UVa Welcomes No. 2 Oregon to Scott Stadium on Saturday

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Sep 2, 2013

Virginia Wins Season Opener for the Fourth Year in a Row
• Virginia has won four straight season openers after its 19-16 win over BYU. The current streak follows a stretch (2006-09) where the Cavaliers lost four consecutive season openers.
• UVa is now 80-35-9 (.681) all-time in season openers and 74-19-7 (.775) when that game is played at home, including winning 17 of its last 20.
• Virginia has opened up its season at Scott Stadium six consecutive years.
• UVa head coach Mike London is the only UVa head coach to win the season opener in each of his first four seasons in Charlottesville.

Virginia vs. Top-5 Teams
• Oregon will be just the third non-conference team ranked in the top three to play in Charlottesville.
• No. 3 USC opened up the 2008 season with a 52-7 victory over the Cavaliers.
• Prior to USC coming to Charlottesville in 2008 it had been 64 years since the last occurrence when No. 2 North Carolina Pre-Flight, led by QB Otto Graham, and UVa played to a 13-13 tie.
• Before the Trojans and UVa faced each other in 2008, the Cavaliers highest-ranked non-league opponent was No. 2
Notre Dame in the 1989 Kickoff Classic (ND 36-13).
• UVa is 2-17-1 all-time vs. top-five teams, including 2-6-1 at home.
• UVa’s last win and appearance vs. a top-5 team was Oct. 15, 2004 vs. No. 4 Florida State (26-21).

Oregon Makes First trip to an ACC Stadium
• Oregon is making its first trip to an ACC stadium when it comes to Scott Stadium on Saturday.
• Virginia is only the second different active ACC opponent Oregon has faced. The Ducks faced Wake Forest in the 1992 Independence Bowl and the 2002 Seattle Bowl.
• Oregon did play road games at current ACC members Miami and Pitt before they were in the league.
• The Miami game was in 1958, and Pitt was 1956 and 1965.
• Oregon has never played in the Commonwealth of Virginia before.

Virginia vs. Oregon and the Pac-12
• Virginia is facing Oregon for the first time in program history.
• Saturday’s game is only the fourth time Virginia has faced a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
• UVa is 0-3 against the Pac-12 and its the only BCS conference the Cavaliers are winless against.
• Oregon is the second team from the Pac-12 to ever travel to Scott Stadium and the first since USC in 2008.
• UVa returned the trip to USC on Sept. 11, 2010 and fell to the then-No. 14 Trojans, 17-14 in head coach Mike London’s first road contest at the helm for Virginia.
• UVa also lost at Washington in 1976.
• The Cavaliers will play at Oregon in 2016.

Anthony Harris is the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week
• The Walter Camp Football Foundation announced its first 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision National Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, presented by Generation UCAN. Virginia junior strong safety Anthony Harris was selected as the national defensive player of the week.
• Harris posted 11 tackles, including three solo stops, recorded one quarterback sack, blocked a punt and intercepted a pass in UVa’s season-opening 19-16 victory against BYU. Harris’ blocked punt in the third quarter set up Virginia’s first touchdown.
• With UVa trailing 16-12 and three minutes left to play, Harris picked off a third-down BYU pass, returned it 10 yards and then pitched the ball to linebacker Henry Coley, who ran another 23 yards. Virginia scored the winning touchdown on the next play.

Oregon Connections
• Oregon passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Matt Lubick is the son of former Colorado State head football coach Sonny Lubick. Sonny hired UVa offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild in 1993 when he was hired as the head coach at Colorado State. Fairchild was the quarterbacks coach under Lubick from 1993-96 and then was named the offensive coordinator in 1997.
• Fairchild and Matt Lubick worked on the same Colorado State staff in 1995 when the younger Lubick was a graduate assistant. When Sonny Lubick retired in 2007, Fairchild was hired as his replacement.
• Matt Lubick is familiar with UVa after working with the wide receivers at Duke from 2010-12.
• UVa special teams coordinator and running backs coach Larry Lewis faced Oregon nine times during his tenure at Washington State. Lewis and the Cougars were 4-5 from 1989-98.

The Long Family and Bragging Rights
• Saturday’s game will have sibling bragging rights for two sons of NFL Hall of Famer and Ivy resident Howie Long.
• The eldest son, Chris, was a UVa All-American (2007) and a current member of the St. Louis Rams. He played at UVa from 2004-07. The middle son, Kyle, spent the 2012 season as an offensive guard with the Oregon Ducks and was the Chicago Bears first round draft pick in April.
• Chris Long has a sandwich named after him at littlejohns on UVa’s historic Corner.