UVa Returns to Action Saturday Against VMI for Military Appreciation Day

Story Links

Sept. 16, 2013

Virginia and VMI Renew Commonwealth Rivalry
• Virginia and VMI are facing each other on the gridiron for the 83rd time, but only for the second meeting since 1991.
• UVa defeated VMI 42-0 at Scott Stadium in 1991 and then the series was dormant until Sept. 25, 2010 when the Keydets returned to Charlottesville in Mike London’s third game as the head coach of the Cavaliers.
• The teams have met 82 times previously; UVa owns a 56-23-3 edge in the all-time series and has won nine straight against the Keydets, which matches its longest winning streak in the series. The current streak started in 1979. The other nine-game winning streak spanned the 1943-52 seasons.
• VMI’s last win in the series was Sept. 30, 1978, a 17-9 victory in Charlottesville; the last nine games have rarely been close – only one game was decided by fewer than 10 points, with an average score of 33.6 to 6.1.
• UVa has outscored VMI 120-7 over the last three meetings (1987, 1991, 2010).

Honoring a Former UVa Football Captain and Military Veteran
• During a timeout of Saturday’s game with VMI, former UVa captain John Leys will be honored as part of Military Appreciation Day. Leys was a three-year football letterwinner from 1933-35.
• A solo captain of the 1935 UVa team, Leys is the oldest surviving captain of a UVa athletics team.
• The 99-year old was on the touchdown receiving end of the longest pass play in Virginia Football history as he teamed up with Bus Male and Harry Martin on a 97-yard pass play against Navy in the 1935. Leys was an honorable mention All-American in 1935 at defensive end.
• Leys is a World War II veteran and was the commander of a landing craft infantry assault ship that landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Long History Between Cavaliers, Keydets
• Despite playing once in the previous 22 seasons, Virginia and VMI have competed many times previously.
• This is the 83rd meeting between the schools on the gridiron – VMI is the third-most common opponent in UVa program history.
• Only North Carolina (117 games) and Virginia Tech (94 games) have battled UVa on more occasions than VMI.

Familiar Foe For London
• Mike London is no stranger to the VMI program as this is his fourth meeting against the Keydets in his sixth season as a college head coach.
• London’s Richmond teams faced the Keydets during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, with UR winning each matchup.
• Richmond won, 56-16, in 2008 in Lexington, then posted a 38-28 victory over the Keydets during the 2009 season in Richmond.
• London’s third game as the head coach of UVa in 2010 was against the Keydets, a 48-7 victory.

Virginia Versus Big South Teams
• This will be Virginia’s second game against a team representing the Big South Conference. VMI, who previously was in the Southern Conference before joining the Big South in 2003, is the only opponent from the league UVa has ever faced (2010 and 2013).
• The league added football as a championship sport in 2002 and currently consists of six teams for football: Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, Liberty, Presbyterian and VMI.
• VMI will re-join the Southern Conference in 2014.
• With VMI’s departure, Monmouth will join the Big South in 2014 and Kennesaw State will follow in 2015, both as associate football members.

Virginia Following a Bye Week
• Virginia has had varying degrees of success following bye weeks.
• Over the last 23 years, Virginia has a 19-11 record when playing after a two-week break (not counting Thursday night games.)
• UVa has won four games in a row when the contest follows a bye, including a 33-6 triumph at NC State in 2012.
• UVa’s current bye week streak started in 2009 when the Cavaliers won in Chapel Hill over North Carolina, 16-3.
• The win over the Tar Heels snapped a three -game losing streak in contests that followed a bye week.