3 p.m., CW Network

Duke Blue Devils (6-4, 3-3)

Head Coach: Mike Elko

Conference: ACC

Last Game: 47-45 L @ UNC

UVa hosts the Duke Blue Devils this weekend with the hopes of finishing out the season on a high note and continuing the upward trend of the Tony Elliott era.

Last week, the Wahoos put together another solid performance, albeit in a losing effort, at Louisville. Freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea had another strong showing and UVa’s defense had its moments as well. However, even with these positive steps, Virginia is a 2-8 football team that still has issues on special teams and in overall game management. No one can question the resolve of this bunch, of course, but there are problems that need to be addressed in the offseason. With that said, the Hoos have an opportunity to win two games and start the offseason with some motion.

Tomorrow UVa plays the first of two straight home games to close out the 2023 season. The first of those opponents, the Blue Devils started the 2023 campaign with a lot of deserved hype. They defeated Clemson 28-7 to start the season and competed hard against Notre Dame earlier in the year.

Duke has struggled recently, losing four of its last six games thanks in large part to the health of quarterback Riley Leonard. When Leonard is himself, Duke is a smart and physical team that excels using him as a dual threat. Assuming Leonard does not play on Saturday, Duke has a couple of options at quarterback.

Henry Belin IV is the backup but has been out with an upper body injury. Last week, true freshman Grayson Loftis led the Blue Devils against Carolina and almost pulled off the upset. The 6-foot-3, 205 pounder from Gaffney (SC) put together quite a performance against the Tar Heels. He threw for a modest 189 yards but tossed three touchdowns and ran for another. Duke has a very capable offense with any of these three individuals behind center on Saturday afternoon.

Jordan Waters (6-foot, 219 pounds) leads the way in the backfield. The grad student has 677 yards and 12 touchdowns to lead the ball club. Also, look for Jaquez Moore (5-foot-10, 201) to factor into the rushing attack too.

Duke features one of the most dynamic players in the conference in Jordan Moore. A 6-foot, 195-pound playmaker, he’s been the go-to receiver this year for the Blue Devils but has lined up at quarterback and running back in past seasons. With Leonard likely out once agin, look for Moore to line up all over the field. Last week, he lined up as a “Wildcat” quarterback but did most of his damage at the receiver position. He tallied six catches for 88 yards and three touchdowns against Carolina. Jalon Calhoun (5-foot-11, 191 poiunds) is Duke’s second-best pass catcher with 37 catches and over 500 yards receiving this season.

Coming into Saturday as the 44th ranked defense in FBS (seventh in the ACC), Duke has a solid group that shows a lot of varied looks. They will bring pressure from the secondary and off the edge, playing an assortment of coverages on the backend to deceive looks. They are 22nd in the country in scoring defense, only surrendering 18.8 points per game. The Blue Devils are disciplined and well coached on this side of the ball. They are very deep along the defensive line and show several different fronts to stymie opposing teams’ run games.

The Blue Devil defense funnels everything to linebacker Tre Freeman. The 6-foot, 230-pound redshirt sophomore is his team’s leading tackler with 85 stops, 20 more than the next defender. Up front, Aeneas Peebles (6-foot-1, 286 pounds) is a destructive force with three sacks and six TFLs. However, it is nickel Brandon Johnson (5-foot-10, 180) who leads Duke with seven TFLs.

1. Once again, the Hoos have to handle adversity.

It has been an emotional week for this Virginia football team. With the injury to Perris Jones against Louisville and the one-year anniversary of the tragic loss of three teammates, this squad needs to handle the adversity and play with an inspired spirit. Elliott has yet to win an ACC home game and with two opportunities left in the 2023 season, UVa is capable of getting it done. However, this group needs to put together a strong performance.

2. The defense needs to find a way to disrupt things.

DC John Rudzinski and his group have done an admiral job putting together a serviceable group given the number of injuries and setbacks they’ve had to deal with this year. Outside of the Georgia Tech game, this group has played well and there have been some standout individual performances. UVa is playing against a true freshman quarterback on the road and that needs to be a storyline in this game. The Hoos need to make him earn everything. We have confidence that they will be able to create some problems for the young Duke QB.

3. The offense needs a steady performance from Colandrea.

AC10 looks to be the starter this week, as Tony Muskett is still nursing his ankle injury. For all of the bells and whistles that Colandrea possesses, the team is winless in his starts. For the future of this program, UVa needs to find confidence and comfort in his ability to lead this offense and team to winning football games. Everyone seems to be excited about his abilities and flair, but the wins have not happened with Colandrea under center. He’s got to be a steadying, productive force.

This is certainly a game that UVa can win. Although there are only two notches in the win column for them, the Wahoos are a gritty team that play well in spurts. However, in those other moments, they struggle and are not a consistent bunch.

The Cavaliers have shown that they can move the football against really good defenses and we think this trend continues. UVa will be able to chalk up yards against this Duke defense. Last season, the Blue Devils dominated the Hoos from start to finish in an ugly contest in Durham. This year, they should be able to limit the Blue Devil offense from being effective, especially with the freshman quarterback playing.

Look for Malik Washington to turn in another high-caliber performance and UVa to get a special teams touchdown to take down the Dukies at home.