For the final time this season, let’s hand out some letter grades to evaluate Virginia’s 37-17 defeat to Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash on Saturday night in Blacksburg.

In his first start in 13 months, Muskett struggled to find accuracy on his deep balls, couldn’t connect with Malachi Fields or Trell Harris, who was playing his first game since week 3, and had two bad overthrows for costly interceptions. Muskett settled in a bit in the third quarter and led the Cavaliers on back-to-back scoring drives, both of which he capped with touchdown runs. He was more effective running the football than Anthony Colandrea and made some nice throws outside the pocket, though his completion percentage was not great: 19/36 (53%).

For what it’s worth, I think it was the right call to roll with Muskett as the starter even with the hindsight of knowing that Colandrea bolted to the transfer portal less than 24 hours later. With the way Colandrea played in the back half of the season and the way he played against Virginia Tech last year, this was the right decision by Tony Elliott and company. And as you can see in the video below from Preston Willett, Tony Muskett clearly left it all on the field.

Suderian Harrison had a career night, catching five passes for 54 yards, including a 24-yarder on the sideline that stood as Virginia’s longest play of the game. It was a great game for Harrison, but the fact that he led the Cavaliers in receiving is not a great sign for the team, as it came as a result of Malachi Fields being neutralized (two catches for 20 yards on five targets), Trell Harris not being impactful in his return from injury, and Chris Tyree being removed from the passing game in order to give UVA an experienced option at running back. Virginia converted just four passes of 15 or more yards and none that went for 25 yards. The Cavaliers averaged just 9.4 yards per completion, barely more than half of Virginia Tech’s (18.1), and UVA’s 178 passing yards were well beneath the expected amount for a team that attempted 36 passes in the game.

Virginia gave up five sacks, which is actually a significant improvement over the nine sacks UVA gave up against SMU, but still not great. The Cavaliers attempted a flea flicker on their first offensive play of the game and it was blown up immediately by projected NFL Draft pick Antwaun Powell-Ryland, who had three sacks in the game. McKale Boley actually did a fine job against Powell-Ryland when he was lined up against him on the outside, but when Boley went down with an injury, Powell-Ryland blew right past Jack Witmer on the next play for another sack. Boley, Blake Steen, and Noah Josey all suffered injuries in the game, continuing a problematic year-long trend for the Virginia offensive line, which couldn’t stay healthy throughout the entire season. The Cavaliers also failed, unsurprisingly, to establish the run, which brings us to our next grade…

Virginia’s ground game has been given a lot of poor grades this season. With the exception of the Richmond and Coastal Carolina games, in which the Cavaliers had a distinct advantage at the line of scrimmage, UVA never found any consistent success running the football. Besides those two games, Virginia’s best game of the year running the football came against Pittsburgh, going for 170 yards and two touchdowns on the ground; not coincidentally, that was probably UVA’s best win of the season. Against Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers had 96 yards on 32 carries, averaging 3.0 yards per rushing attempt. Most of that was due to some effective quarterback runs from Tony Muskett, who had 62 rushing yards even with the negative sack yardage. With Xavier Brown and Kobe Pace out with injuries, Virginia moved Chris Tyree to the backfield along with Noah Vaughn. Tyree had 18 yards on eight carries and Vaughn had 16 yards on six carries. Getting little to no gain on first and second down run plays consistently had Virginia facing third and long. Virginia’s inability to run the football has been a problem all season long and for the last several seasons even dating back to the final years of the Bronco Mendenhall era.

Virginia’s scheme, playcalling, and execution were all subpar. By the time Des Kitchings and company “figured it out” with a couple of scoring drives in the third quarter, it was too little, too late.

For most of the game, Virginia actually held up fairly well against Bhayshul Tuten and the Hokie rushing attack. That was until Tuten broke a third down tackle from Kam Robinson and got loose for a 58-yard touchdown that essentially put the nail in the coffin. If you take out that play, the Hokies averaged just 3.7 yards per carry, which is pretty respectable for the UVA defense. The Cavaliers had trouble containing Pop Watson on quarterback keepers, but that is more an issue of UVA’s pass rushers not staying disciplined than with Virginia’s actual run defense. Virginia Tech did have success using misdirection to get the Hoos a step or two behind at the point of attack.

Where Virginia really lost the game was in pass defense. There was a massive error with a blown coverage on the 66-yard touchdown pass to Jaylin Lane from Pop Watson, who looked like a veteran quarterback out there dicing up the UVA secondary in his first-career start. It was just way too easy for the redshirt freshman, who threw for 254 yards and a touchdown and completed 67% of his passes. Virginia got very little pressure on Watson, who was sacked only twice, with the second sack coming late in the fourth quarter when Watson practically gave himself up with the game already in hand. John Rudzinski has, by most accounts, done a pretty solid job with this UVA defense over the course of his three season in Charlottesville. But the results so far in his two games against Virginia Tech have not been encouraging.

We must shout out Jonas Sanker, who was once again a picture of consistency in his final game as a Cavalier, just as he has been all season and throughout his career. The Charlottesville native doesn’t miss many tackles and never gives up on a play, as evidenced by his near chase down of Bhayshul Tuten on that long touchdown run. He has great tackling technique and this year in particular, Sanker has shown that he has the physical tools with his speed and athleticism to make it in the NFL. Sanker co-led Virginia with nine total tackles on Saturday night, finished the regular season as the ACC’s leader in solo tackles, and should have a First-Team All-ACC selection with his name on it as well as an NFL Draft pick in his future. It’s been a pleasure watching Sanker play football in a Virginia uniform for the last four years.

Virginia Tech racked up 456 yards of total offense and 37 points with a third-string redshirt freshman in at quarterback.

Virginia committed no major miscues on special teams. UVA had no problems in the return game on either side. Will Bettridge made his only field goal attempt. Daniel Sparks punted four times for 208 yards. That’s an average of 52 yards per punt with a long of 59 yards that came after an inexcusable delay of game penalty with the punt team on the field. That was pretty much the only significant blemish.

Four in a row. 19 of the last 20 overall. 12 in a row in Blacksburg. These numbers need no explanations because followers of UVA football are well aware of them by this point. Time and time again, Virginia fails to show up in this game. There is no tangible reason why the Cavaliers and Hokies seemed to have such a gap between them when both teams came in with an identical record. We’ve seen similar stories unfold in the Commonwealth Clash over the last quarter-century. The sample size is too big now. Virginia Tech owns this “rivalry” and has ultimate confidence that it will win every time this game is played. The Hokies hit harder, run harder, and execute better. This trend has extended beyond teams, players, and coaching staff. It has to change, but there are no signs of that happening anytime soon.

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The regular season is now over and while this has still been a disappointing season for Virginia Tech given the expectations that the program had at the beginning of the year, but the Hokies are going to a second consecutive bowl game and they handled their biggest rival with ease last night.

The Hokies are not going to know where they are heading until next Sunday, after the Conference Championships are over and the College Football Playoff Field is set. With one week to go though, where is Virginia Tech projected to play?

Jerry Palm at CBS Sports has projected Virginia Tech to play in the Fenway Bowl in Boston, MA against East Carolina, a very familiar opponent for the Hokies. The programs have faecd each other 22 times previously and Virginia Tech holds the all time series lead 15-7.

At 247Sports, Brad Crawford has Virginia Tech in the Fenway Bowl as well, but playing Tulane instead of East Carolina. This would be a rematch of last year’s Military Bowl, a game in which Virginia Tech won 41-20. The Hokies lead the all-time series against Tulane 6-4.

At ESPN, both Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach also have Virginia Tech going to Boston to play in the Fenway bowl. Bonagura has Virginia Tech facing Tulane like Crawford does, while Schlabach has them facing Memphis. Virginia Tech has faced Memphis six times previously and the all-time series is tied 3-3. They have not faced each other since 1985 and the Hokies have won the last three matchups between the Tigers.

There seems to be a consensus building that the Hokies are bound for Boston, but until the official selections are made, we won’t know for sure. Be sure to stay locked in here for the latest bowl projections for Virginia Tech.

Additional Links:

The Briefing: Hokies Clinch Bowl Eligibility After 37-17 Win Over UVA

Virginia Tech Football: 5 Takeaways From Hokies Win Against Virginia

Texas Tech walloped West Virginia 52-15 in the regular-season finale Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium, drawing a crescendo of criticism for Mountaineers coach Neal Brown.

Since his arrival in Morgantown in 2019, Brown has helped the team to a 37-35 overall record but is 25-28 in the Big 12 over that span. West Virginia (6-6 overall) reached bowl eligibility — its fourth time doing so in Brown’s six seasons — with its sixth victory against UCF on Nov. 23, but none of the teams the Mountaineers triumphed over won more than five games heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

On Saturday, Texas Tech (8-4) outscored West Virginia in every quarter, peaking with a 29-0 second frame. That makes 10 of 12 games this season in which the Mountaineers were outscored in the final half, per the AP.

The Mountaineers finished 5-4 in the Big 12.

What does Saturday’s thrashing mean for Brown?

Brown is no stranger to the hot seat. He coached his way off of it in 2023, leading West Virginia to a 9-4 rebound and a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory after being picked last in the Big 12 preseason media poll.

In March he signed a one-year contract extension through 2027 and took a voluntary pay cut, forgoing $400,000 in salary increases over the next three years of the contract and electing to reinvest that money in his staff.

Brown earned $4 million in salary in 2024. More than $700,000 was added to the staff salary pool between the pay cut and an additional increase from the university.

Athletic director Wren Baker did not hire Brown, but Baker opted for patience when he took the job in November 2022, choosing to retain Brown despite back-to-back losing seasons. That patience was rewarded in 2023, so it will be curious to see Baker’s approach this time.

Brown’s amended buyout stipulates that he’s owed 75 percent of his remaining salary if fired, which would be north of $9.5 million if let go after this season. Along with additional staff buyouts, that’s a steep price for West Virginia to pay with the impending House settlement and $20-plus-million in annual revenue sharing on the horizon. WVU athletics had a total operating revenue of $106 million in fiscal year 2023, which ranked in the bottom half of the Big 12.

But in a newly wide-open conference and expanded College Football Playoff, there could be enough pressure to make a change after failing to finish better than .500 in the regular season for the third time in four years. — Justin Williams, staff writer, college football

Required reading

(Photo: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)