It is a Commonwealth Clash on Friday Afternoon When No. 23 Virginia Tech comes to Scott Stadium

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Cavaliers and Hokies Meet for Coastal Crown
• Virginia and Virginia Tech will play a nationally-televised game on Friday afternoon on ABC. 
• The winner of this game claims the Commonwealth Cup and a UVA win clinches the Coastal Division crown.
• The award was started for the 1996 game between the two state foes, with the Hokies receiving the trophy for the first time with a 26-9 win.

Commonwealth Clash Point On the Line 
• The Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529 is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.  The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line.  The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy.  Visit www.TheCommonwealthClash.com for more information and updated standings.
• There is one point at stake on Friday in the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash.

Five Top Storylines
• Virginia Tech is the fourth UVA opponent this season from the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the first time since 1979 that the Cavaliers will face four Commonwealth opponents in the same season. 
• Since Division I football split into FBS and FCS (formally I-AA) in 1978, UVA and Virginia Tech were the only FBS schools in the Commonwealth until this decade when Liberty and Old Dominion joined the ranks. UVA has the other three Commonwealth FBS schools on its 2019 schedule, something no other FBS school in the Commonwealth has done thus far.
• QB Bryce Perkins is one of two players in the nation, joining Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, to pass for 2,625+ yards and rush for 520+ yards so far this season. Perkins is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 16 in the nation with 3,161 yards of total offense.
• ILB Jordan Mack, a Campbell Trophy finalist, is No. 6 in the ACC with 7.5 sacks and is No. 1 among the league’s linebackers (No. 7 among the nation’s linebackers).
• WR Joe Reed has 2,989 career kick return yards and is averaging 29.0 yards per kick return while in a UVA uniform. He is the only player in FBS history to have 2,700+ career kick return yards and a career average per kick return of 28+ yards. He is also the only FBS player with 100+ career returns and a career kick return average of 28+ yards.

Virginia-Virginia Tech Connections
• Virginia Tech cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell spent 11 years at BYU as the cornerbacks coach from 1995-05. Mitchell was the cornerbacks coach on current UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s first BYU team in 2005 after there two worked together in 2003 and 2004 when Mendenhall was BYU’s defensive coordinator and Mitchell was the cornerbacks coach.
• Mitchell is a 1995 graduate of BYU and played for the Cougars from 1987-90. He was teammates from 1988-90 with current UVA offensive line coach, Garett Tujague.

Virginia Wins Game Number Eight For Second Year in A Row
• The Cavaliers are bowl-eligible for the third year in a row after leaving Chapel Hill with a 38-31 triumph on Nov. 2. It is the second year in a row that UVA became bowl-eligible against the Tar Heels.
• UVA has clinched a winning season in back-to-back seasons. UVA last had winning records in consecutive seasons over a four-year span from 2002-05. This season marks UVA’s 72nd all-time winning season out of 130. 
• Head coach Bronco Mendenhall has won at least eight games in 11 of his 15 seasons as a head coach.

Bronco Mendenhall is in Special Company
• Bronco Mendenhall is one of three active coaches that has inherited at least two programs in his career that were coming off a losing season and in year one, or year two, played in a bowl game. The others to do it are Nick Saban (Alabama, LSU, Michigan State) and Mark Dantonio (Michigan State/Cincinnati).
• Mendenhall inherited a BYU team that went 5-6 in 2004 and in his first season the Cougars went 6-6 and played in the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl. Mendenhall took over a Virginia team that went 4-8 in 2015 and took the Cavaliers to the 2017 Military Bowl in year No. 2, finishing 6-7. His UVA team followed up in year No. 3 with a 28-0 victory over South Carolina in the Belk Bowl.

Virginia Eyes the ACC Coastal Division Crown on Friday 
• Friday’s game is a winner-take all contest for the ACC’s Coastal Division crown.
• A UVA win on Friday will give the Cavaliers their first-ever appearance in the ACC Championship game.
• A UVA win on Friday would also make Virginia the seventh-different Coastal Division champion dating back to 2013. 
• UVA and Virginia Tech last met for a winner-take all contest for the ACC Coastal Division crown in 2011. They also met in 2007 in another winner-take all meeting for the Coastal Division. 

Seven-Different Cavaliers Score Touchdowns against Liberty
• Last time out against Liberty, seven-different Cavaliers scored touchdowns on offense. The last time seven-different offensive players scored touchdowns in the same game for UVA was the 1990 game at Kansas.
• UVA did have seven-different players score touchdowns in the 2003 game at Western Michigan, but two were on interception returns.