Get to know Virginia, Missouri football’s 2025 Gator Bowl opponent
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Who are the ‘Hoos?
Missouri football accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl on Dec. 27 in Jacksonville, Florida, where the Tigers will face off against ACC regular-season champion Virginia. The two programs haven’t played against one another in more than 50 years.
The Cavaliers (10-3), often called the ‘Hoos or the Wahoos because of a nickname dating back to the 19th century, are a double-digit win team who likely were a win away from making the College Football Playoff.
Mizzou (8-4) is riding a two-game bowl winning streak after knocking off Iowa last season in the Music City Bowl and Ohio State the year prior in the Cotton Bowl.
Here’s what the Tigers face to make it three postseason wins in a row.
Virginia coach Tony Elliott is ACC Coach of the Year
Elliott was named the ACC’s Coach of the Year in his fourth season leading the program.
The Cavaliers were predicted to finish 14th in the 17-member conference by a panel of 183 media voters. Elliott led the Hoos to the regular season title, and they narrowly missed out on an ACC Championship title after an overtime loss to Duke in Charlotte this past Saturday.
Virginia had not been to a bowl game since 2019, although the Cavaliers would have been eligible in 2020 but elected not to participate.
Cavaliers on cusp of program-record 11th win
Both teams are on the cusp of breaking or tying program records in this bowl game.
Mizzou can tie its best three-season stretch with a win, which would mark its 30th since the beginning of 2023. Only Gary Pinkel-led teams have previously hit that mark, doing so between 2006-08 and 2007-09.
Virginia is one win away from the winningest year in the school’s 122-year history. The Cavaliers have never won 11 games in a season, and they will head to Jacksonville at 10-3.
Battle of 1,000-yard running backs
Both Mizzou and Virginia will field 1,000-yard running backs who the teams picked up from lower levels.
Mizzou is bringing SEC rushing leader Ahmad Hardy, and Virginia has North Carolina Central transfer and ACC rushing leader J’Mari Taylor.
Taylor is totaling more than 100 yards from scrimmage per game and has 15 total touchdowns this season.
Both Mizzou and Virginia use similar zone-concepts in their run scheme. Elliott is a former Clemson offensive coordinator, but turned his offensive play-calling duties over to Des Kitchings, who was the running backs coach at NC State while Drinkwitz was the offensive coordinator in Raleigh.
So, if the run games in Jacksonville look similar, you know why.
“A lot of (the run scheme) is the things that Des has acquired over his years with Eli at NC State, and then also with the Falcons,” Elliott said Tuesday. “And you see a lot of the unbalanced and the formation into the boundary and the shifts and the motions, things that are a little bit different than how we were built at Clemson.”
Who is Virginia’s quarterback?
Chandler Morris will lead the Cavaliers’ offense in Jacksonville. He’s a sixth-year journeyman who transferred from North Texas to Virginia for his final year of eligibility.
Morris originally committed to Oklahoma out of high school but only spent one season in Norman. He transferred to TCU and was a backup to Max Duggan on the 2022 team that went to the national title game.
This year, Morris has completed 64.6% of his passes for 2,802 yards (215.6 yards per game), 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Excellent run defense
Virginia has been among the stingiest run defenses in the Power-conferences this season, allowing 110.5 yards of forward progress on the ground per game.
Mizzou’s most-consistent strength has been its ability to run the ball with Hardy and Jamal Roberts.
So, have at it.
“(Virginia has) got a top-10 scoring defense, top 10 rushing defense. So, I think the matchup is really good,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, we like to run the football. We’ve got a pretty solid defense, too. So, it’s going to be strength on strength.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What Missouri football faces in Virginia, 2025 Gator Bowl opponent
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