Virginia's loss to Duke was tough. So was the postgame press conference, during which Coach Tony Elliott was asked some very difficult questions about this Cavaliers football team.
Here are the crucial notes and quotes from Elliott's postgame appearance:
Does this football team have the right leadership, compared to last year?
Elliott previously said that the player leadership in 2025 is different than it is in 2026.
Vocal leaders like Sage Ennis, James Jackson, Jahmeer Carter and Chandler Morris (the captains) all exhausted eligibility. Virginia has not had permanent team captains since.
In the first few months of the 2026 campaign, the Cavaliers have lost some close games. Friday was the latest heartbreaker.
"A lot of that's on me," Elliott said. "So I'm not going to throw the leadership of this team under the bus. I got to keep helping them, but also, they responded to the challenges that have been placed in front of them. So the styles may be different [from 2025 to 2026], but I don't know if the difference in style automatically equates to the difference in outcome in the game."
"I think it's a game of inches, right? Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn't. But but just [to assert blame] collectively as a team? Not all the guys that are in leadership positions are the ones that are counted on to make a play in a critical situation, right? So I'm not going to say that that's the difference in in the outcomes in the game. It's more on me and instilling a belief in every guy that steps on that field, so that they believe that in those critical moments, they can they can go make the play required to help us win the game."
Is Beau Pribula the starting QB going forward?
Once again, Elliott was asked about the security of Pribula's starting status. Elliott repeated a similar answer:
"We'll review him, all right," Elliott said. "But five sacks...we're putting that on the quarterback? And the guy's running with the ball and trying to get more yards. Now, ball security got to improve. And then you teach the quarterback, you die with the ball game on fourth down and protection breaks down. So we're going to evaluate the film just like we always do. But I'm not going to sit here and say that it's the it's the quarterback's. [We] got a lot of things to to improve all the way all the way around."
Why didn't Matthew Fobbs-White play in the first half?
Virginia's starting BANDIT did not play in the first two quarters. He did play in the second half. According to Elliott, there is an internal issue that is being worked through. The last time Elliott said that, it was associated with a disciplinary decision (Ja'Son Prevard, against Virginia Tech in 2025).
Why did Virginia settle for a field goal at the end of the first half?
Elliott said he did not want to do "anything too risky." That decision was, and will continue to be, heavily scrutinized after a game the Cavaliers lost by three points. A touchdown before halftime might have made the difference.
What do the Cavaliers have to do to fix their struggling offense?
It is a tough question. It is perhaps the biggest one surrounding this football team. Elliott says his team needs to strain a little bit harder.
"They're working hard, but man, when you're playing playoff-style football every single week, and it's coming down to you know three to five plays, you never know which one of those plays is going to make the difference in the game," Elliott said. "So what we got to do is just make a decision to come back and and take ownership."
"And then like I told told the guys, it's not just about saying 'okay, I own that I didn't get my job done.' It's mentally, right? What do we have to do to improve, right? And then physically, what do we have to do to improve throughout the course of practice to be able to go make those plays in those in those critical situations from that from that stage."
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