After opening the season last weekend on the road, UVa returns the Charlottesville for a rare Friday-night home opener when the Cavaliers host William & Mary (8 p.m., ACCN).

If the game is as storyline packed as everything surrounding it, it should be an interesting game at least. It's a matchup of two coaches in Bronco Mendenhall and Mike London who have faced off against each other previously in Scott Stadium but on different sidelines. In addition, there are several players who remain on Virginia's roster who were recruited by London's staff at UVa.

But in terms of the football game itself, this one appears on paper to be a pretty lopsided one. The Tribe come in after a 30-17 win over Lafayette and London's new regime seems to be generating plenty of excitement early.

William & Mary Tribe (1-0)

Head coach: Mike London (63-61 overall, 1-0 in his first year at W&M)

Series: UVa leads the all-time series 29-6-1.

Last Meeting: The Wahoos beat the Tribe 28-10 in Charlottesville in 2017.

-- Perhaps the biggest shift from the Laycock era to this season’s Tribe team is the offensive philosophy. Laycock ran what could best be described as a traditional pro-style attack. And in the last few years when the offense wasn’t really productive, it was best described as “predictable” or “boring.” Those two adjectives certainly won’t apply on Friday night, when the Cavaliers attempt to stop the Tribe’s new-look modern scheme led by offensive coordinator Brennan Marion. London took a chance on Marion to lead his offense when he took over at Howard and the former Tulsa wide receiver with just two years in college coaching, one of which was as a Grad Assistant at Arizona State when Bryce Perkins played for the Sun Devils, did not disappoint. Marion developed what he calls the “Go-Go Offense,” which is more or less a up-tempo spread-to-run philosophy with lots of options and unique formations. At Howard, Marion’s offense proved difficult to defend, as the Bison averaged between 400 and 500 yards per game in his two seasons and finished top-25 in the FCS ranks in both passing and rushing yards per game. Marion’s offenses at Howard had several impressive showings against FBS competition, scoring 31 points or more on three occasions, including a stunning 43-40 upset of UNLV in the 2017 season opener. In his debut as the Tribe’s offensive coordinator last weekend, the offense certainly left some points on the table but managed to score 30 with 418 total yards, including 255 on the ground on a staggering 58 attempts.

-- UVa's defense will have to prepare not only for the Tribe’s new scheme but two quarterbacks as well. Cavalier fans should know that London isn’t afraid to play multiple signal callers in a game or let a quarterback competition go deep into a season. Against Lafayette, the Tribe split most of the reps between true freshman Hollis Mathis and grad transfer Kilton Anderson. Mathis made a host of plays with his legs, rushing 16 times for a team-high 127 yards and a score. He came to Williamsburg after a productive prep career in Pittsburgh, where he set school records for career passing yards and touchdowns. Mathis wasn’t asked to do a lot through the air in his collegiate debut, however, completing six of his 13 attempts for 66 yards. He appears to be the future at quarterback for W&M and as the season goes on it seems reasonable that he may end up taking most or all of the quarterback reps. Anderson, meanwhile, joined the program after stops at Coastal Carolina and before that Fresno State. He completed four of his eight pass attempts for 100 yards on Saturday, including a 49-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage. Anderson is not the runner that Mathis is but he does have a significant amount of experience as a collegiate starting quarterback, including two starts on the road against Power-5 competition.

--While William & Mary’s quarterback situation plays out, the Tribe are looking to find weapons on offense to help out whoever ends up taking snaps. In the run game, sophomore Owen Wright emerged as a potential lead back after being relegated to a reserve role last year. He rushed 14 times for 63 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Saturday and looks to have carved out a role for himself in Marion’s offense. Senior Albert Funderburke should be in the mix for carries as well after leading the Tribe in rushing last season with 261 yards. At wide receiver, the Tribe don’t return a lot of production. Juniors Zach Burdick and Jordan Lowery are listed as starters on the depth chart, and prior to this season, those two had combined for nine career receptions. Burdick led the team in receiving yards against Lafayette with 60 on two catches. Freshman Kane Everson could be a player to watch at wide receiver going forward, after catching three passes for 40 yards in his collegiate debut. On the offensive line, W&M has experienced starters on the right side and a lack thereof on the left. Center Nick Wimmer, guard Mark Williamson, and tackle Colby Sorsdal are all returning starters, with Williamson named a team captain in the preseason. At left tackle, the Tribe are starting Andrew Trainer, a former Virginia commit who ended up signing with Illinois but only seeing the field in one game. And at left guard, William & Mary starts Ryan Ripley, who like Trainer saw his first career start against the Leopards on Saturday.

-- William & Mary debuted its 3-4 defense in Saturday’s season opener and allowed 17 points in the win. The Tribe’s defensive coordinator is Vincent Brown, who spent four years on London’s staff at Virginia, coaching linebackers and the defensive line. Brown then left for UConn before joining up with London at Howard as his defensive coordinator. In fact, there are Virginia connections all over the Tribe’s defensive staff. Brown serves as coordinator, while former Cavaliers Keenan Carter, Ras-I Dowling, Josh Zidenberg, and Darryl Blackstock serve as assistants or position coaches. Unlike Brown and London’s time in Charlottesville, the Tribe run a 3-4 scheme rather than the 4-3 that they implemented at UVa. During London’s time at Howard, the defense never caught up to how productive the offense was. In 2018, the Bison allowed 34.1 points per game, and allowed 30 points in five of their 10 contests. On Saturday, the Tribe did a solid job against Lafayette and flipped the game in the third quarter by forcing three consecutive fumbles and recovering all of them. Those fumbles led to 17 points that helped put William & Mary in complete control of the game. The Tribe defense also did an excellent job winning on 3rd down, allowing just six 3rd-down conversions on 15 attempts from Lafayette.

-- In the front seven, William & Mary has a lot of returning production from a year ago, led by defensive tackle Bill Murray. His ability to create havoc up front is no laughing matter, as Lafayette found out on Saturday night. The senior defender finished the season opener with 1.5 sacks, 5 total tackles and a blocked field goal, the seventh blocked kick of his career. A three-year starter who led the Tribe in sacks and tackles for loss a season ago, Murray will certainly be a player that the UVa offensive line will have to account for on Friday night. Murray is joined up front by Will Kiely and Carl Fowler, both of whom recovered a fumble against Lafayette. The Tribe also added Virginia Tech transfer Darius Fullwood to the mix on the defensive line and the grad transfer recorded a half-sack in his debut in green and gold. At linebacker the Tribe are led by four-year starter Nate Atkins, who has been a mainstay during his career in Williamsburg. Atkins led the team in tackles in each of the past two seasons, with 68 last year and 96 in 2017. Fellow linebacker sGavin Johnson and Arman Jones are also returning starters, and sophomore Trey Watkins made his first career start against Lafayette and finished the game with a career-high 10 tackles.

-- One successful element from the Laycock era that the Tribe are hoping to roll over into this year and beyond is their pass defense. William & Mary has done a great job shutting down opposing passers in recent years, allowing just eight 300-yard passing games since 2007 and none since 2015. Over the past three seasons, only five teams have thrown for multiple passing touchdowns in a game against the Tribe. Virginia was one of those five teams, with Kurt Benkert throwing for three touchdowns in the win over William & Mary two years ago. The Tribe secondary features two of the most talented players on the entire roster in cornerback Corey Parker and safety Isaiah Laster. Parker, one of William & Mary’s team captains, had five tackles and a fumble recovery in the win over Lafayette and is looking to build on what was a very successful 2018 campaign. As a junior, he recorded 42 tackles, 10 pass break-ups, an interception, and a pair of fumble recoveries. Laster, meanwhile, was an All-CAA selection a year ago after leading the Tribe with four interceptions and also recorded 65 tackles. He forced a fumble in last Saturday’s win and seems to have a knack for creating turnovers.