Preview: Virginia and NC State clash Saturday afternoon in a "non-conference" game

Preview: Virginia and NC State clash Saturday afternoon in a "non-conference" game

After a thrilling start to the season beating Coastal Carolina 48-7, the Hoos shift their focus to going into Raleigh Saturday afternoon to play the Wolfpack of NC State. This matchup however is a little unusual, as the two foes are facing off as a “non-conference” game. This is due to the new ACC scheduling model that takes away some regional rivalries and matchups. Virginia and NC State decided to schedule a home and home, the two will play in another “non-conference” game at Scott stadium next season, and then in 2027 the two will play in Charlottesville counting as league play. The last time these schools met was in 2023 in Charlottesville when former UVA Quarterback Anthony Colandria got the penalty in the end for his helmet coming off. NC State won that game 24-21.

NC State Offense

Under center for the Wolfpack is second year Florida native CJ Bailey. Bailey is one of the if not the most dynamic Quarterback in the ACC. Bailey is 6’6, has a cannon, and he can move. Coach Tony Elliott compared him to Baltimore Raven Lamar Jackson. “Their quarterback reminds me of Lamar Jackson — dynamic, can throw it a mile, and dangerous with his legs.” Bailey had a nice game against ECU last week throwing for 301 yards and a touchdown. He did have one interception, which looked very bad. He was looking to throw an in route to his receiver and completely ignored the safety that was playing zone for the Pirates and was picked off. NC State also has a nice receiving room for Bailey to throw to, including Wesley Grimes, Teddy Hoffman, Noah Rogers, and one of the best tight ends in the ACC, Justin Joly. “They’re big, long, and fast. They can stretch the field vertically and horizontally. Their tight end, Joly, is one of the best in the league. Their backs can catch the ball out of the backfield. Elliott explained, They’re very versatile. We’ve got to do a great job communicating, getting pressure on the quarterback, and keeping the ball in front of us.” Elliott mentioned their backs catching the ball out of the backfield, and he is certainly correct. Hollywood Smothers is the main back for NC State, another one of the best in the ACC. Against ECU last week he had a quality 22 rushes for 76 yards and a touchdown. He also made 4 catches for 30 yards. Behind Smothers is Duke Scott who will get into the game for the Wolfpack.

UVA defense and Kam Robinson update

As far as trying to combat their offense, Virginia will be rolling out a pretty similar depth chart to last week with a couple of notes. After having a great game and leading the Hoos in tackles last week, Landon Danley will be starting at MIKE over Trey McDonald in absence of Kam Robinson. Elliott told the media Tuesday morning that Robinson is on a great track to return soon, just not this week. “Kam’s doing great. He’s healing well. He’s out of the sling, he’s running, he’s conditioning. He should be back practicing next week. Hopefully by the Stanford game, he’ll be back and ready to go. In the meantime, he’s been a great teammate and a great cheerleader on the sideline. He’s very engaged. And Landon (Danley) did a really nice job. He led us in tackles. It wasn’t too big for him. He went out, executed, played hard, and played physical. It was a great first step for him.” Another change is Ethan Minter is now listed as an “or” at free safety next to Christian Charles. Minter had a great week one against Coastal Carolina including an interception. Minter actually played quarterback in high school, and has made the move to safety and picked it up pretty quickly. “Ethan’s a football player. He played quarterback in high school, was a great athlete, Elliott explained, great leader, great teammate. We saw his physicality in basketball, too. He’s tough. Tackling can be taught. His willingness to do it made the transition easy. He’s just a really good football player.” The final change was Donavon Platt starting at Left corner with an or next to Jordan Robinson which is what a lot of Virginia fans expected to be the case week one. Platt had a strong week one showing with a couple of pass breakups and nothing really given up. NC State has a really dangerous offense between the two headed monster CJ Bailey, Hollywood Smothers, Justin Joly, and more. The Cavaliers need to get pressure on Bailey. If he has time he will pick apart the Wahoo defense. If Virginia does not get to him he will get on the loose and take off, he also demonstrated his ability to throw on the run against ECU as well. Virginia needs to contain him and not give him time to find the open receiver down field.

Chandler Morris is ok + Cavalier offense

As for the Cavalier offense, the main question that has been lingering is about Chandler Morris’ health. Well it sounds like he is A-Okay according to Coach Elliott. “My expectation is he goes out there and plays his tail off. He was full-go yesterday, he’s going to practice all week, and he’s going to have a great week of preparation. I expect him to go play well.” Elliott likes the maturation from Morris against Coastal Carolina and thought he did a good job. “What I liked was he showed maturity. It took a couple drives to settle in, but then he executed, got the ball to the right people, and managed the system. He did a really nice job of distributing the ball and leading us on scoring drives. The thing I love about Chandler is he’s a competitor. Down near the goal line, he was trying to dive in. Afterward, he came up and said, ‘That wasn’t very smart, but Coach, I was so close, I just wanted to get in.’ That’s who he is. He wants to lead the team, he wants to win, and he’s a competitor. That’s why his teammates rally around him.” If Morris were to go down again though or if he has a rough game, Coach Elliott has shown his confidence in backup Daniel Kaelin as well. “Daniel did a really nice job. The plan was always to get him in after Chandler’s shot. He’s earned it. He’s worked his tail off. He looked good. He was poised. It wasn’t perfect — he was out there with some younger guys — but he did his job. If Chandler ever can’t go, I have no reservations about Daniel leading us.” The only question mark for the Hoos offense as far as health goes is offensive linemen who exited the game last Saturday, Wallace Unamba. “He’s back at practice. Today (Tuesday) will be a good test to see how he does. Hopefully, we’ll get him rolling this week.” Other than that, Virginia’s offense will be pretty much the same as it was week one. Elliott was pretty happy with the run game last Saturday, and I would expect him and his staff to try and get it going against NC State. “We rushed for almost 180 yards. We want to get to 200. That’s solid. We had four different backs carry the ball. That’s important. We didn’t have a lot of explosive runs, but we were efficient, especially in the red zone. Explosive runs will come as the season goes on.” Elliott mentioned the redzone, and he hit the nail on the head. Virginia was ⅚ in the redzone against Coastal, three of those touchdowns were scored by running backs. When asked about the redzone being a point of emphasis in the offseason, Elliott explained that it was certainly something they looked to improve on. “Yes. Red zone and third down were our two biggest points of emphasis. We researched the top 25 teams in the country in both areas. We looked at what they were doing and why. We changed the way we installed our offense to emphasize it from day one. We also have more depth now, so we can go heavier. Losing Grady (Brosterhous) last year forced us to adjust, but we’ve been very intentional about it. The red zone is critical. We’ve got to come away with touchdowns, not field goals.” A main key to running the ball successfully and Chandler Morris being successful will be the offensive line holding strong. Elliott explained: “I was pleased. We didn’t give up a sack. Communication was good. Protection was good. But it’s going to be a much bigger challenge this week. NC State’s front is very active, very physical. We’ll get tested.”

Final Word

Virginia has the personnel and schemes to beat NC State. It will all be execution. Can the Hoos contain QB CJ Bailey and company? Will they be able to get out to a quicker start then they did against Coastal? Will Virginia be able to finish in the red zone like Coach Elliott has envisioned? This is a big test for Virginia and will be very telling on how the rest of the season will go.