By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On a sun-kissed summer day, in front of one of the largest crowds ever to see a football game at Scott Stadium, the Virginia Cavaliers opened the season in style Saturday (Aug. 29).
UVA scored the game’s first 24 points and cruised to a 34-8 win over ACC rival NC State. It was the first sellout at Scott Stadium since 2008, and the Wahoos couldn’t have scripted a much more dominating performance.
“We just showed the team that we are,” defensive end Fisher Camac said. “We knew the team that we were, but we just had to go out and show it today, and that's what we did, on offense, defense, special teams.”
The announced crowd of 62,779, the eighth-largest in Scott Stadium history, included a record student turnout.
Tony Elliott is in his fifth season as Virginia’s head coach, and this was the kind of atmosphere he and his staff envisioned when they came to Charlottesville after the 2021 season. The stadium was buzzing long before the opening kickoff Saturday afternoon, and the Hoos "fed off that,” Elliott said.
The Hoos led 17-0 at the end of a first half in which they forced two turnovers and outgained the Wolfpack 220 yards to 83. NC State didn’t pick up a first down until its fourth possession. For the game, Virginia totaled 413 yards, to only 168 for NC State.
Will Bettridge opened the scoring with a 47-yard field goal, tying his career long, and tailback Xavier Brown reached the end zone twice in the first half. Brown, playing in his first game since October, when he tore his ACL, scored his first touchdown on a 1-yard run. His second TD came on a pass from quarterback Beau Pribula that went for 45 yards.
Brown finished with 40 yards rushing and 58 receiving.
“It felt amazing,” said Brown, who added that he “shed a few tears before the game.”
Pribula, a transfer from Missouri, sparkled in his debut as a Cavalier. He carried 15 times for 110 yards and completed 9 of 11 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn’t intercepted.
“I thought it was awesome,” said Pribula, the first UVA quarterback to top the 100-yard rushing mark since Brennan Armstrong in 2022.
“I thought the fans really showed out today and made it an unbelievable atmosphere, and I'm honored to play in an atmosphere like that for a school like this, for a coach like this, and for a team like this.”
Virginia snapped a four-game losing streak against NC State. When the teams met last season in Raleigh, N.C., the Wolfpack forced a late turnover and held on for a 35-31 victory.
“This is one of the games that all the guys coming back had circled,” Camac said. “So this one meant more to us.”
In the game at Carter-Finley Stadium last year, NC State quarterback CJ 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.
Bailey had no such success Saturday, when he completed 12 of 23 passes for 84 yards. In his 23 career starts for the Wolfpack, that marked the first time he’s thrown for fewer than 100 yards.
Virginia sacked Bailey twice and held him to 33 yards rushing on 10 carries.
“I feel like the defense came out and played like their hair was on fire the first couple of drives,” said UVA safety Brandyn Hillman, a transfer from Michigan.
The Cavaliers, coming off a season in which they recorded a program-record 11 wins, forced three-and-outs on the Wolfpack’s first two possessions. On State’s third series, the 6-foot-7 Camac deflected a Bailey pass, and Hillman came down with the interception. Four runs later—two by Pribula and two by Brown—the Hoos had their first touchdown.
Hillman later forced a fumble that linebacker Landon Danley recovered.
“He's just a football player,” Elliott said of Hillman, who’s from Portsmouth. “He's got a nose for the ball, he's got a nose for making a play.”
Virginia, which ran the ball with authority throughout the game, attempted only three passes in the first half. In the third quarter, however, the Cavaliers’ first three plays were passes to wide receivers: completions of 20 yards to Ty’Lyric Coleman, eight to Kameron Courtney and 47 to Da’Shawn Martin.
Martin’s reception went for UVA’s third touchdown, and Bettridge’s PAT made it 24-0.
The Wolfpack produced only one scoring drive, thanks in large part to a 21-yard completion on third-and-21 from the Virginia 22. Backup quarterback Will Wilson ran for a touchdown on the next play, and Bailey passed for the 2-point conversion to make it 24-8 with 4:59 remaining.
Starting at the 25-yard line, the Cavaliers responded with a historic possession that lasted 23 plays and ran 12:15 off the clock—both program records for scoring drives. En route to the end zone, Virginia was 4-for-4 on fourth-down conversations. Tailback Xay Davis capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run, the first score of his career.
The longer the drive went on, Elliott said, the higher his team’s energy level rose.
“To be honest with you, I didn't even know it was 23 plays when we were in it,” Elliott said. “It was just, ‘Hey, let's find a way to keep the ball away from their offense and either flip the field or go score points on that drive.’ Three points on that drive would have been big, so it was good to be able to finish it with a touchdown.”
Linebacker Kam Robinson, who’s still recovering from a knee injury, was held out Saturday as a precaution, but the Cavaliers are deep and talented at that position. Their top three tacklers Saturday were linebackers: Myles Brown (eight), Maddox Marcellus (seven) and Danley (five). Brown's eight tackles are his career high.
Cornerback Jacobie Henderson, a transfer from Rutgers, led Virginia with two pass breakups.
UP NEXT: The Cavaliers are off next weekend. The second of their seven home games is against Norfolk State (1-0) on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m.
This will be the first-ever meeting between these schools in football. Former NFL star Michael Vick is in his second year as the Spartans’ head coach. Norfolk State, an FCS program, finished 1-11 in 2025.
UVA’s second bye weekend is in early November.