Coming off the first of two bye weeks this season, the Virginia football team faces Duke in a major Coastal division battle Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. The week off arrived at a great time for the Cavaliers, letting players heal and the team prepare heading into the middle of the conference schedule. Some key players who have missed time because of injuries may see a return to the field against the Blue Devils, including four-game starter sophomore quarterback Greyson Lambert.
“This time off has been good for a lot of guys,” coach Mike London said. “We look forward to guys being able to get back. It’s not always 100 percent when you get to this point in the season. There are always a lot of players playing with aches, pains — issues. But having a chance to rest and kind of recuperate, you get back to being able to move around.”
The ACC Coastal division is shaping up to be highly competitive this year, with no team taking a clear lead over the rest of the group thus far. Virginia (4-2, 2-0 ACC) heads the pack for now, with the only undefeated conference record, but four teams — including Duke (5-1, 1-1 ACC) — remain within a game of the Cavaliers. Even last place North Carolina (2-4, 0-2 ACC) is still a contender, possessing one of the most potent passing offenses in the conference.
The Blue Devils claimed the Coastal last season with a 10-4, 6-2 ACC regular season record — the most wins and the first division title in school history — but their bid to repeat took a hit as they lost their first conference game of this season, 10-22 against Miami.
Virginia’s stellar defense could very well lead the Cavaliers to their first-ever Coastal crown this year, but the team faces a big challenge this week in Duke coach David Cutcliffe. If anyone in the game today deserves the title “offensive guru,” it is Cutcliffe — a man who has been in the coaching business for nearly 40 years.
Cutcliffe coached both Peyton and Eli Manning at their respective schools, and has won multiple head and assistant coach of the year awards in his career. Since his days at Tennessee, Cutcliffe’s teams annually rank among the best in the nation in offensive output, and he has continued this trend with the Blue Devils — despite sometimes lacking the best recruits and the resources of other ACC schools.
“They play a small brand of football,” London said. “They don’t try to do more than what they’re capable of. They play just good football. They’re coached very well. A lot of it you attribute to the players and hopefully their football IQs, but a lot of it is to coach Cutcliffe and their staff understanding whom they have as players.”
Virginia was dealt a heartbreaking loss to the Blue Devils last year, losing 35-22 at home. After jumping out to a 22-0 lead, the Cavaliers suffered a spectacular breakdown on both sides of the ball, surrendering 35 unanswered points to the visitors from Durham. This season’s team, though, has looked much improved and is determined not to let history repeat itself. The bye week has given Virginia extra time to study game film and prepare for Duke’s ability to attack both through the air and on the ground.
“Definitely last year’s game was a disappointment, especially since we were up there in the first half and we just couldn’t finish the game,” junior defensive end Mike Moore said. “But we know that we’ve definitely gotten better since last year, and we definitely know what we have to do.”
The Cavaliers picked up their second ACC victory two weeks ago, 24-19 at home against Pittsburgh — and in doing so tied their combined conference win total of the past two seasons. Virginia dominated the first half, outscoring Pitt 24-3 before the break, and though the team struggled in the second half, the performance was enough to lock up the Cavaliers’ fourth win of the year.
The all-time series between the two teams this weekend favors Virginia by the slimmest of margins, 33-32-0, though the Blue Devils have retained control in recent years. Since arriving at Duke in 2008, Cutcliffe has gone 5-1 against the Cavaliers, with the lone loss — 31-21 in 2011 — coinciding with the only season Virginia has made a bowl game in that period. Downing the Blue Devils Saturday will go a long way in proving this is not the same team of the last few years, and would be a big step for London and the Cavaliers toward finally reaching the ACC Championship game in December.
The game will be played at Wallace Wade Stadium on Duke’s campus Saturday at 12:30 p.m., and will air live on ESPN3.
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