Virginia Faces Illinois on Saturday in First Road Test

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (1-0) will play its first road contest of the 2022 season on Saturday (Sept. 10) at Illinois (1-1). Kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. EST and the contest is scheduled to air on ESPNU as well as the Virginia Sports Radio Network.

GAME COVERAGE: In addition to the ESPNU broadcast, the game can be streamed by authenticated subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. The pregame radio show on the Virginia Sports Radio Network will begin at 3 p.m. EST. Fans can listen to the game on the Virginia Sports App, the TuneIn App and any one of the VSRN affiliates across the commonwealth. For a list of expanded coverage visit: virginiasports.com/radio

INSIDE SATURDAY’S MATCHUP

• Virginia will square off against Illinois for the second-straight season and visit Champaign for the first time.
• Last year in Charlottesville, UVA never trailed and scored the final 21 points in a 42-14 victory.
• UVA has won five of its last seven matchups against Big Ten foes.
• The Cavaliers are looking to move to 2-0 for the second-straight season and the seventh time since 2000.
• Virginia is seeking its first road win over a Big Ten opponent since 2011 at Indiana. Against active members of the Big Ten, UVA is 8-11 all-time. Only one of the eight wins have come on the road – Indiana (2011).

TOP STORYLINES

• Fralin Family Head Coach Tony Elliott was one of 12 FBS coaches to make their head coaching debut in the past two weeks. Elliott is among seven who won their first game as the head man.
• Quarterback Brennan Armstrong led a balanced UVA attack with 246 yards passing and 105 yards rushing in a season-opening win over Richmond. He is one of three quarterbacks in the country to throw for 200 yards and rush for 100 in a game this season.
• Promising a commitment to the running game, Tony Elliott delivered in week one. UVA amassed 505 yards of total offense, 246 in the air and another 259 on the ground against Richmond. As a play caller at Clemson that started with 2014 season bowl win over Oklahoma, the Tiger offense had 39 games in which the offense accumulated 200 or more passing and rushing yards in a game and went a perfect 39-0 in those games.
• Armstrong broke UVA’s career total offense record (8,010) in week one against Richmond. He’s in striking distance for the program’s career passing yards record and career touchdown mark. He needs four touchdown passes and 433 yards passing to eclipse both records.
• The new look Cavaliers had eight players (five on offense and three on defense) make their first career starts in week one. A total of six Cavaliers made their collegiate debuts.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

433 – Yards Brennan Armstrong needs to break UVA career passing record. Against Illinois last year, Armstrong threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns.

4 – Armstrong’ needs four touchdowns to become UVA’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes.

12 – Lavel Davis Jr. has 24 career receptions, 12 of them have gone for 20 or more yards including a 56-yard score in week one against Richmond.

42 – Rushing attempts by the Cavaliers in week one against Richmond, the most since running the ball 42 times against Boston College in 2020.

CAVALIER RUSHING ATTACK

• Last Saturday against Richmond marked the first time two UVA rushers went for 100+ yards in the same game since Jordan Ellis (146) and Bryce Perkins (108) vs. Richmond in 2018.
• The 42 attempts were the most since running the ball 42 times against Boston College on Dec. 5, 2020.
• The Cavaliers racked up 250 or more yards on the ground for only the fourth time since the 2015 season, a span of 87 games.

UVA 250+ Team Rushing Yards since 2015

• Armstrong’s 64-yard run was the longest of his career, the longest of any Cavalier since his 60-yard scamper against Boston College in 2020 and the sixth-longest ever by a UVA quarterback.

Longest Rushes by a UVA quarterback

• Armstrong eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his career, the third Cavalier quarterback ever to go over 1,000 yards on the ground.
• Among active FBS quarterbacks, Armstrong is one of six to pass for 7,000 yards and rush for 1000 yards.

Player (School) – Pass/Rush Yards – Games Played

Charlie Brewer (Liberty) – 10,184/1,068 – 47 gms
Adrian Martinez (Kansas St.) – 8,554/2,340 – 40 gms
Malik Cunningham (Louisville) – 8,095/2,653 – 46 gms
Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA) – 7,541/1,268 – 37 gms
Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma St.) – 7,317/1,622 – 34 gms
Brennan Armstrong (Virginia) – 7,070/1,001 – 32 gms

UVA UP FRONT

• The Virginia starting offensive line debuted with five players who started their first game in a UVA uniform. Only John Paul Flores (LG) had previously started a game.
• Freshman McKale Boley became only the second Cavalier true freshman ever to start on opening day at offensive tackle. He’s only the sixth UVA freshman OT to start a game at offensive tackle.
• Virginia allowed only two sacks and paved the way from 262 yards rushing. The Cavaliers hadn’t recorded more rushing yards than passing yards in a game since 2020 against North Carolina (210 rush/208 pass).

True freshmen starters at OT in UVA history

D’Brickashaw Ferguson (2002 – all 14 gms)
Brad Butler (2002 – 1 gm)
Morgan Moses (2010 – 6 gms)
Eric Smith (2013 – 8 gms)
Chris Glaser (2017 – 2 gms)
McKale Boley (2022)
*Only Ferguson & Boley have started season openers

UVA 100-yard rushing efforts in 1st career starts
Marcus Wilson – 129 yds (1987)
Bryce Perkins – 108 yds (2018)
Jerrod Washington – 107 yds (1992)
Chris Warren – 105 yds (1986)
Perris Jones- 104 yds (2022)
*Since 1986

QB1 Notes

• Armstrong has thrown a TD pass in the last 18 games he’s played, the longest streak in UVA history.
• Armstrong is one of three quarterbacks this season to pass for 200 yards and rush for 100 in the same game (Todd Centeio (JMU) – 287/110 & Jayden Daniels (LSU) 2019/114)
• The Cavalier signal caller broke UVA’s career total offense record on a 64-yard touchdown run in the season opener against Richmond. He leaped frogged Shawn Moore (7,987) and Bryce Perkins (7,910) on UVA’s all-time list.
• Armstrong eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his career in the season opener against Richmond. He’s only the fourth Cavalier quarterback ever (Bryce Perkins, Bill Dudley, Shawn Moore) to go over 1,000 rushing yards.
• Record Watch: Armstrong needs 433 yards to break UVA’s career passing record, four touchdowns to break UVA’s career touchdown passes record. His 200-yard passing performance in week one was his 17th of his career, one shy of tying Matt Schaub’s school record.
• His 64-yard TD run was the 15th rushing touchdown of his career, tying him with fellow southpaw Jameel Sewell for the fifth most by a quarterback in program history.

SERIES NOTES VS. ILLINOIS

• 2 of the 3 meetings between the two schools were bowl games in neutral venues.
• Illinois snapped a 26-year bowl victory drought with a 31-21 win over the Cavaliers in the 1990 Florida Citrus Bowl
• In all-time meetings with schools currently in the Big Ten, UVA is 42-59-2. The Cavaliers have played eight of the 14 current members of the league.
• Seventy-eight of those meetings came against Maryland (32-44-2), a former ACC rival.
• Saturday’s game is only the 20th time UVA has faced an active member of the Big Ten. UVA is 8-11 in those games.
• Virginia’s wins over the Big Ten include a 47-0 triumph over the University of Chicago in 1939 (Chicago left the conference a year later). It was UVA’s first Big Ten win.
• Virginia is 1-0 vs. Chicago and Minnesota, 2-2 vs. Indiana, 2-1 vs. Penn State (Big Ten member only), 1-1 vs. Purdue, 0-3 vs. Michigan, 1-2 vs. Illinois, 0-1 vs. Ohio State and Wisconsin.
• UVA’s four-game winning streak against the Big Ten, dating back to the 2005 Music City Bowl, was snapped when Indiana beat UVA, 34-17, at Scott Stadium in 2017. The streak started with a 34-31 Music City Bowl win over Minnesota and included wins over Indiana in 2009 and 2011, followed by a 2012 win over Penn State.

RICHMOND DEFENSIVE RECAP

• Richmond had only two plays of 15 or more yards.
• UVA held the Spiders to seven, second-half points and 128 yards of total offense in the final two quarters, including just 31 passing yards.
• Four Cavaliers set new career-highs in tackles – Antonio Clary (8), Fentrell Cypress (8), Jonas Sanker (7), James Jackson (6).
• Cypress had three pass break ups, also a career-best.
• Josh Ahern missed the first half serving a suspension from a targeting call last season. He made the most of his opportunities, matching a career-high with seven tackles one-half man, first career sack, matched a career-high with five tackles and recorded his first career sack, one of two for UVA on the day.
• Nick Jackson was two tackles shy of matching a career high, registering 14 tackles against Richmond, the most by any ACC defensive player in week one.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• The Cavaliers snapped a streak of 75-straight extra points made after Brendan Farrell had his final PAT blocked in the fourth quarter against Richmond. Farrell was a perfect 34-for-34 last season and made the first 38 extra point attempts of his career.
• Punter Daniel Sparks was added to the Ray Guy Award Watch List after his week one performance. He totaled 148 yards on three punts and had one downed inside the 20.