CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – When Chandler Morris transferred to Virginia during the offseason, he talked about quarterbacking the Cavaliers to an ACC championship.

Third-year coach Tony Elliott, despite a 6-17 mark in league play to that point, touted similar title aspirations.

It seemed farfetched at best, downright silly at worst – Their championship dreams drew derisive snickers and eyerolls.

No one’s laughing now.

“That wasn’t just for show or for talk,” Morris said Saturday night after UVA clinched the regular season title with a 27-7 dismantling of rival Virginia Tech. “The whole building believed in it.”

Not just in the building.

Virginia’s success started with the course Elliott charted since arriving in Charlottesville from Clemson and it reached its to-date apex on Saturday.

So much of his legacy will be the way he shepherded the program through the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting tragedy, a raw wound that reopened last week when the shooter had a weeklong sentencing hearing.

Elliott was there for many of the days, including the Nov. 21 conclusion when the judge handed down five life sentences.

But while the football program and the community continued to grapple with the aftermath of that horrific event, a support system of boosters funneled enough cash into the program for Elliott to assemble a championship roster. Over 50 new players including stars like Morris, running back J’Mari Taylor, center Brady Wilson and defensive ends Mitchell Melton and Fisher Camac and corner Ja’Son Prevard.

That group meshed perfectly with a core of returners who had developed at UVA, players including linebacker Kam Robinson, defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter, safety Antonio Clary, offensive linemen McKale Boley and Noah Josey and kicker Will Bettridge.

“It’s extremely rewarding but it’s not a surprise,” said Josey, a fifth-year offensive guard, as he clutched the Commonwealth Cup during his postgame interviews. “In the offseason, we put a plan together and we brought in the right people in the front office and in the locker room to put together a championship winning team, and that’s what we have.”

Elliott has a vision of building “the model program,” at UVA, but this year, to keep his job and get the chance to continue his work, he had to put together a model roster.

That piece came together and, coupled with a schedule that didn’t include Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU, or Pittsburgh – four of five teams the finished 6-2, a game behind UVA (10-2, 7-1 ACC) in the standings – and the stage was set for something special.

Of course, that brought expectations – and pressure – for Elliott, which he embraced from August on. He talked about winning an ACC title. He talked about this being the most talented and deepest roster he’s had at UVA.

He left himself no excuses.

His team didn’t need any.

Make no mistake, though, everything was on the on the line Saturday night against the Hokies.

Lose that game, to the worst Tech team in five decades, lose your spot in Charlotte for the title game, lose the 10-win regular season, and suddenly the Cavaliers magical ride would have felt more like a smoke-and-mirrors product of a soft schedule.

The Florida State win would have meant less. The North Carolina State loss would have meant more. The whole narrative could have been flipped on its head.

That was Tech’s motivation Saturday. It simply didn’t have the horses to pull that cart.

Instead, UVA authored one of its most dominant showings off the year, a complete game effort that was never in doubt after the Cavaliers turned a first-quarter interception by linebacker Maddox Marcellus into the game’s first touchdown.

A few hours later, the Cavaliers were celebrating with cigars and the Commonwealth Cup. Next weekend, they’ll face a Duke team they dominated 34-17 in Durham, N.C. on Nov. 15.

Win that, and Virginia will be in the College Football Playoff, a return on its offseason investment of the highest order.

And that’s nothing to laugh at.