UVA Heads to Atlanta on Saturday to Face Georgia Tech

Nov. 14, 2016

UVA Heads to Atlanta to Face Georgia Tech
– Virginia heads to Atlanta on Saturday to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first of two consecutive road ACC games for the Cavaliers to close the season. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

Virginia vs. Georgia Tech
– The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series, 19-18-1, which dates back to 1965.
– The series has favored the home team historically. The Yellow Jackets are 15-7 at Bobby Dodd Stadium against UVA.

Five Top Storylines
– ILB Micah Kiser has recorded 231 tackles in his 22 career starts, giving the junior 10.5 tackles per game over his 22 starts. Kiser’s 231 tackles since the start of the 2015 are the second-most in the nation and the most among “Power 5” players. Kiser has 246 career tackles in 34 games.
– P Nicholas Conte is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 11 in the nation with a 44.8 punting average. Of Conte’s 29 punts inside the 20, 13 punts are inside the 10, six of those punts are inside the five and five of those punts have been downed at the one-yard line. Conte’s 29 punts inside the 20 leads the nation. His career 44.7 punting average is a program best.
– QB Kurt Benkert’s 20 touchdown place him in a tie at No. 4 for all-time for passing touchdowns in a season at UVA. Matt Johns also had 20 passing touchdowns last season, Dan Ellis reached 20 passing touchdowns in 1999 and Aaaron Brooks tallied 20 passing touchdowns in 1997.
– TB Taquan Mizzell has a chance to become the 19th Cavalier to reach 2,000 career rushing yards. He enters the Georgia Tech contest needing 169 more rushing yards to reach that plateau. He is averaging 84.5 rushing yards per game over his last two games and 74 rushing yards per game over his last five contests. Mizzell’s 696 rushing yards in 2016 are the most he has accumulated in any season during his four-year UVA career. Mizzell also is only the seventh Cavalier with at least 4,000 career all-purpose yards (4,031).
– FS Quin Blanding needs five tackles to pass former UVA great Anthony Poindexter (342) for most stops by a Cavalier defensive back. Poindexter currently sits No. 11 all-time at UVA in career tackles. Blanding currently ranks No. 12 all-time at UVA with 338 career tackles.

Turnovers May Tell the Story
– Since 1982, Virginia is 10-3 vs. Georgia Tech when committing fewer turnovers. The losses were in 1991, 2010 and 2013.
– Georgia Tech is 8-4-1 during that span when committing fewer turnovers.
– There have been seven games since 1982 (`82, `87, `98, `02, `05, `08, `09) where the teams had equal turnovers; UVA won in 1987, 2005 and 2008.
– In the last 11 meetings, Virginia has recorded 26 takeaways and turned them into 77 points.
– The Yellow Jackets have turned the ball over at least once in every game in the series since 2001 (27 total).
– The Yellow Jackets have committed eight turnovers in the last three meetings against UVA, including five during the 2013 meeting.

Red-Zone Offense
– UVA has scored on 29 of its last 34 trips inside the red-zone, with 26 touchdowns and three field goals.
– UVA ranks 10th in the nation in red-zone chances that ended with a touchdown (76.5 percent).
– After Taquan Mizzell fumbled on the five-yard line against Richmond in the season-opening game, UVA scored on 29-of-31 trips inside the red-zone. Both times UVA failed during those 29 trips inside the red-zone was because of missed field goals. Alex Furbank’s 20-yard field goal attempt as time expired at UConn on Sept. 17 was the first, followed by Sam Hayward’s 30-yard attempt against then-No. 5 Louisville on Oct. 29.
– On UVA’s last two trips to the red-zone UVA is 0-2. The Cavaliers turned the ball over on downs and fumbled its last possession of the Miami game.

Goal-to-goal Offense
– UVA has scored on 19 of its 20 goal-to-goal offensive situations with 17 touchdowns.
– UVA’s lone goal-to-goal opportunity it failed on was the end of the UConn game when the Cavaliers’ field goal attempt was wide as time expired as they tried to force overtime.
– Nine of UVA’s touchdowns in goal-to-goal situations have been via the pass and eight via the rush.