A week after picking up a 45-13 win against in-state opponent Richmond, the Virginia football team heads back into action Saturday against No. 21 Louisville in the last of three straight home games to open the season.
The Cavaliers’ (1-1, 0-0 ACC) victory against the Spiders snapped a 10-game losing streak, dating back to Sept. 21 of last year when VMI was downed 49-0. Virginia’s offense and defense were both on display last Saturday as the team held Richmond to just one touchdown while putting six on the board, including one off of a fumble recovery.
The team expects the win to be the first of many this season, adopting a “win every week” mentality, refusing to count itself out of any game until the final whistle blows. Last year, Virginia opened with a thrilling win against BYU, only to secure a single additional win — against VMI — for the remainder of the season. Players said they developed a negative attitude as the season progressed last year, and they would like to prevent that from happening this time around.
“This year, every week we expect to win,” junior defensive end Eli Harold said. “I believe that’s important in order to [allow] you to attack the week — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday practices. It allows us to execute better on the field because you have that confidence that you’re going to win on Saturday.”
The competition will step up this weekend as the Cardinals (2-0, 1-0 ACC) come to town. The ACC’s newest member, Louisville handled Miami 31-13 two weeks ago in the season opener and then romped to a 66-21 win against Murray State this past weekend.
Despite losing coach Charlie Strong to Texas and starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to the NFL, the Cardinals have not slowed down following last season’s 12-1 finish. Louisville hired Bobby Petrino away from Western Kentucky to head the team. Petrino, who formerly coached at the school from 2003 to 2006 before departing for the Atlanta Falcons, boasts a high-powered offense — led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Gardner and senior running back Dominique Brown — which is already putting up gaudy numbers, averaging more than 200 rushing and passing yards a game through two weeks.
The Cavalier defense — the highlight of the team in each of the first two games — will look to put a damper on the Cardinals’ attack. Veterans, such as Harold, have been quick to help out the many talented newcomers, including freshman safety Quin Blanding — and it has certainly paid off.
“They help me out a lot, tremendously — during practice, in the film room — so, I mean, they sit down with me and they just tell me if I made a mistake or what I could do to fix it,” Blanding said. “I thank them for that. It just feels good to be out there with them.”
Blanding also nabbed the first interception of his college career against Richmond to go with his seven tackles and two pass break ups, and he’ll look to add to his stat line this weekend against Louisville.
Questions still linger for Virginia at other positions, though — particularly on who the starting quarterback will be. Against the Spiders, coach Mike London decided to start sophomore quarterback Greyson Lambert, who completed 13 of 15 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Matt Johns also saw action on multiple series, however, going 4-for-7 on passes for 65 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Whoever starts under center for the Cavaliers Saturday will need to come ready to play if they plan on pulling the upset against the visiting Cardinals. Virginia relied on its rushing attack last season to carry the team — and because Louisville currently ranks sixth in fewest rushing yards given up per game this season, allowing only a combined 111 yards to their first two opponents, Lambert or Johns will need to go to the air to beat the Cardinals’ defense.
“[Louisville is] as fast as UCLA in terms of their linebackers and skill positions, so we’re going to have to come up with a game-plan to hang onto the ball, play great defensively again, [establish] field position with our special teams and then be efficient with our offense,” London said.
If Virginia manages to come out ahead, fans will witness the team’s first ACC win since 2012 — and a win would say a lot about how the season will turn out for the Cavaliers.
Kick-off is set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Scott Stadium.
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