Virginia football is back in the win column today, defeating Cal 36-7 at home today to move to 5-5 and get one win away from being bowl eligible. The Cavaliers dominated the game against the Golden Bears and looked like a refreshed team off their bye week and while this season has been disappointing, getting to a bowl game would be a nice consolation prize.

After the victory over California, UVA head coach Tony Elliott spoke with the media and here is everything important that he had to say:

1. On responding from the tough losses...

Virginia has not been playing well over the past month or so and in their last game, they lost on the road to a red hot Wake Forest team 51-7 and things seemed about as low as they could be. This was a good win to remind Virginia the kind of team that they can be when they play up to their potential and Elliott tlaked about that after:

"They had a decision to make when we showed back up on Monday after Wake Forest on what they wanted to do as a team. But also individually, what kind of person are you going to choose to be? Are you going to say that all is lost, the sky is falling? Or are you going to be a person that digs your feet in and say, I'm going to focus on what I can control. I believe in the best to come ahead of me and I'm going to go fight for that. And that's what you saw in the football team and in the staff."

2. On getting pressure on Jaron Keawe-Sagopolutele..

UVA was able to get plenty of pressure on Cal quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagopolutele and affect his ability to make plays in the pocket. After the game, Elliott talked about what made that possible:

"Yeah, so you knew going into it that Cal is a pass kind of first offense to set up the run, and so we knew we were going to have to put some pressure on the quarterback. You go back to Wake Forest, and we made some mistakes, as I said before, getting too deep, pass the quarterback, opening up. B-gap rush lanes, so that was an area where we wanted to clean up things.

And we just knew that we needed to keep the quarterback in the pocket and find a way to get to him and really proud of the guys. And there's not a position group that gets more slack from Coach Elliott than the defensive ends because I won't. their quarterback, you know, to be affected, right? And you might not get him on the ground, but when you're in his face, right, you can affect him. And then when you do get him on the ground, and if you get him on the ground multiple times, it takes a toll and an effect, and it can change things. And then now, okay, you got to move the pocket. Well, then you move the pocket, and you saw what happened is, man, it was tough to make those throws, right?

And so then on some of those second and long situations. Because of the pressure that you're getting, you're moving the pocket and then throwing in tight windows on the run. And so those can keep you in some third and long. Now, we've got to be better in third and long situations of getting off the field. And, you know, there were a couple of times that I wanted the defense to be really stingy. We had them in second and 14, you know, second and 12. And I want us to get off the field and not let them convert. But in the end, they turned the ball over. They got to the quarterback. And it held them to, you know, a season-low output on offense. So just a good day at the office."

3. On the attitude of the defense after the Wake Forest game...

Last season, UVA had one of the best defenses in the ACC and were slated to have another strong unit on that side of the ball this season, and have at times. But in games against team such as Florida State and Wake Forest, things fell apart and the defense could not get any stops. Elliott talked about the amount of pride they played with today:

"Yeah, I think it was a whole team. you know, effort because, you know, you look at the – obviously you look at the score, you look at stats, and sometimes that doesn't tell, you know, the whole story, right? When you're not playing complementary football, man, it just – it permeates throughout the whole team. And we knew, one, that we were going to have a chance to get a little bit healthier, which would help us, right? Because in fairness to some guys that, man, they haven't played as much early in the season, and now an injury forces them to, like, grow up fast, right? And you're still – to call your system and have the ability to get in the right checks. And things are moving fast.

And so what you saw is maybe a guy was a step too late on fitting his gap. And that results in a big play. So I thought the guys just took ownership of the things that we can control. A big emphasis for our football team was to get reconnected."

4. On Beau Pribula..

It is no secret that Beau Pribula has not been playing very well during the Cavaliers recent stretch of play, but he performed well today and helped UVA win. Elliott was very complimentary about how he played today:

"I thought he put the ball for the most part where it needed to be. I know there was a red zone low ball. Bobbled snap, you know, bad snap there. So I thought he's been doing what Beau's been doing, right? I just think that whenever you're – not getting the result that you're accustomed to getting, like somebody's got to say, okay, where's the finger got to go, right? And obviously the quarterback is going to be the number one person or the finger got to go, right?

And obviously the quarterback is going to be the number one person or the head coach or the OC, right? Because everybody wants points. Let's just be transparent. Everybody wants to see points scored, right? But when you look at it in totality, right, the quarterback can only do so much. His supporting cast has to do their job. So when the quarterback's not getting hit. Right. And you're running the ball effectively. Now you're staying ahead of the chains and everything's not a, you know, take the ball off the line, six man protection, you know, trying to get four receivers out. Now you can do some different things. And then his legs really come back into the into the equation. So I thought he was like Beau is.

He just kind of goes out, does his job. And I thought the supporting cast around him, you know, kind of kind of carry their carry their weight today."