Virginia Visits Syracuse for ACC Opener on Friday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (2-1, 0-0 ACC) will take on Syracuse (3-0, 1-0 ACC) in its ACC opener at JMA Wireless Dome on Friday (Sept. 23). The contest will air live on ESPN and the Virginia Sports Radio Network at 7 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE: In addition to the linear ESPN broadcast, the contest will stream live on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. The pregame radio show on the Virginia Sports Radio Network will begin at 6 p.m. 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 FRIDAY’S MATCHUP

• Virginia will visit Syracuse for the first time since 2005 and the first with both schools members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The only meeting between the two schools as ACC foes came in 2015 in Charlottesville, a 44-38 UVA victory in a triple-overtime thriller at Scott Stadium.
• UVA is seeking their third win of the season, it would be the first time since 2019 that the Cavaliers have won at least three of the first four games and the fourth time in the last six years Virginia has posted three wins in the first four games.
• The Cavaliers will play their first night game of the season after playing seven in 2021. UVA is 68-58-1 all-time in night games and hold a 25-35 mark in night games on the road.
• Friday night serves as Virginia’s ACC opener. The Cavaliers have won five of their last six ACC openers and in their 69th season in the league are 28-40 in their first ACC games of the year.
• The Virginia defense has forced five turnovers in its first three games, including four fumbles, tied for the seventh-most in the country. On the flip side, Syracuse is one of five teams in the country without a turnover this season.

TOP STORYLINES

• Brennan Armstrong owns nearly every quarterback record at UVA and is in striking distance of two more. He needs four touchdowns to break Matt Schaub’s career mark of 58 and one more 200-yard passing performance will make him UVA’s all-time leader in 200-yard passing games, a record Armstrong currently shares with Schaub.
• Armstrong (710 yards) and Syracuse quarterback Garrett Schrader (704) rank fourth and fifth, respectively in the ACC in passing yards. The duo are among five ACC signal callers in the league with over 700 yards through three games.
• Virginia enters the game with three wide receivers – Keytaon Thompson (4th), Lavel Davis (7th) and Dontayvion Wicks (15th) that rank in the top-15 in the ACC in receiving yards. Only Duke, Louisville and Wake Forest have two players in the top-15.
• The Virginia offense has amassed 500 or more yards of total offense 11 times in the last 15 games, including two of the first three this season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

25.38 – The average yards per reception this season for Lavel Davis Jr., the highest in the ACC. He has 28 career receptions, 14 have gone for 20+ yards.

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

3 – Last season, Armstrong became one of three players in NCAA Football history to throw for 4,400 yards or more playing just 11 games. Only Houston quarterbacks Andre Ware (4,699 in 1989) and David Klinger (5,140 in 1990) had more yards playing 11 games in a season.

10.3 – Average tackles per game for linebacker Nick Jackson, the third highest in the ACC.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Billy Kemp needs 21 yards receiving to pass Heath Miller for 10th all-time on UVA’s career receiving list.

• Armstrong recorded is 20th career 200-yard passing game after a 283-yard performance against ODU in week three to tie Matt Schaub’s program record. Armstrong has the most 200 (20), 300 (11), 400 (5) and the only 500-yard passing efforts in UVA history.
• Armstrong broke the program’s career passing record with a 17-yard completion to Lavel Davis Jr. in the fourth quarter against ODU. He passed Matt Schaub on UVA’s all-time list who threw for 7,502 from 2000-03.
• The lefthander now owns school records for career and single-season passing yards, single season touchdowns, single season and career total offense and the single-game passing yards mark

THOMPSON REACHES THE CENTURY MARK

• Keytaon Thompson recorded his 100th career reception with a 47-yard catch in the third quarter against ODU, his longest of the 2022 season. He has caught a pass in 17-straight games, the longest active streak on the team.
• All but one of Thompson’s career receptions have come at UVA. He is the 27th player catch 100 passes in a Cavalier uniform.
• Thompson was the first 100-yard receiver for the Cavaliers in 202 after finishing with nine catches and 118 yards against ODU.
• Thompson was one reception shy of his career-high of 11 last season at Pitt. Thompson has caught five or more passes in six of the last seven games.

1,000/1,000/750 CLUB

• Over the course of his six-year college career that started at Mississippi State as a quarterback in 2017, Thompson has accumulated accumulated over 1,000 yards rushing, 1,000 receiving and 750 yards passing. The only other known player in the last 25 years to accomplish the feat was Paul Dombrowski of New Mexico State from 2002-05.

THE X FACTOR

• True freshman Xavier Brown provided another dynamic to the revamped UVA run game with a team-best 88-yards on nine carries against ODU.
• He broke a 38-yard gain in the first quarter, the longest by a UVA running back this season. The long rush came on his ninth career carry.
• Brown is averaging 7.2 yards per carry and according to Pro Football Focus, recorded seven missed tackles forced after a rush last Saturday, the 11th most of any back in the country in week three.

LONG GAME

• For the second-straight week, safety Langston Long led the Cavalier defense vs. ODU in tackles. He was in on nine stops including two solo.
• Long has started the last two games for UVA and in those contests has 22 tackles (13 at Illinois, 9 vs. ODU) two tackles for loss, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in those contests.
• Prior to this season he had only one multiple tackle game, two in the season opener last year.

SACK MASTERS

• Three different defensive lineman recorded a sack in Saturday’s win over ODU – Kam Butler, Chico Bennett Jr. and Aaron Faumui.
• Virginia is averaging 2.67 sacks per game, the fourth most in the ACC.
• To go along with four tackles (three solo) and Bennett’s sack forced an ODU three-and-out with 7:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. Bennett has a sack in back-to-back contests.

• Graduate transfer Kam Butler upped his career sack total to 17 and also has sacks in back-to-back contests.
• Faumui has been credited with sacks against Richmond and ODU and now has eight in his career. He produced four of them in the 10-game 2020 season.

SPECIALIST SHOUTOUT

• Demick Starling came up with perhaps the second-biggest special teams play of the day against ODU. He took the game’s final kickoff from his own goal line out to the 37-yard line. The 37-yard return was the longest by a Cavalier since the 2020 season.
• Kicker Brendan Farrell was named the ACC specialist of the Week and one of three kickers listed a Lou Groza Award Star of the Week. Farrell made field goals from 26, 30 and 26 yards in the Cavaliers’ 16-14 victory against ODU. Farrell’s final kick was the game-winner as time expired. It marked the first time since the 2011 season UVA won a game on the last play with a field goal.