By Scott Ratcliffe

In the first recorded sellout at Scott Stadium in 18 years, Virginia gave its home crowd of 62,779 plenty to cheer about Saturday in a season-opening, 34-8 victory over NC State, in front of a nationally televised audience.

The Cavaliers (1-0, 1-0 ACC) made a statement with their experienced offensive line, who paved the way for a school-record, 23-play, 12-minute-plus scoring drive to bridge the third and fourth quarters and put the game away on a Xay Davis 1-yard plunge with 7:44 to play.

For the afternoon, the UVA offense racked up 413 yards (258 rushing, 155 passing), while the defense limited the Wolfpack (0-1, 0-1) to just 146 total yards, putting the pressure on heralded State quarterback CJ Bailey & Co.

Meanwhile, UVA starting quarterback Beau Pribula had quite the Wahoo debut, throwing for 155 yards and a pair of touchdowns while running for a game-high 110 yards on 15 carries.

On his first play from scrimmage in the orange and blue, the Missouri transfer gave Cavalier fans a taste of what was to come with an 11-yard keeper to move the chains. He added an 18-yard tote on the first play of the next drive, which led to the season’s first points.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!

The Hoos struck first with 5:11 to go in the opening quarter on a Will Bettridge 47-yard field goal, which matched a career long. Just seconds later, a Bailey pass attempt was tipped into the air at the line of scrimmage by Fisher Camac and the ball wound up in the hands of Michigan transfer safety Brandyn Hillman at the State 32-yard line.

“Of course Fish made a great play on the ball on the deflection, and then we’ve got a thing called tips and overthrows — you’ve gotta get those,” said Hillman. “So I practiced it, it was nothing new for me.”

Hillman’s first takeaway in a Cavalier uniform set up Xavier Brown’s first touchdown of the day. The fifth-year tailback, who missed the final seven games last season with a torn ACL, found paydirt from a yard out to push the lead to 10-0 following Bettridge’s point after with 2:37 left in the first.

“It felt amazing,” Brown said about being back out on the field after a lengthy rehab stint. “Honestly, it’s just a blessing. Talking to a few guys before the game, I just shed a few tears before the game. … Finally being back after coming back from such a significant injury, so it was just a blessing and I just couldn’t do anything but thank God in the moment.”

Coach Tony Elliott added of Brown’s courageous journey back to full strength: “I think we all know that he’s an explosive playmaker, and the biggest thing is just trying to find a way to keep him healthy for the length of the season. But it’s so awesome for him, how hard he worked to get back and then to be able to do what he did and provide us a spark and put points on the board.”

To say the new-look Virginia offense relied heavily on the run would be putting it mildly. The Hoos rushed the ball an eye-popping 57 times from six different players, as opposed to just 11 pass attempts all day.

In a crowded, competitive running back room — which is without Solomon Beebe indefinitely — Jekail Middlebrook (15) and Brown (8) got the bulk of the carries and produced a combined 104 yards, but Peyton Lewis, Xay Davis and Noah Vaughn also totaled 44 yards on 19 attempts.

While the Cavaliers were enjoying the success of running behind the dominant O-line, Pribula caught the Pack defense off guard with a 45-yard strike to Brown over the middle with 11:26 until halftime, and Virginia took a 17-0 lead into the break.

Prior to that play, Pribula had only completed one other pass (on the play before) for 7 yards, while rushing for 68 up to that point.

The one time State got into the red zone and threatened to score across the opening 30 minutes, Hillman was there to knock the ball loose inside the 10-yard line and into the hands of Landon Danley with 3:35 left in the half.

Pribula wasn’t done showing off his arm, lofting a perfect ball over the top to the speedy Da’Shawn Martin, who got a step on his defender and that’s all it took en route to the 47-yard bomb that stretched the advantage to 24-0 early in the second half.

NC State erased the shutout later in the period on a 1-yard TD plunge by backup quarterback Will Wilson, and Bailey’s two-point pass to Deandre Desinor cut it to 24-8 with 4:59 left in the third.

Across the next 12 minutes and 15 seconds of game time, the Hoos used 23 plays — as you can guess, the majority were rushes — to deliver the dagger, a 1-yard run from Davis to make it 31-8 with just 7:44 remaining.

Pribula was replaced by backup Eli Holstein with 6:37 left after an impressive performance, completing 9 of his 11 pass attempts on the day. He finished the contest with a passer rating of 260.2.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win a football game,” Pribula said afterwards with a grin. “I think it’s kind of the way I am, and when you have an offensive line like we do and a team like we do, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

UVA star linebacker Kam Robinson, who was a game-time decision coming into the contest, did not play. Elliott said afterwards that Robinson was ready to roll after practicing all week, but the coach ultimately decided to air on the side of caution and make sure his prized defensive stopper is out there for the long haul.

In his stead, several Hoos stepped up on the defensive side of the ball. Myles Brown led the team with 8 tackles. The unit recorded a pair of sacks, four tackles for loss, seven pass breakups, an interception and a fumble recovery, limiting Bailey to just 84 yards on 12-of-23 passing. Bailey carried the ball 10 times for a team-best 33 yards.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will have a week off before hosting Norfolk State on Friday, Sept. 11. The in-state clash will kick off at 7 p.m., and will be televised on ACC Network Extra.

Player Stats

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• The official attendance for Saturday’s season opener was 62,779, the eighth-largest crowd in UVA history and largest since the 2008 season opener against USC.
• The victory was No. 700 for the program. UVA became the 39th FBS team to reach 700 all-time wins.
• The Cavaliers snapped a four-game skid in the series with NC State. The win marked the Cavaliers’ first victory over the Wolfpack since 2012 and first at Scott Stadium since 2005.
• UVA is 4-1 in season openers under head coach Tony Elliott and 3-0 in the month of August.
• The Cavaliers finished with 258 total rushing yards, which marked the fifth game of at least 250 rushing yards under Elliott, including the second time against NC State (2024).
• Virginia’s 23-play, 75-yard drive over the span of 12:15 in the fourth quarter set a pair of school records: the longest scoring drive by number of plays and longest scoring drive by time elapsed. The drive included four fourth-down conversions.
• The Cavalier defense held NC State to just 168 yards of total offense (76 rush, 89 pass). The 168 yards are the fewest by a Cavalier opponent since limiting VMI to 78 yards in 2018.
• NC State’s offense averaged four plays and 16 yards per drive.
• The 89 yards passing by NC State Quarterback C.J. Bailey was his lowest output in 23 collegiate starts and the first time he was held under 100 yards passing.
• NC State did not score on its first eight possessions, including four three-and-outs.
• The Wolfpack’s touchdown in the third quarter was the first against a UVA defense since the first drive of the Gator Bowl, a total of 96:57.
• Dating back to 2025, Virginia improved to 10-1 when forcing a turnover.

Player Notes 

• Quarterback Beau Pribula rushed for a career-high 110 yards, including a long of 22. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry. His previous best was 78 yards at Arkansas last year, also his final game as a Missouri Tiger.
• The last UVA quarterback to rush for 100 yards was Brennan Armstrong in UVA’s 2022 season opener against Richmond, when Armstrong had 105.
• Xavier Brown recorded his fourth career rushing touchdown and first since a 4-yard score against William & Mary last season. Three of his four career rushing scores have come against ACC foes.
• The last two occasions a UVA player has rushed a touchdown and caught a touchdown in the same game have been by Xavier Brown (NC State–2026 & Pitt–2024).
• D’Shawn Martin tallied his fifth career touchdown on a 47-yard reception from Beau Pribula on UVA’s first drive of the second half.
• Xay Davis recorded his first career touchdown. It capped UVA’s 23-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter.
• Brandyn Hillman intercepted the second pass of his career on a tipped ball at the line by Fisher Camac in the first quarter.
• Hillman forced a fumble on the UVA 7-yard line that was recovered by Landon Danley, his first fumble recovery of his career.
• Myles Brown finished with a team-high eight total tackles, all of which were assisted.
• Will Bettridge opened the scoring by matching a career long 47-yard field goal. He has 324 career points and is now eight points behind UVA’s all-time leader, Connor Hughes (2002-05)
• Daniel Sparks final punt of the game traveled 63 yards, his 16th career punt of 60 or more yards, the most in UVA history.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!