In its season opener, UVa did just about what the Hoos were expected to in a 34-13 win over Richmond. They took command of the game early, dispensed with any drama, and the game never got closer than two scores once things got rolling. Even in taking it to an FCS opponent, as expected, there’s progress for the program.
Think about it this way: in now the third season of the Tony Elliott era, Virginia had a few firsts. The 20-0 lead was their first 20+ point advantage of the Elliott era and the first three-score lead over any opponent since his debut win against Richmond two years ago. The 21-point margin of victory was also the largest of the Elliott era and the largest lead, 27 points (34-7), was by far the biggest advantage the Cavaliers have had in any game under this staff, the next-best being an 18-point halftime lead in that aforementioned Elliott debut game in 2022.
So while Saturday’s win was routine in a lot of ways, for this program it represented a step in the right direction.
And it’s also worth noting that the Hoos handled this game without really having to put the pedal down at any point: UVa rotated a lot of different players in and out of the lineup, and most starters played less than 50 snaps, many well under that number.
The Cavaliers were also back in familiar territory, stuck in the locker room during a long weather delay amid their otherwise solid home opener. Last year, UVa took a 13-point lead into a weather delay against JMU and was promptly outscored 14-0 after the game resumed. On Saturday, UVa again took a 13-point lead back into the locker room, but didn’t give it up this time or even seem like it might. In postgame, Elliott said that the program had learned some lessons and ensured players had some food and were focused and ready to resume after the two-hour stoppage. Again, it’s Richmond, but UVa showed the right mentality and swiftly put the game back out of reach.
Despite the lack of drama, the opener did help frame the season to come. Sophomore Anthony Colandrea showed why he won the starting job, and led the Hoos to his second career win. He threw for 297 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while also rushing for 49 yards (78 sack-adjusted) and his first career rushing TD. Most importantly, Colandrea played a mature game and was in command throughout. He rarely put himself or the ball in danger, and took what the Spiders gave him. While this game went particularly well, and there will certainly be more adversity to come, it was a good start for UVa’s new starter.
There were plenty of other successes that may or may not be sustainable against better competition. UVa ran the ball really well, going for 200 yards on 37 attempts with a pair of rushing scores, and Kobe Pace nearly got to 100 yards on just 11 carries. The ground game has been lackluster since this staff arrived, taking over what was virtually an air raid offense from the previous regime. Perhaps Saturday’s success on the ground is a sign of things to come and perhaps it was the opponent. The offensive line played a good game too, but again, they were facing an FCS defensive line. Virginia’s defense dominated the Spiders’ offense and the starters only allowed one legitimate scoring drive, right before the weather delay. As with Colandrea, more adversity is almost surely on the way, so we’ll see if Saturday’s performance is an outlier or not. The same goes for UVa’s special teams units, much maligned for their struggles last year, who played a clean game on Saturday.
And that brings us to the theme of the week: While UVa’s performance on Saturday was solid, there are still a lot of questions to be answered and we’re going to get some of those answers very soon.
The stakes and competition are about to jump up several notches from Week 1 to Week 2, as the Wahoo go from a comfortable opener against an FCS foe, straight into conference play and their first road contest.
Virginia opens league play at Wake Forest on Saturday night (7 p.m., ESPN2). The Demon Deacons also enter 1-0 after coasting past FCS foe North Carolina A&T last Thursday, after a bit of a rocky start to the game. The Deacs, like UVa, had a quarterback battle through camp, with former Boise State and Louisiana Tech signal caller Hank Bachmeier getting most of the work last week. And like the Wahoos, Wake was picked near the bottom of the ACC standings in the preseason poll (Wake 15th, UVa 16th).
Despite the fact that UVa and Wake were in opposite divisions for years and meetings have been somewhat sparse, the Deacs have controlled the recent history in this matchup. Wake has won the last five meetings, most recently in Charlottesville in September 2021. UVa’s last win in the series came on Nov. 3, 2007, and the last win in Winston-Salem was way back in 2002. UVa is also looking to snap a three-game losing streak in ACC openers, having last won the conference debut game in the COVID-19 season of 2020, beating Duke in the season opener.
Saturday’s game is both a much-bigger challenge for the Hoos but also a great opportunity to demonstrate progress.
It’s tough to win on the road in conference play, and we already mentioned the recent lack of success against Wake Forest. But this is a game UVa can win if the Hoos play well, and truly have gotten better. The media agrees, having picked Wake alongside UVa in the ACC standings. Vegas agrees, making the Deacs a slight favorite against the Cavaliers, despite playing at home.
A win on Saturday would also help them get off to a much-needed fast start, with a difficult back half of the schedule looming. There aren’t many gimmes on this schedule, so every win is going to be crucial. The program has had a lot of FCS openers in recent years and the second game of the season can often be an inflection point, sending the season one way or the other. In 2011, UVa rallied for a last-second win at Indiana to go to 2-0, springboarding the Hoos to an 8-5 season. With a loss, UVa would have started 1-3 and things may have played out differently. In 2022, the Elliott era started with a win over Richmond but a blowout loss at Illinois, playing as favorites, reset the deck. A loss to Wake on the road isn’t the end of the world, either, it just puts more pressure on other games.
Regardless of outcome, Saturday’s game will be one thing for certain. A status check. How far has the program come from last year? How good can Colandrea be? Have the transfer additions on defense made the entire unit more formidable? Can the Cavaliers avoid critical special teams disasters? Stay tuned.
There’s still 11 games left to play, but we should have a lot of answers to these questions after Saturday night.
