‣ CFB 2026 Regular Season, Week 3 - Scott Stadium, Charlottesville, Virginia
(1-0, 0-0 ACC) Syracuse Orange at Virginia Cavaliers (2-0, 0-0 ACC)
CUSE | 7 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 45
UVA | 0 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 27
Defense blows a gasket, offense can't hang as Orange execute Cavs
After a hot 2-0 start after defeating legitimate foes in Colorado and Houston, Virginia will go down after suffering an embarrassing 45-27 loss to Syracuse in head coach James Xavier's first ACC matchup. Syracuse quarterback Braden Davis threw for over 400 yards and 6 touchdowns, absolutely torching a Virginia secondary that was going to be leaned upon heavily.
"It's disappointing to say the least, we've got a lot to work on," commented a clearly frustrated Xavier at the post-game press conference. "We need to do better on the defensive end. We relied too heavily on getting home on the pass rush and we put ourselves in horrific positions to get torched for four quarters. These stat lines that these receivers get to read in their locker room is embarrassing."
Coach Xavier had one message to his defense going forward. "The same way we were hyped up after our first game [against Colorado], we need to be realistic in this one. It's gut check time. How they respond next week is going to define who we are as a unit for the rest of the season."
Coach Xavier and defensive coordinator Brandon Fisher were seen on the sideline going back and forth in a yelling match. Fisher's unit has been inconsistent in their tackling and it showed. "We played soft. It's that simple. We play soft, we don't take good angles of pursuit, we don't get to our landmarks in coverage. We played simpleton football today." Coach Fisher remarked.
For all intents and purposes, the offense didn't fare much better. The run game was consistently stuffed and the wide receivers couldn't get much separation. Tight end Dom President led the offense as he has the last few games, proving to be a mismatch in most of his games - something the Cavaliers and offensive coordinator Slade Nagle is sure to continue to exploit.
"It's a personnel thing here," Coach Xavier commented. "This game is based off of speed, and we need to have guys in there who can run crisp routes and get open. I can't always be harping on Anthony [Colandrea] when he has no where to throw the ball. It's on all of us. Drawing up a good game plan and having the means to run said game plan is what we need to figure out."
The Cavaliers will head to Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee next week to face off against Florida State.
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
Zeed Haynes, 63-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [2:32]2nd Quarter
Donte Hawthone, 1-yard run (Jawan Hocker kick) [6:08] Darrell Gill Jr, 84-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [5:24] Dom President, 7-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea (Jawan Hocker kick) [1:51] Keke Gee, 1-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [0:17]3rd Quarter
Darrell Gill Jr, 79-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [9:44] Darrell Gill Jr, 60-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [8:29]4th Quarter
TeKai Kirby, 4-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea (Jawan Hocker kick) [7:06] Ja'Meer Thomas, 11-yard pass from Braden Davis (Jaydn Oh kick) [3:51] Jaydn Oh, 21-yard field goal [2:03] TeKai Kirby, 7-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea (2-PT conversion failed) [0:10]Player Stats
QB Anthony Colandrea: 38-55, 370 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions QB Braden Davis: 11-16, 404 passing yards, 6 touchdowns HB Donte Hawthorne: 18 carries, 57 rushing yards, touchdown HB Noah Vaughn: 11 carries, 34 rushing yards HB Malachi James: 9 carries, 66 rushing yards TE Dom President: 15 receptions, 147 receiving yards, touchdown WR Jaden Gibson: 8 receptions, 81 receiving yards WR Triston Ward: 6 receptions, 65 receiving yards WR Darrell Gill Jr: 3 receptions, 223 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns WR Ja'Meer Thomas: 3 receptions, 37 receiving yards, touchdown WR Zeed Haynes: 2 receptions, 109 receiving yards, touchdown DE Jewett Hayes: 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks FS Ethan Minter: 4 tackles CB Tayon Holloway: 2 tackles, tackle for loss SS Cornell Perry: 11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss DT Michael Nwokocha: 9 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 0.5 sack DE David Omopariola: 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, sack
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WR Jeremiah McClellan, Jr » No stats
WR Denzel Boston, Rs Sr » 5 receptions, 86 receiving yards (L 42-36 at #24 USC)
QB Nicco Marchiol, Rs Sr » 22-34, 287 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, rushing touchdown (W 32-30 at Iowa State)
WR Zion Kearney (Oklahoma): (45-0 W vs New Mexico) - 9 receptions, 210 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns, rushing touchdown
DE Edwin Kolenge (Boston College): (29-21 L at #13 LSU) - 9 tackles, 5 sacks