Special Atmosphere Awaits Hoos in Opener

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Early last month, University of Virginia Athletics launched a campaign with a singular goal: to sell out the season-opening football game against ACC rival NC State.

Seven weeks later, that objective has been achieved. UVA announced Thursday that the game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, will be the first sellout at 61,500-seat Scott Stadium since the 2008 season opener against Southern California.

Virginia head coach Tony Elliott shared the news with his players after practice Thursday, and anticipation continues to build for the Week 0 season opener, which will air on ESPN. The Wahoos’ returning players can attest to the impact fans had at Scott Stadium last season, and they’ve told new members of the program what to expect.

“I can't wait to experience it for myself, so I can't wait to see it on Saturday,” said defensive end Matthew Fobbs-White, a transfer from Baylor.

Scott Stadium has been 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓.#GoHoos 🔶⚔️🔷 pic.twitter.com/2uQDSondG8

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 27, 2026

This will be the first time since 2011 and ’12 that UVA and NC State have met in consecutive seasons. A year ago, the Wolfpack forced a turnover with 62 seconds remaining and edged the Cavaliers 35-31 in Raleigh, N.C. Virginia bounced back from that loss to win seven straight games and ended the season with a program-record 11 victories.

The UVA team that takes the field Saturday will include many newcomers, most of whom have lengthy college football résumés. The Cavaliers are among the nation's most experienced teams, and that’s been evident, Elliott said, in their approach to training.

“I think the older guys know what it takes day in and day out,” said Elliott, who’s in his fifth year at Virginia. “And so when you go out to practice, I think that's what shows up now. We won't know until we're battle-tested if it's going to be tried and true, but what you've seen is just the way that these guys show up. It's been very, very workmanlike on a daily basis, very consistent, not a lot of ups and downs with this team, other than guys being banged up and not being in the lineup. But just in terms of the mentality you see a more veteran-type mentality that's trickling all the way down to the young guys on the roster.”

Tight end Dakota Twitty, who enrolled at UVA in 2022, is one of the veterans. The Cavaliers’ collective experience, Twitty said, “really shows in the connection of the team ... I feel like that's really where you see the maturity come in, and I feel like that's what really drives a good team.”

An injury cut short Twitty’s 2025 season. He was hurt early in Virginia’s game at Louisville and missed the rest of the season. He hasn’t played at Scott Stadium since helping the Hoos knock off Florida State in front of an electric crowd on Sept. 26, 2025.

“I'm really just excited to be out there with my teammates,” Twitty said. “I love UVA. It's my home, and we've been building something really special with this group of guys. This is one of the most connected teams that I've been a part of. So I'm really excited to get out there and showcase what we've been building this offseason.”

Win or lose Saturday, Elliott said, “we’re gonna learn a lot about who we are, because this is our first time competing together.”

Staff continuity has been one of the trademarks of Elliott’s tenure at Virginia, and his three coordinators—Des Kitchings (offense), John Rudzinski (defense) and Keith Gaither (special teams)—have been with him from the start.

The offense has new starters at several positions, including quarterback (Beau Pribula) and tailback (Jekail Middlebrook), and Kitchings saw steady improvement from his group throughout training camp.

There were growing pains the first week of camp, Kitchings said Wednesday at the Hardie Center, which was to be expected. “And then the next week, there was growth,” he said. “And the next week there was growth, to where we finished fall camp better than we started, which is a good thing ... The encouraging thing is, I think there's still a lot of good football ahead of us.”

On the other side of the ball, UVA’s most dynamic linebacker, Kam Robinson, is recovering from a knee injury and is questionable for the opener. Even if Robinson isn’t available, though, the Cavaliers are deep at linebacker, with Landon Danley, Maddox Marcellus and Caleb Hardy, among others.

“We've got a bunch of guys that have played at a high level,” Rudzinski said Wednesday.

UVA’s linebackers all joined the program out of high school, and so they know the defensive schemes well.

“So from a communication standpoint, they should be able to be able to play free, which will allow them to play fast,” Rudzinski said. “And ultimately they're going to have to play really, really physical this weekend."

Virginia finished last season ranked second among ACC teams in scoring defense (19.6 ppg), third in fewest yards allowed per game (309.5), fourth in sacks (31) and fourth in interceptions (14). Moreover, the Hoos had the nation’s second-best third-down defense.

Several of the Cavaliers’ defensive stalwarts from 2025 have moved on, but an influx of transfers has filled the voids left by those departures, and Rudzinski liked what he saw from his group in training camp.

Newcomers include ends Fobbs-White, Devon Baxer (Michigan) and Nnanna Anywanwu (UTSA), tackles Darrion Henry-Young (Coastal Carolina) and Kervins Choute (UConn), cornerbacks Omillio Agard (Wisconsin), Jacobie Henderson (Rutgers) and safeties Brandyn Hillman (Michigan) and Christian Ellis (Virginia Tech).

“I believe our strength is I think we're a fast group,” Rudzinski said. “I think we have the ability to run sideline to sideline. I think our guys are going to show that we're going to be really, really intelligent with regards to our ability to execute, to understand situational football. And then when it comes down at the end of the game, we've got to show our toughness, and we've got to find the mental fortitude and the physical toughness to finish another close game, because that's what it'll be.”

It’s about that time…#GoHoos 🔶⚔️🔷 pic.twitter.com/G7SE9rReCU

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 27, 2026

The Wolfpack, coming off an 8-5 season, features one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks in CJ Bailey. Against Virginia last year, Bailey completed 16 of 23 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, and he carried six times for 44 yards and two TDs.

A transfer from Missouri, Pribula is a superb runner whose elusiveness tested UVA’s defense repeatedly during training camp. That’s been good preparation for what the Hoos can expect from Bailey.

Pribula is “a really, really tough quarterback to face each and every day, which makes us better as a defense,” Rudzinski said.

This game originally was scheduled to be played in Brazil. The ACC announced in early June, however, that it was being moved to Charlottesville because of organizational and logistical concerns.

Kitchings, who wasn’t involved in the decision to move the game, has given little thought to what the experience would have been like in Brazil.

“I just know I'm happy we're playing at home, right in front of our fans, [during an] orange-out,” Kitchings said. NC State is an “ACC opponent that's three-and-a-half hours away from us, and we get to do it here in Scott Stadium. We can't ask for a better opportunity than that for this university, for this program, for this community.”

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