Blue Ridge Bank Wahoo Preview: Virginia at No. 1 Clemson

A monumental task lies ahead for the Virginia football team, as the Cavaliers visit Death Valley to face Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and the Clemson Tigers (8 p.m., ACC Network). UVA (1-0, 1-0 ACC) hasn’t faced the Associated Press’ No. 1-ranked team in nearly 21 years (Florida State, Oct. 30, 1999), and the Wahoos have never knocked off the nation’s top-ranked squad.

UPDATE: UVA reported at around 6:30 p.m. that seven players and one coach will be unavailable for tonight’s game and are “currently in isolation or quarantine.” Sources tell us that no starters are among the unavailable players.

The Tigers (2-0, 1-0) have had a week off to rest and recover, while the Hoos finally got out on the Scott Stadium turf after weeks of waiting, pulling away with an 18-point win over Duke. Redshirt sophomore Brennan Armstrong got his first start under center and we got a good look at what this team will look like in 2020.

These two longtime ACC members, which used to lock horns every season from 1977-2004, will be playing for the second time in 10 months, as the Tigers walloped the Cavaliers, 62-17, in December’s conference title game. It was Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s fourth straight ACC trophy, as his team went on to lose to LSU in the national championship.

Virginia dropped its first 29 meetings with the Tigers before breaking the streak in 1990. In the 19 meetings since, UVA has gone 8-10-1. Clemson has won four straight in the series, with the last Wahoo win coming in 2004 under Al Groh, who also led the last Cavalier squad to win at Memorial Stadium in Death Valley (2001, Bryson Spinner to Billy McMullen with one second left).

The Hoos have only won two other times at Clemson, in 1995 and ’97, both under George Welsh.

The Tigers are a four-touchdown favorite Saturday, and Swinney has led one of the most successful programs in the country for several years. The Tigers have straight-up dominated the competition within the conference, winning an ACC record 31 regular-season games in a row. Bronco Mendenhall has said on several occasions that he and his team love challenges. Well, here’s the ultimate challenge — go win in Death Valley, where, oh by the way, they’ve won an FBS-best 23 games in a row, and 43 of the last 44.

When you talk about Clemson, first and foremost, you’re talking about Lawrence and Etienne, the lethal quarterback/running back duo who don’t even usually play four quarters, yet still put up eye-popping numbers.

In December, the Tigers hung 62 points on the Wahoo defense, racking up 619 total yards — 408 and four touchdowns through the air, 211 and four more scores on the ground. Etienne went for 114 on 14 carries and now-Duke quarterback Chase Brice actually closed that game under center for Clemson after Lawrence built a big lead and watched the rest from the sideline.

Speaking of Lawrence, he’s a projected top draft pick and for good reason. He can do it all. He can beat you with his legs, he hasn’t thrown an interception in almost a calendar year, and his accuracy has been off the charts. Virginia wants to create that “havoc” and really try to disrupt Lawrence’s rhythm.

Tee Higgins, the receiver who went off against the Hoos in the championship game (182 yards and 3 TDs), is now catching passes in the NFL. Justyn Ross also had a big game but suffered a serious neck injury in the spring and is not with the team for 2020. The Tigers have of course reloaded, and Amari Rodgers is the main guy to keep an eye on this weekend.

From UVA’s perspective, Armstrong was inserted into the December matchup after it had become lopsided, so he’s had a small sample size of the Tiger defense — albeit against reserves. He finished 2 for 4 for 15 yards and a pick, and also ran the ball twice for 3 yards.

Taulapapa had a decent game (8 carries for 43 yards, 5.4 yards per carry), while Terrell Jana and Billy Kemp IV picked up the slack for Joe Reed, who did not suit up. Against Clemson, Jana and Kemp combined for 15 catches for 128 yards, as UVA put up 387 total yards on the Tiger defense despite being on the wrong end of a blowout loss.

Nick Howell, UVA’s co-defensive coordinator, pointed out that a lot of the Tigers’ success last year came from explosive plays that started out as screen passes or quick outs, and the Clemson receivers just simply made mountains out of mole hills. Cavalier defenders didn’t do themselves a lot of favors in the tackling department, and they’ll be the first to admit it. Wrapping up and finishing tackles will be of utmost importance if the Hoos would have any chance of an upset.

Flipping over to the Clemson defense, they lost a few key pieces but once again, they’ve filled in those spots with up-and-coming talent. The Tigers pitched a shutout against The Citadel two weeks ago, and held Wake Forest to 13 points — just one touchdown — in the season opener. You can’t run on these guys through two games, as they’re allowing less than 2 yards per carry.

Cavalier offensive coordinator Robert Anae talked about the up-tempo pace last week, as UVA ran 84 plays against Duke. Yes, a lot of that had to do with forcing seven turnovers, but the coach gave the impression that they plan to stay up-tempo, they want to mix up the run with the pass and keep teams guessing more than last season when Bryce Perkins played such a predominant role. There’s a good chance that this offense may open things up a tad more and look a little less vanilla moving forward, as Anae’s exact words were “hang onto your hats.”

What kind of encore can we expect out of not only Brennan Armstrong — in his second start on the road in primetime against the No. 1 team in the nation — but also Lavel Davis Jr.? It’s certainly going to be a tall task for those two to go out and top what they did last week against this Clemson defense. There should also be a little less than 20,000 fans on hand at Memorial Stadium (and they really get up for night games down there too), so it will obviously be a much more hostile environment than last week.

It was a tale of two teams last week — the first and third quarters were not particularly pretty, as Duke outscored the Hoos, 20-0. The Cavaliers simply have to keep it together for 60 minutes against the Tigers if they’re going to have any chance to be competitive. You can’t come out flat, you can’t afford to turn the ball over, you can’t slip up at all against this nasty Clemson team.

The Breakdown

Below you’ll find the statistical comparison between the Cavaliers and Tigers:

The Coaches

UVA — Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall
5th season at Virginia (26-27); 16th season overall (125-70); Record vs. Clemson: 0-1

Assistant Coaches:
Offensive Coordinator/Inside Receivers — Robert Anae
Co-Defensive Coordinator/Secondary — Nick Howell
Co-Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers — Kelly Poppinga
Running Backs — Mark Atuaia
Quarterbacks — Jason Beck
Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends — Ricky Brumfield
Wide Receivers — Marques Hagans
Inside Linebackers — Shane Hunter
Defensive Line — Clint Sintim
Offensive Line — Garett Tujague

Clemson — Head Coach Dabo Swinney
13th season at Clemson (132-31); 13th season overall (132-31); Record vs. UVA: 4-0

Assistant Coaches:
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers — Brent Venables
Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends — Danny Pearman
Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs — Tony Elliott
Quarterbacks — Brandon Streeter
Defensive Tackles — Todd Bates
Offensive Line — Robbie Caldwell
Safeties — Mickey Conn
Wide Receivers — Tyler Grisham
Defensive Ends — Lemanski Hall
Cornerbacks — Mike Reed

Broadcast Information

TV: ACC Network
Announcers: Clay Matvick (play-by-play), Tim Hasselbeck (analyst), Katie George (sideline)
Radio: Virginia Sports Network
Announcers: Dave Koehn (play-by-play), Tony Covington (analyst)
Satellite Radio:
Sirius Channel — 137
XM Channel — 385
Internet Channel — 975

Kickoff Forecast

Clear, 60 degrees
Precipitation — 0%
Wind — NE 5 mph
Humidity — 58%
(Courtesy AccuWeather)

The Depth Charts

Virginia:

UVA DEPTH CHART

Clemson:

DepthChart

ACC Standings

The Uniforms

Virginia: Blue helmets, White jerseys, Blue pants

The Uɳι 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 for Saturday is 💪

🔵⚪️🔵#GoHoos | #THEStandard 🔶🔷 pic.twitter.com/06Vn8m72au

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) October 1, 2020

Clemson: Orange helmets, Orange jerseys, White pants

Back in The Valley!

📍Clemson, S.C.
🏈⏰ 8:00 p.m.
📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/oCa8ModRZv

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 1, 2020

Game Tape

Highlights from each team’s last contest

Virginia — defeated Duke, 38-20:

Clemson — defeated The Citadel, 49-0, on Sept. 19:

Game-Week Links

In case you missed any of our coverage from this week or team previews/features over the offseason, we’ve got you covered. Click on any link below to catch up:

Taulapapa braces for challenge of running against Clemson’s stingy defense

Howell: Clemson one of the best teams he’s faced in his coaching career

Anae on UVA’s fast-paced offense: “Hang on to your hats, boys”

Why is Jana’s name not on his No. 13 jersey for UVA?

Clemson defensive coordinator Venables on Virginia: “They know what they are doing”

Bronco: ACC Championship loss to Clemson helped accelerate Virginia’s program

Davis Jr. named ACC Receiver, Rookie of the Week; Zandier named LB of the Week

UVA Schedule