UVA and Virginia Tech football seasons are over after the teams cancel Saturday’s final game
Virginia and Virginia Tech have met on the football field 103 times, beginning in 1895 and facing off every year since 1970.
But the Hokies and Cavaliers will miss the 2022 rivalry game — played annually for the Commonwealth Cup — after Saturday’s scheduled regular-season finale in Blacksburg was canceled as UVA continues to mourn three football players who were killed in an on-campus shooting.
The ACC announced the game’s cancellation Monday night, ending the season for both teams because neither has qualified for a bowl game.
“The decision was made following communication between the Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia and Virginia Tech athletic department administration,” the ACC said in joint statement with UVA and Tech. “The ACC and Virginia Tech continue to support UVA following the devastating tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of three members of the Cavalier football team — Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, and injuries to students Mike Hollins (also a Virginia football student-athlete) and Marlee Morgan.”
UVA also canceled its final home game, scheduled this past Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
Chandler, Davis and Perry were killed last Sunday after a field trip to Washington, D.C. Former Virginia football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. faces three counts of second-degree murder and other charges. The shootings set off a manhunt and 12-hour campus lockdown before Jones was apprehended.
The school held a public memorial on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena to remember Chandler, Davis and Perry. Davis was a wide receiver from Dorchester, South Carolina; Chandler was a wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina, who transferred to Virginia from Wisconsin; Perry was a linebacker from Miami.
Two other students, Morgan and Hollins, were injured in the shooting. Hollins was hospitalized until being released Monday.
At a news conference last week, UVA athletic director Carla Williams and football coach Tony Elliott said a decision on the game against Virginia Tech had not been made.
“We’ll make [the decision] together,” Williams said at the time. “It’ll be a discussion with Coach and the team. Obviously, they’re going through a lot. We’ll make a decision soon.”
Virginia finishes 3-7 overall and 1-6 in the ACC in Elliott’s first season. The Cavaliers closed the season with three consecutive losses — one in overtime against Miami, another a three-point setback to North Carolina.
Virginia Tech went 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the ACC under first-year coach Brent Pry. The Hokies finished the season Saturday with a 23-22 victory over Liberty in Lynchburg.
There was speculation that the Hokies might try to find another opponent, but The Athletic’s Andy Bitter, citing an unnamed source, reported that the Hokies’ season was over.
UVA and Virginia Tech played for the first time on Oct. 5, 1895, with the Cavaliers winning 38-0. The Commonwealth Cup trophy was introduced in 1996 and stays in possession of the winner. Virginia Tech leads the series 60-38-5 and has dominated the series in recent years, winning 17 of the past 18 meetings.
The Hokies won 29-24 last season in Charlottesville for their second consecutive victory.
Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
