and he fought through it,” Elliott said. “I told him that’s the heart of a champion, because normally it’s a couple weeks, and he battled through and he found a way to get back.
“But it’s a championship football game, and Duke has got one of the highest pressure rates of anybody in the country with their front four, OK. Man, it was just a battle.”
Mensah, meanwhile, engineered the two longest touchdown drives, as measured by elapsed time, in ACC title-game history. Both first-half marches covered 75 yards, lasting 9:38 and 8:02, respectively, and on the latter, Duke converted a fourth down with a fake punt and a third-and-14 with a 35-yard dime from Mensah to Sahmir Hagans.
Virginia’s only first-half touchdown drive was a mere 23 yards, set up by freshman Corey Costner’s interception of Mensah. The sustained marches that marked UVA’s performance at Duke were absent.
To open the fourth quarter, with Virginia trailing 17-10, Morris overthrew Trell Harris in the end zone on fourth-and-5 from Duke’s 24. Minutes later, on third-and-9 from his own 2, Morris threw an outside route as Ross cut inside. Caleb Weaver intercepted with 7:21 remaining at UVA’s 33.
When Mensah immediately found Cooper Barkate for 30 yards, the Cavaliers appeared done.
They weren’t. They limited Duke to a field goal and then commenced their comeback.
“It’s just a testament to who they have been the whole season,” Elliott said.
Virginia will learn its bowl destination Sunday afternoon, in of itself a triumph for a program that hasn’t played in postseason since 2019 and that three years ago lost three players in a senseless shooting spree.
Reflecting on the journey, Elliott sounded much like former UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett, who in times of great disappointment always found perspective.
“We came up short tonight,” Elliott said. “It’s unfortunate. But we earned the right to be here. Man, we’ve overcome so much adversity (from) three years ago. This program was written off. I don’t think anybody would have thought that we’d be here this quickly in this position.
“So what I told (the team) is being a champion really is a state of mind and a condition of your heart. … So in my mind, and I know this may sound crazy in this situation, but I believe I’ve got the right to call somebody a champion, right, with my background. They’ve got a heart of a champion.”
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
