Next up on the Clemson football schedule is the Virginia Cavaliers. The head coach of the Cavaliers is Tony Elliott, a man very familiar with the Clemson program. Elliott spent time with the Tigers as both a player and a coach. He won championships with the Tigers as the offensive coordinator. Now Dabo Swinney’s former assistant head coach will be on the opponent’s sideline looking to beat his alma mater. If the Tigers aren’t prepared for a fight, Elliott could lead his improved Virginia squad to pull off the upset.
Elliott’s Time at Clemson
Elliott’s career at Clemson began when he walked on to the team in 1999 as a wide receiver. By the end of his playing career in 2003, Elliott had played in 44 games with 4 starts. He was also selected as the captain of the team. Following his playing career, Elliott would coach wide receivers at the Division 1-AA level, now known as the FCS. He coached the position at South Carolina State and Furman before joining Swinney’s staff at Clemson in 2011.
Elliott started out as the running backs coach initially, then in 2015 he was tagged as the co-offensive coordinator. In 2020, Elliott became the sole offensive coordinator and was also named the assistant head coach the next year. Elliott was then hired as the Virginia head coach in 2022.
As the Clemson offensive coordinator, Elliott won the ACC Championship six times. He also won two national championships with the Tigers. Elliott even won himself the Broyles Award, the award given to the top assistant in college football, in 2017. All his time at Clemson gave Elliott the blueprint for how a championship program is built and run. Now he attempts to instill the things he has learned into a Virginia program that has been in rebuild mode for some years. So far, Elliott seems like the right man for the task.
Virginia in 2024
While Elliott’s first two seasons with the Cavaliers were rough both on and off the field, they have started to find their stride to begin the 2024 season. The Cavs currently sit at 4-2 overall, with four being the most wins in a season so far in the Elliott era. Virginia has also started 2-1 in the ACC. Its sole loss in conference play came last week against Louisville in a back-and-forth game 24-20. Even in that loss, the Cavaliers fought hard and controlled parts of the game.
Much of Virginia’s early season success is because of quarterback Anthony Colandrea. The sophomore is an electric athlete to watch. Colandrea has started the season completing 64.4% of his passes for 1490 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s also run the ball 64 times for 242 yards and two more touchdowns. For someone still young in their college football career, Colandrea plays with so much confidence and isn’t afraid to put the team on his shoulders. He’s accounted for 1732 total yards. That is 66% of the Cavs total yards on offense.
Colandrea can throw and run the ball exceptionally well. He will make mistakes like a young quarterback too as he’s thrown four interceptions on the year. But, he has a short memory and his athleticism helps him make up for it with big play ability.
Next to him will be another familiar face returning to Death Valley, running back Kobe Pace. The senior running back has been a solid ball carrier for Virginia. He does a good job keeping the ball moving when the Cavalier offense starts to stall. He is averaging 55.2 yards per game. Keeping Pace bottled up and Colandrea from getting hot will be important for the Tigers’ defense.
Cavs vs Tigers History
This will be the 50th meeting between these historic programs. Though these two programs have been part of the ACC since the year the conference was formed, they have not played each other a ton. The last time these teams played each other was in 2020. Before that game, the last regular season meeting was in 2013. This is because when the conference was split into divisions, Clemson was in the Atlantic and Virginia was in the Coastal.
Currently, Clemson leads the series overall 40-8-1. The Tigers have also won the last five straight games against the Cavaliers. The last meeting between these teams also took place in Death Valley where the Tigers won 41-23. Now the Tigers look to get another home win against the Cavs.
Keys for the Tigers
This game is going to come down to the quarterbacks. Cade Klubnik and Colandrea are two of the most talented quarterbacks in the ACC. That should be on display this weekend. This game has the chance to turn into one of the best quarterback duals of this college football regular season. This means the team that will be in the best position to win will most likely come down to which quarterback makes the most plays. Or, the defense that makes the most stops.
The Tigers’ defense has to put pressure on Colandrea and force him to make mistakes. Colandrea has shown he is prone to turning the ball over. The defense has to make him give it up and get him off the field.
Meanwhile, Klubnik must keep playing just as lights out as he has the last few weeks. Klubnik should have a big game against this Cavs pass defense. It is their weak spot as Virginia has given up over 200 passing yards in five out of six games. The Cavaliers’ defense is giving up an average of 260.5 pass yards a game. Wake Forest quarterback Hank Bachmeier threw for 403 yards on the Cavs defense. Coastal Carolina quarterback Ethan Vasko threw for 302 yards. Klubnik should have a similarly big day to lead the Tigers to their sixth straight win.
