Photo: © 4kclips/Shutterstock
It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it, and so it is that I’m in Jacksonville, currently overlooking the St. John’s River, on a near-record-warm day, awaiting the kickoff of the 2025 Gator Bowl.
It’s going to be in the low 50s back in Virginia; we’re making do with mid-70s here today.
I’ll be reporting throughout the day and into the night with updates on the football part of things here, in addition to the fun parts.
My goal is to get out amongst the tailgaters for a bit this afternoon, to then walk the sidelines some pregame, shoot some photos, record a video or two.
Hard work.
Gameday: Quick overview of Virginia vs. Mizzou
Pregame coverage
UVA Football: ‘Hoos, knocked out of CFP, get invite to Gator Bowl, facing Mizzou
UVA Football: Elliott, Drinkwitz preview Dec. 27 Gator Bowl matchup
UVA Football: ‘Hoos losing Ja’Son Prevard, Tyshawn Wyatt to transfer portal
UVA Football: ‘Hoos kicking the tires on Missouri starting QB Beau Pribula?
Gator Bowl preview: What to expect from undermanned Missouri on Saturday
Will Chandler Morris get a seventh year from the NCAA? UVA seems to think so
Gator Bowl Notes: Is anybody paying attention, or are our eyes already on next year?
UVA Football: ‘Hoos might have to make do without J’Mari Taylor at tailback
Gator Bowl: Oh, yeah, Virginia, Missouri, are both playing this one to win
Beau Pribula. Photo: Chad Hamilton/Icon Sportswire
Got to feel for Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who is having to game-plan for the Gator Bowl around the defections of his starting QB, two of his top receivers and his offensive coordinator.
Mizzou (8-4, 4-4 SEC) will have to make do without Beau Pribula (1,941 yards, 67.4 percent completion rate, 11 TDs/9 INTs in 2025) and two of his top targets, Joshua Manning (29 catches/51 targets, 318 yards, two TDs) and Marquis Johnson (28 catches/47 targets, 340 yards, two TDs).
The Tigers also have to get an offense together without the guy who served as offensive coordinator this season, Kirby Moore, who left earlier this month to take the head-coaching job at Washington State.
The new OC, Chip Lindsey, was added to the staff literally on Sunday; he had worked on the staff this season at Michigan, which appears to be headed toward an NCAA death penalty, with the athletics department rotting from the head down up there.
It’s not clear who will be responsible for game-planning and play-calling tonight; it would shock me if it’s Lindsey.
I’d look to the assistants on the offensive side who stayed behind after Moore bolted for Wazzu.
We do know who the QB will be – Pribula’s backup, true freshman Matt Zollers, made three starts in 2025, two in Missouri losses, at Vanderbilt and at home to Texas A&M, and the 49-27 win over Mississippi State on Nov. 15.
There is one key building block to game-plan around – sophomore tailback Ahmad Hardy (1,560 rushing yards, 16 TDs in 2025).
Defense
The Tigers are scary good – second in the SEC in total defense (274.8 yards per game), fifth in sacks (2.9 per game).
Zion Young, a 6’5”, 262-pound edge rusher who projects as a third- or fourth-round pick in the spring, will play, per Drinkwitz – his status was uncertain after a Dec. 13 DUI arrest.
Young’s vitals: 48 QB pressures, eight sacks, 25 run-game tackles in 2025.
His bookend on the edge is something of a mirror image: Damon Wilson, a draft-eligible junior who had 49 QB pressures and eight sacks in 2025.
The cover guys:
CB Toriano Pride: 21 receptions/44 targets, 6 FIs/3 PBUs/2 INTs, 57.3 NFL passer rating against.
CB Daylan Carnell: 25 catches/40 targets, 4 FIs/4 PBUs/1 INT, 66.0 NFL passer rating against.
S Santana Banner: 17 catches/31 targets, 3 FIs/3 PBUs/1 INT, 89.4 NFL passer rating against.
CB Stephen Hall: 16 catches/27 targets, 2 FIs/2 PBUs, 105.9 NFL passer rating against.
CB Drey Norwood: 14 catches/29 targets, 5 FIs/3 PBUs, 106.5 NFL passer rating against.
S Marvin Burks: 10 catches/12 targets, 1 FI/1 PBU/1 INT, 123.4 NFL passer rating against.
Key: FI is forced incompletion; PBU is pass breakup
Special teams
The starting placekicker, Blake Craig, tore an ACL on a kickoff in the season opener.
Shame: Craig is good: he was 6-of-9 from 50+ in 2024.
Robert Meyer handles the extra points and most of the field-goal tries, but on longer kicks, Drinkwitz will go to Oliver Robbins, who is 2-for-3 from 40+, with a long of 49.
Live-to-tape report: Calm ahead of the storm
They get ready early here
This is the view outside the hotel. The American Eagle is a ship in the American Cruise Lines family. Photo: Chris Graham/AFP
I walked down to the stadium around 1 p.m. to use the stadium as a backdrop for a video report.
It’s nice weather, so, might as well, right?
It’s about a mile from my hotel to the stadium. Pretty quiet the whole way there.
Except that …
There were already parking lot attendants, police and security in place.
More than six hours before the game, and probably at least three hours before they’ll get any traffic.
That’s a long day for those folks.
Those hours sitting out there with nothing to do or nobody to protect against, those are particularly long hours.
Cavalier Marching Band at the UVA Alumni Association tailgate
Tailgating is a madhouse
Jacksonville has undertaken a massive ($1.4 billion!) renovation of EverBank Stadium, and it’s not easy getting around here.
The parking lots are staging areas; the lower bowl is mostly roped off.
It was easier for the Knights of the Roundtable to find the Holy Grail than it was for me to navigate my way to the press box.
(It’s a good thing I keep a shrubbery in my backpack for these kinds of situations.)
The renovations are supposed to be finished in August 2028.
Game Coverage
Missouri gets on the board first
Mizzou picked up a third-and-medium on the first set of downs, then marched from there.
Didn’t look like the UVA defense knew what defense it was in on the third-and-medium.
A nice wide-zone play-action was a big gainer.
Ahmad Hardy broke one for 43 yards.
TD: 5-yard run by Jamal Roberts.
Drive: 7 plays, 74 yards, 3:00 TOP
Missouri 7, Virginia 0, 11:56/1st
The no kicker issue rears its head again
The lack of confidence in Will Bettridge from 40-plus leads to a call to go for a fourth-and-2 at the Mizzou 27.
As is the case on these plays lately, Chandler Morris goes through his progressions, decides to try the deep guy, comes up empty.
He had the crossing route for the first down, but who am I to say that?
Drive: 10 plays, 52 yards, 5:34 TOP.
Comes up empty.
Missouri 7, Virginia 0, 6:21/1st
Virginia D holds on fourth-and-medium
OK, some life.
Mizzou drove to the UVA 33, had fourth-and-4 there.
Matt Zollers was incomplete on a 98-mph fastball over the middle.
Drive: 8 plays, 40 yards, 3:11 TOP.
Missouri 7, Virginia 0, 3:07/1st
Virginia is on the board
Lack of confidence in Will Bettridge, huh.
Bettridge converts from 42.
Odd call on the final first-down play on that drive. Virginia tried a trick play: direct snap to Harrison Waylee, then pitch to Chandler Morris, who didn’t have anybody open, so, he threw it away.
The ref called intentional grounding, saying Morris didn’t have an eligible receiver in the area.
I don’t have the benefit of replay here in the press box, but it looked to me that there was an eligible receiver.
The penalty was 11 yards and loss of down.
Drive killer.
Drive: 12 plays, 42 yards, 5:50 TOP.
Missouri 7, Virginia 3, 12:17/2nd
Press box bizarro world
The press box PA guy has been mixed up the entire game, to this point: calling out the wrong players for passes, runs, tackles, etc.
It’s comical.
Compounding the issue: this press box is closed-air, meaning, we have window panes in front of us.
And they’re really, really secure window panes. We can’t hear any noise from the stadium.
It’s like we’re in a library, with the only audio being, the PA announcer who is watching a different game.
First punt of the night
Nice read by James Jackson on the third-and-9 run by Matt Zollers.
Zollers checked into a QB keeper-sweep around the right end, thinking he had a numbers advantage, with the tight end and three receivers to the left of the formation getting all the defensive attention.
Jackson shot the gap and blew up the play for a loss.
Drive: 8 plays, 32 yards, 4:44 TOP.
Missouri 7, Virginia 3, 7:25/2nd
No confidence in the kicker, yeah
That missed 44-yard field goal try by Will Bettridge was one of the 10 worst field goal attempts in Virginia Football history.
Dear god, that was bad.
Drive: 11 plays, 54 yards, 4:03 TOP.
Missouri 7, Virginia 3, 3:22/2nd
A lot happened there at the end
The Virginia D forced another punt; Cam Ross let it bounce, then tried to field the carom, and predictably fumbled.
The UVA D forced a 42-yard field goal try from Oliver Robbins, which missed, not as badly as the Bettridge miss, but still, missed.
Virginia had some time to do something, but did nothing.
We’re at the half. Thankfully.
Halftime report: Missouri 7, Virginia 3
It felt there for a short bit that Missouri was going to run away with this one.
Literally.
The Tigers were eating up yards on the ground on their first couple of drives, but the stop by the Virginia D on the fourth-and-4 in plus territory seemed to change the thinking on both sidelines.
Mizzou had 114 yards of offense on its first two possessions; on its last four, it’s totaled 52.
Virginia’s coaches can’t get out of their team’s way.
Tony Elliott went for a fourth-and-short in field goal range on UVA’s first possession; the play call, a pass, led to a turnover on downs.
Then, a mid-range field goal; then, another fourth-and-short, a field goal try, a shank.
Same story, different day: the offense is moving the ball, but it bogs down inside the 30, and we don’t have a reliable kicker.
That half of football set back the sport 20 years.
Two missed mid-range field goal tries, a muffed punt by a guy who has been in college since 2019, a coach who doesn’t trust himself or his analytics guy on big decisions.
I think we need to get Tony Elliott to do some talk therapy in the offseason.
He needs to talk it out and rebuild his confidence.
Also, we need someone new in charge of special teams.
Nineteen (!) plays
Virginia goes 75 yards on 19 plays, on a drive that ate up 10:07 of the third quarter.
The final two plays were direct snaps to Harrison Waylee, who scored on a 2-yard run.
One third-and-12 conversion, one fourth-and-2 conversion, one fourth-and-3, two more third-and-2s.
Yikes.
Virginia 10, Missouri 7, 4:53/3rd
Virginia D forces a TO
The D got Mizzou into a third-and-5, and Matt Zollers‘ pass intended for Xavier Loyd was high and inside, tipped into the air, and picked by Emmanuel Karnley at the Mizzou 35.
Virginia got one first down, the drive stalled at the Mizzou 21; Will Bettridge good from 38.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7, 1:00/3rd
Chandler Morris with the … punt?
Virginia lined up with the offense on fourth-and-8 from the Mizzou 43.
Chandler Morris with the quick kick, downed at the Mizzou 2.
OK.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7, 10:42/4th
Change of possession
Mizzou called for a false start on what looked like a legit attempt to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the 11.
Good punt (52 yards) pushes Virginia back at its own 42 on the change of possession.
Ideally: you slog out a couple of first downs, and get to the fringe of scoring territory, at the least.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7, 8:45/4th
Not sure about that one
Virginia ate up four minutes of clock with a couple of first downs, but TE went for fourth-and-3 at the Missouri 39, and the Chandler Morris pass was incomplete.
Not sure about that.
I mean, I get it, get the first down, Mizzou has to start burning timeouts.
But now, Missouri gets the ball at its own 39. Would rather have seen the drive start even at the 20 on a punt and touchback.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7, 4:28/4th
Dodged a bullet
Missouri quickly got into plus territory, but a false start penalty put the Tigers behind the chains.
Mizzou went for fourth-and-2 at the UVA 41, Matt Zollers on a play-action; he kept, ran for the sticks on the right sideline, and stepped out a yard short.
Two-minute timeout.
Mizzou has all three of its timeouts.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7, 1:57/4th
This one goes to 11
Incomplete pass in the end zone with one second left.
Virginia wins.
They’re done killing me.
Virginia 13, Missouri 7