CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Quarterback Beau Pribula joined Virginia’s football team in January as a transfer from Missouri. In the eight months since, he’s learned a lot about UVA, the school, the football program and his new teammates.

When did he know this group of Cavaliers had the mettle to respond to their first loss of the season, a week ago against West Virginia? Was it on the trip back from that game in Charlotte? In practice during the week? In warm-ups Saturday night in Scott Stadium?

“I knew it in January when I got here,” Pribula said after UVA’s 42-3 bounce-back win over Delaware. “That’s the way the culture is. I knew there’s no typo of adversity this team can’t handle.”

Pribula said the tragedy that struck Virginia in 2022, when three football players were shot and killed on campus, has engrained a measure of toughness into the program’s DNA.

In the second quarter Saturday, UVA honored the memory of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, the three players shot and killed on campus in 2022. Their families gathered in the end zone and Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott presented them each with floral bouquets.

UCLA transfer wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. wears the No. 1 jersey once worn by Davis. Saturday night, Flores had nine catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. When he scored, he pointed to the number on his jersey, then to the numbers of the slain players, displayed in Scott Stadium.

“I knew his family was here,” Flores said. “The game was bigger than me. It was for the three numbers up top.”

A huge part of those men’s legacy is the resilience they inspired in the UVA program, so it was fitting that a touch of that was on display in the lopsided, resounding defeat of the Blue Hens.

“I thought what you saw tonight was a reflection of how they responded,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said. “I thought they responded the right way in practice and it showed in the game.”

In front of 41,935 fans, many clad in navy blue t-shirts with the 1, 15 and 41 jersey numbers of Chandler, Davis and Perry emblazoned on them, Pribula went 24 for 28 for 279 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score as the Cavaliers led and controlled the game from start to finish. He exited the game late in the third quarter, with the outcome no longer in doubt.

A week after getting bullied by WVU in a 38-27 loss, Virginia (3-1) out-gained Delaware 556-160. The Cavaliers 437 passing yards were the program’s most since a 2021 game at Pittsburgh.

Kam Courtney caught a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes, including a career-long 52-yarder.

Delaware starting quarterback Nick Minicucci went 4 for 8 for 24 yards before being knocked out of the game with an apparent right leg injury in the second quarter. He spent the second half on the sideline on crutches. His replacement, Braden Streeter, went 2 for 16 for nine yards with two interceptions for the Hens (2-2).

The Cavaliers wasted no time seizing command of the evening.

On UVA’s opening drive, Pribula went 8 for 8 passing, capping it with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Da’Shawn Martin for a 7-0 lead with 7:34 to go in the opening quarter. 

Virginia missed a chance to extend that advantage when Will Bettridge missed a 37-yard field goal with 3:12 left in the quarter. 

The Cavaliers went up 14-0 when Pribula hit Rico Flores Jr. for a 7-yard touchdown just four seconds into the second quarter.

Delaware finally got on the scoreboard with a Tucker Smack 39-yard field with 7:45 left in the half. 

But Virginia responded with a career-long play from Courtney. The Cavaliers’ slot receiver took a short throw from Pribula out in the flat 52 yards up the far sideline, getting a pair of key downfield blocks on his way to the end zone from fellow receivers Martin and Flores. That put UVA up 21-3.

Pribula and Virginia got the ball one final time in the first half and made the most of it. UVA executed a perfect two-minute drill, going 85 yards in nine plays. Pribula went 6 for 7 passing, hitting Courtney for a 19-yard score with one second left before halftime.  

UVA gained as many yards on that drive as Delaware did in the entire first half. 

Pribula added a 14-yard touchdown run with 6:44 left in the third quarter to give Virginia a 35-3 lead and eliminate any lingering doubt about where this game was headed.

He was replaced by backup Eli Holstein, who connected with Josiah Abdullah for a 74-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring, giving Virginia some much needed momentum heading into next weekend’s ACC road game at Florida State.

“We can respond to adversity,” defensive end Matthews Fobbs White said. “I feel like that’s something every great team needs.”

That, and a little resilience.