CHARLOTTESVILLE — After helping carry Virginia’s offense to a record-setting performance Saturday afternoon, the Cavaliers’ offensive line had one more lift to handle.
In the victorious locker room, the unit hoisted offensive coordinator Des Kitchings onto its shoulders.
“He’s such a great coach and does such a good job, week in and week out, putting us in really good positions and helps us build confidence throughout the week,” backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin said after UVA’s 55-16 win over William & Mary. “He definitely deserves that and he’s a big reason why we’ve been successful on offense.”
Saturday, against the FCS Tribe, Virginia (2-1) had offensive success never seen before by the program. They amassed a school-record 700 yards of total offense.
Running back Harrison Waylee, who didn’t get the ball a week ago in a loss at North Carolina State, made the most of his 10 carries against an overwhelmed and overmatched W&M defense, piling up 151 yards and three touchdowns.
Waylee’s third score was a UVA-record 97-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris stands in the pocket as he looks to pass against William & Mary on Saturday. (Mike Caudill/Freelance)
Running back Noah Vaughn rushed for 101 yards on eight carries before exiting with an ankle injury.
Five Virginia players scored touchdowns against W&M (1-2).
“Everybody got to eat,” said wide receiver Kameron Courtney, who opened the scoring by taking a reverse 23 yards to the end zone 4:14 into the contest. “Everybody was happy. Coach Kitch had a great game plan.”
Kitchings, who came to UVA with Tony Elliott before the 2022 season, has been the staff’s most maligned member in terms of fan discontent.
That, Courtney said, played into the team’s postgame celebration of its play-caller.
“We don’t really pay attention to social media and things like that,” Courtney said. “But you kind of hear the outside noise. Seeing what we did today was pretty special.”
William & Mary running back Rashad Raymond is tackled on fourth down by a swarm of Virginia defenders on Saturday in Charlottesville. (Mike Caudill/Freelance)
A week after throwing an interception in the end zone to seal to the Cavaliers’ 35-31 loss at N.C. State, starting quarterback Chandler Morris helped UVA get off to a fast start.
He went 13 for 19 for 149 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end John Rogers with 6:01 to play in the second quarter.
The throw was his final one of the day. Ahead 35-7, Virginia turned to Kaelin for most of the remainder of the contest.
But it was third-string quarterback Cole Greer whose fourth-quarter 12-yard run pushed UVA to the 700-yard mark and the record. That topped the 691 yards Virginia piled up against Davidson in 1968.
And Kitchings’ game plan was a huge part of it.
“I had to tip my hat. In all my time as a play-caller, I never had a game with that many yards in it,” said Elliott, a former offensive coordinator at Clemson. “And so, I tip my hat to Coach Kitch and the offensive staff and the players. Man, they threw Coach Kitchings up in their shoulders. It was just awesome to see that moment because that tells me that those guys believe.”
For William & Mary, which lost to Virginia for a seventh consecutive time, there was much less to celebrate.
“We made some errors and things like that that obviously cost you,” said the Tribe’s Mike London, who coached UVA from 2010-2015. “We weren’t hitting on all cylinders.”
William & Mary running back Rashad Raymond is brought down by Virginia defenders Mitchell Melton, center, and Jason Hammond on Saturday in Charlottesville. (Mike Caudill/Freelance)
Quarterback Noah Brannock threw for 111 yards and ran for another 35 and a touchdown.
The Tribe scored their first points on a 79-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Hughes to Deven Thompson that trimmed Virginia’s lead to 21-7 with 1:59 gone in the second quarter.
But W&M would not score again until Brannock took in a 6-yard carry with 2:13 left in the third quarter.
William & Mary went 2 for 13 on third down, 0 for 2 on fourth down, and went three-and-out seven times.
Virginia outgained W&M 700-263, piling up 379 rushing yards.
“I told the senior leadership point-blank: I said, ‘Look, we’re going to find out a lot about our football team this week,’ ” Elliott said. “‘How mature are we? Are we going to be able to show up and play to a standard, or are we going to show up and play to an opponent?’ I felt like they came out ready to go in all three phases.”
