CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – For all the struggles Virginia had in its early years under Tony Elliott, containing mobile quarterbacks wasn’t one of them.

John Rudzinski’s defense didn’t allow a single 100-yard rusher in his first 48 games as the Cavaliers’ coordinator. Of the 59 rushing touchdowns UVA gave up in Elliott and Rudzinski’s first three seasons at Virginia, just 15 of them were scored by opposing quarterbacks.

But this year, keeping tabs on dual-threat QBs has been a major weakness.

Of the nine rushing touchdowns UVA (3-2, 1-1 ACC) has allowed so far in 2026, eight of them have been scored by quarterbacks, including five to Florida State’s Ashton Daniels on Saturday. 

A defense that hadn’t allowed an opposing QB to run for 100 yards since Virginia Tech’s Braxton Burmeister did it in 2021 – the year before Elliott was hired – has had two quarterbacks do it in the first five games this season. 

West Virginia’s Michael Hawkins Jr. ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns in UVA’s first loss, a 38-27 defeat against the Mountaineers in Charlotte, N.C. on Sept. 19.

That was bad. Saturday was worse.

Daniels ran for 136 yards and five scores in the Seminoles’ 38-7 undressing of the Cavaliers.

“He’s a big, 225-pound guy who can run behind his pads,” Elliott said of Daniels. “And then, if you misfit a gap there, he shows he can take it the distance. We knew that his legs would potentially be a problem and we were hoping that we would be able to keep him in the pocket and not let him extend plays.”

Still ahead, UVA will face some other mobile ACC QBs who could give it issues.

While Cal, Duke and North Carolina haven’t relied heavily on their quarterbacks in the running game, the other four teams Virginia will have to play have.

Syracuse’s Amari Odom ran for a touchdown against UConn on Saturday in his first power conference start. 

SMU’s Kevin Jennings has rushed for 12 touchdowns in his college career, including two this season. 

Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez leads the team with five rushing scores and Virginia Tech’s Ethan Grunkmeyer is second on the Hokies with three. 

Defending quarterbacks who can tuck it and go figures to be paramount on UVA’s must-fix list this week.

But Saturday’s lopsided loss in Tallahassee exposed other issues, as well. 

Here are three other takeaways.

Too many missed tackles

Conservatively, UVA missed at least two dozen tackles in the loss to FSU. Some of that contributed to the rushing success Daniels found, but Seminoles running back Ousmane Kromah and FSU’s wide receivers also benefited from Virginia’s inability to get ball carriers on the ground. 

“We’ve got to do a better job of wrapping when we tackle,” Elliott said. “There were several explosive plays that came after we had contact on the ball carriers.”

Too many dropped passes

While the defense was missing tackles, the offense was dropping passes. Quarterback Beau Pribula wasn’t his sharpest, finishing 14 for 32 for 168 yards. But that included at least five passes that probably should have been caught by his receivers.

“Maybe one of those drops would have been one of the two plays that swung the momentum in our favor to help us be on the other side of this,” Elliott said.

UVA’s skill players didn’t help Pribula out in big spots. Rico Flores Jr. had a key contested third down catch he could not come down with in the second quarter and running back Jekail Middlebrook came open for a potential touchdown but couldn’t haul in Pribula’s throw on a wheel route.

Where was the protection?

UVA allowed 10 sacks of Pribula in the game, the most the Cavaliers have given up since North Carolina recorded 10 in a 41-14 win over Virginia in 2024. The Cavaliers lost 68 yards on sacks in the game and have now lost 137 yards on 19 sacks this season, both the highest marks in the ACC.

All 10 came in the final three quarters. Florida State got its first two on second and third down of the Cavaliers’ first possession of the second quarter. Later, in the fourth quarter, FSU sacked Pribula on three straight plays. 

Virginia still has matchups with five of the top six defenders in the ACC in terms of sacks registered this year – North Carolina’s Xavier Lewis (6), Virginia Tech’s Aycen Stevens (5 ½) and Cortez Harris (5), SMU’s Marques White (4 ½) and – this weekend – Syracuse’s Keyshawn Johnson (3 ½).