No. 20 UVA Heads To Miami on Friday Night For A Key ACC Coastal Division Clash

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UVA Back in Action After Bye Week
• Virginia returns to ACC play on Friday night when the Cavaliers head to the Sunshine State to face the Miami Hurricanes. 
• UVA is 29-31 all-time when coming off a bye week and 2-1 under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, defeating Duke (28-21) in 2017 and then-No. 16 Miami (16-13) last year. UVA is 3-1 all-time against Miami when facing the Hurricanes after a bye.

Virginia vs. Miami
• This is the 17th meeting between the Coastal Division rivals. With UVA winning five of the last nine 
meetings, Miami leads the series by two games, 9-7.
• Miami won the first three games in the series (1996, 2004, 2005), but it’s been a narrow 7-6 UVA advantage since.
• Since the Hurricanes’ arrival in the Atlantic Coast Conference (2004), Miami leads the series narrowly, 8-7, in ACC play.

Five Top Storylines
• Friday is the earliest date on the schedule that UVA has ever played Miami and is only the fourth time the game has been contested in the month of October. UVA is 3-0 against Miami in the 10th month of the year, winning in 2010 (Oct. 30) at Scott Stadium, 24-19, in 2011 (Oct. 27) on a Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium, 28-21 and last year (Oct. 13) at Scott Stadium, 16-13.
• The Cavaliers are ranked No. 20 this week in the Associated Press Poll. It makes the second time in series history with the Hurricanes where UVA is ranked and Miami is not. The other time was 2007 when then-No. 23 UVA topped an unranked Miami team 48-0 in the Canes’  final game at the Orange Bowl.
• Virginia is playing its fifth night game of 2019, tying a regular season program record (1983). The Cavaliers are 63-47-1 all-time in night games, including 7-4 under Bronco Mendenhall.  
• ILB Jordan Mack is tied for No. 1 in the ACC with 6.0 sacks (No. 6 in the nation) and is tied for No. 2 among the nation’s linebackers, 0.5 behind Iowa State’s O’Rien Vance. He has at least 0.5 sacks in seven-straight games dating back to the 2018 Virginia Tech game and 8.0 sacks during his current streak. Mack was one of two active FBS players (only linebacker) to have an active streak of seven games with at least 0.5 sacks heading into week No. 6 of the college football season. During UVA’s bye week Ohio State’s defensive lineman Chase Young extended the nation’s longest current sack streak to eight games. Young has 12.5 sacks over OSU’s last eight games. Ohio State is off this week. 
• UVA’s defense is No. 2 in the nation with 4.8 sacks per game. UVA’s linebacking corps alone has 17 sacks (3.4 per game) which, not counting UVA, is more than the overall totals of all but 14 FBS teams thus far.

More on the UVA-Miami Series
• The first match-up occurred in the 1996 Carquest Bowl at then-Joe Robbie Stadium, a 31-21 victory by Miami.
• That game was the final collegiate action for several notable Cavaliers, including Tiki and Ronde Barber, James Farrior, Jon Harris and Jamie Sharper.
• In addition to this Cavalier quintet, the game featured a large number of future pros.
• Of the 44 starters in the game, 20 were drafted by NFL teams (11 UVA, 9 Miami). The group of NFL draftees included nine first-round picks. Twenty-one Cavaliers and 22 Hurricanes went on to play in the NFL.
• Friday is the sixth time UVA and Miami have played a night game. UVA is 4-1 all-time against Miami when playing at night. UVA closed Miami’s tenure at the Orange Bowl with a 48-0 win in 2007, followed by a Thursday Night win at Hard Rock Stadium in 2011, defeating the Hurricanes 28-21. UVA defeated Miami in a Saturday night game in 2014 at Scott Stadium, 30-13. Most recently, UVA topped then-No. 16 Miami at Scott Stadium last year, 16-13, in a night game. The lone loss came in the 1996 Carquest Bowl (31-21), the first game in the all-time series.

UVA Accomplished This Florida Feat
•  UVA’s trip to then-Sun Life Stadium in 2011 resulted in the Cavaliers’ 28-21 victory. The win set the table for Virginia to become the first program in college football history to win road games at Miami and Florida State in the same season. UVA later won in 2011 at then-No. 23 FSU, 14-13.
• UVA was the only team in college football history to accomplish the feat until North Carolina did so in 2016. 
• Florida State and Miami have brought eight combined national titles to the Sunshine State.
• UVA defeated FSU earlier this season at home, 31-24, giving the Cavaliers a second chance to sweep the ACC Florida schools in the same season. 

Last-Second Heroics in 2012
•The 2012 game at Scott Stadium saw last-second heroics by the Cavaliers.
• Michael Rocco tossed a 10-yard pass to Jake McGee in the back of the end zone with six seconds left to beat Miami, 41-40 at Scott Stadium. The touchdown capped a 10-point, fourth quarter comeback.
• Rocco was 29-of-37 for 300 yards and four touchdowns in the win.
• McGee had four catches for 26 yards including the game-winning score. 
• WR Dominique Terrell had a career day in the 2012 meeting with nine catches for 127 yards.
• The victory serves as the most recent UVA “last-minute win,” which means the winning score came with 60 seconds or less remaining in the game.

Virginia – Miami Connections
• UVA’s defensive back Brenton Nelson was born in Miami and played three seasons at Winter Springs High School near Orlando before his family moved to Maryland and he enrolled at DeMatha.
• UVA’s Tavares Kelly attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), as did Miami’s Mike Harley, Al Blades, Jr., and Michael Irvin, II. The NFL announced that St. Thomas Aquinas High School had the most alums on NFL rosters entering the 2019 season with 13.

Dubois Has Career Day at Notre Dame
• WR Hasise Dubois had a career day last time out at No. 10 Notre Dame. He set new career marks for catches (9) and yards receiving (143), while also scoring an acrobatic touchdown to give UVA a 17-14 lead heading into halftime.
• Dubois’ 143 receiving yards are the most by an opponent at Notre Dame Stadium since Oct. 17, 2009 when USC’s Anthony McCoy had 153 receiving yards against the Irish. 
• Dubois’ 143 receiving yards is the third most against the Irish since the start of the 2014 season. Former Cavalier Canaan Severin had the most (153) during the 2015 meeting, while Clemson’s Justyn Ross had 148 receiving yards against the Irish in last year’s Cotton Bowl semifinal game for the College Football Playoff.

Dubois Is “Clutch City” on Third Down
• Dubois has been one of Bryce Perkins’ main targets on third down, catching four passes on third down with three going for a first down and one for a touchdown.
• Overall, of Dubois’ 25 receptions 16 (64.0 percent) have gone for a first down and two for touchdowns.
• In 2018, Dubois made 32 first downs on 52 receptions (61.5 percent) with five touchdowns.

The 100/1,000 Club at Virginia
• WR Hasise Dubois is the 21st Cavalier in program history to reach 100 career receptions and 1,000 career receiving yards, reaching both milestones at No. 10 Notre Dame on Sept. 28.
• WR Joe Reed is already a member of the 1,000 career receiving yards club, reaching the milestone one game (Old Dominion) prior to Dubois. Reed needs 16 receptions to also reach the 100 career catch club, joining Dubois as the 22nd Cavalier in the 100/1,000 career club.