Virginia Heads West To Visit High-Scoring BYU

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Sept. 21, 1999

Virginia is making a rare trip out West, and the Cavaliers have adifficultgame waiting when they get there.

The Cavaliers (2-1) step out of Atlantic Coast Conference play for thefirsttime this season when they visit explosive 17th-ranked Brigham Young (2-0) onSaturday night.

Virginia is making the second-longest road trip in school history, toppedonly by a visit to Washington in 1976. In fact, the Cavaliers have played only11 of their 1,074 all-time games west of the Mississippi River.

They certainly haven’t had many games as difficult as Saturday’s contestfigures to be. The Cavaliers will meet a high-powered BYU offense that is ledby one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country in Kevin Feterik.

Feterik leads the nation in total offense, accounting for 392.5 yards pergame. He has completed 69 percent of his passes for 811 yards and fivetouchdowns in the Cougars’ wins over Washington and Colorado State. ReceiverMargin Hooks has caught 13 passes for 212 yards.

Thanks to Feterik, BYU leads the nation in passing offense and iseighth intotal offense. The Cougars are averaging 34.5 points in their first two games.

Nevertheless, the Cavaliers have reason for optimism. They have won theirlast two non-conference road games against ranked teams, beating Auburn andVirginia Tech last season.

Virginia, ranked to start the season, bounced back from a loss to Clemsonwith a 35-7 rout of Wake Forest last Saturday. Thomas Jones ran for 164 yardsas the Cavaliers erupted for 28 points in the first half and cruised to thevictory.

Jones has 2,610 career rushing yards and needs 86 to move past FrankQuayleinto fifth place on the school’s all-time list.

Virginia won the only previous meeting between the teams with a 22-16win inthe 1987 All-American Bowl.