UVa Returns Home on Saturday to Host WAC Foe Louisiana Tech

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Sept. 24, 2012

Virginia Returns Home to Face Louisiana Tech
• The Virginia football team returns home after being on the road for two weeks with a Saturday, Sept. 29, meeting vs. Louisiana Tech at Scott Stadium. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., and will be webcast by ESPN3.

Throwback to 1968 and the Frank Quayle era
• The Virginia Cavaliers are donning throwback uniforms Saturday to honor the 1968 Cavaliers and the 1968 ACC Player of the Year, Frank Quayle.
• During the game’s halftime ceremonies, Quayle will be honored for his involvement with the Virginia football program as a student-athlete and then as a member of the school’s radio broadcast crew for 29 years. He will be presented a framed copy of his retro jersey.
• The members of the 1968 Virginia football team in attendance will join Quayle on the field for the recognition.
• A native of Garden City, N.Y., Quayle rushed for 2,695 yards and caught 83 passes for 1,145 yards during his career. During the 1968 season, he rushed for 1,213 yards and caught 30 passes for 426 yards. In addition to being named the ACC’s Player of the Year, he also earned the league’s Athlete of the Year Award. Quayle also starred on the Virginia lacrosse team during his collegiate athletic career.
• Quayle’s number 24 is one of six numbers retired by the Virginia football program. The retro Virginia game helmets will feature a special decal as a salute to Quayle.

Virginia vs. Louisiana Tech, Western Athletic Conference
• Louisiana Tech is UVa’s lone first-time opponent on the 2012 schedule.
• Louisiana Tech is the first school from the state of Louisiana to invade Scott Stadium since Tulane, ironically in 1968 – the season being honored Saturday by the throwback uniforms. Frank Quayle in the game rushed for 121 yards on 20 carries and two rushing TDs. He also caught a receiving TD in a 63-47 UVa rout.
• UVa is 3-1 all-time against members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and 2-0 against current members.
• Virginia is 2-0 in Scott Stadium against WAC members.
• Virginia’s most recent WAC opponent was Idaho in 2011. The Cavaliers came away with the 21-20 win in overtime, only the seventh overtime game in program history.
• Virginia defeated BYU in the 1987 All-American Bowl before the Cougars left the league.
• UVa’s only defeat against a WAC team came against former league member Fresno State in the 2004 MPC Computers Bowl. Fresno State, now in its first season as a Mountain West Conference member, defeated UVa 37-34 in overtime on the blue turf of Boise State’s Bronco Stadium.
• UVa defeated San Jose State, 52-14, at Scott Stadium in 1998 – which until Idaho’s trip to Charlottesville in 2011 – served as the only time UVa had faced a WAC team in the regular season.

Virginia Coaches to Participate in `Coach To Cure MD’ Effort
• In its game against Louisiana Tech, the Virginia coaching staff will be wearing a Coach to Cure MD patch to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. Fans are encouraged to donate online at www.CoachtCureMD.org or donate $5 by texting CURE to 9099.
• This is the fifth annual Coach to Cure MD effort from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). More than 100 FBS schools will be wearing a Coach to Cure MD patch.

Tough Opening Schedule
• UVa is one of 11 teams in the nation that boasts four teams who played in 2011 bowl games on its schedule through the first five weeks of the season. The Cavaliers are the only team in the ACC that can lay claim to the list.
• Here is the list of FBS teams that feature 2011 bowl participants as four of their first five opponents:
Arizona State – Illinois, Missouri, Utah, California
Auburn – Clemson, Mississippi State, LSU, Arkansas
Central Mich – Michigan State, Iowa, Northern Illinois, Toledo
Illinois – Western Mich, Arizona State, Louisiana Tech, Penn State
Michigan – Alabama, Air Force, Notre Dame, Purdue
Nebraska – Southern Miss, UCLA, Arkansas St., Wisconsin
Penn State – Ohio, Virginia, Temple, Illinois
Rice – UCLA, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Houston
Vanderbilt – South Carolina, Northwestern, Georgia, Missouri
Virginia – Penn State, Georgia Tech, TCU, Louisiana Tech
Washington – San Diego State, LSU, Stanford, Oregon