FINAL: Virginia 38, Duke 20

By Scott Ratcliffe

After having to wait a few weeks, Virginia finally opened the 2020 season with a roller-coaster victory against Duke, 38-20, at a mostly empty Scott Stadium Saturday. It was the sixth straight win for UVA over the Blue Devils.

Sophomore quarterback Brennan Armstrong (24 for 45 passing) took a while to get into a rhythm and made a few untimely mistakes, but wound up with the second-highest passing output in a starting debut for a Cavalier quarterback, with 269 yards (Aaron Brooks had 305 in his first start in 1997 against Auburn).

First-year receiver Lavel Davis Jr. — who, as head coach Bronco Mendenhall pointed out, wasn’t highly touted coming out of high school — quickly made a name for himself Saturday with four catches for 101 yards and a pair of scores in the fourth quarter to put the Wahoos (1-0, 1-0 ACC) back in front to stay.

“The future looks bright,” Mendenhall said of his newest receiver.

Added Armstrong: “I think he’s going to be a great player.”

The Cavalier defense had a few hiccups, but forced seven Duke turnovers (five interceptions, two fumbles) and turned those into 21 points, to help set the tone for the season. Senior safety Brenton Nelson recorded a pair of interceptions, as the defense came up with 5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

After falling behind 10-0 after a sloppy first quarter, Armstrong got the offense moving in the second quarter, as the Cavaliers took a while to shake the rust off but took a 17-10 lead into the halftime break, thanks to rushing touchdowns by Armstrong and junior tailback Wayne Taulapapa, who set a new career high with 95 yards rushing on the day.

The Blue Devils (0-3, 0-3) responded in the third quarter, reclaiming the lead with 5:51 on the clock on a touchdown pass from Chase Brice to tight end Noah Gray to make it 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Armstrong-Davis connection was born. The lanky first-year made two excellent touchdown grabs to shift the momentum, and Taulapapa finished it off with his second score of the day with 5:03 to play.

Several newcomers aside from Davis had solid openers, most notably Central Michigan transfer tight end Tony Poljan (4 catches, 44 yards), Towson transfer running back Shane Simpson (47 all-purpose yards) and JMU transfer defensive back D’Angelo Amos, who hauled in an interception.

The Hoos will travel to face top-ranked Clemson next Saturday at 8 p.m. (ACC Network).

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia opened its 131st season against the Blue Devils.
• UVA is 84-38-9 in season openers.
• The Cavaliers are 77-21-7 all-time in season openers at home.
• Virginia opened a season against Duke for the 20th time. The Cavaliers are 10-10 all-time against the Blue Devils in season openers.
• UVA is 39-33 all-time against Duke. UVA has won six-straight against the Blue Devils.
• UVA is 22-11 all-time against Duke at Scott Stadium.
• Bronco Mendenhall is 12-4 all-time in season openers, including 4-1 at UVA.
• UVA tied a single-game record with five interceptions. The last time UVA notched five interceptions was against Duke’s Daniel Jones in 2016. UVA has now accomplished this feat 10 times. 
• UVA forced seven turnovers in a game for the first time since forcing Richmond to commit seven turnovers in 2014.
• Virginia has forced 25 turnovers against Duke over the last six games, including 12 over the 2019 and 2020 meetings. 
• QB Iraken Armstead**, DL Jahmeer Carter**, DB Chayce Chalmers, WR Lavel Davis Jr.**, LS Tucker Finkelston and LB Hunter Stewart made collegiate debuts.

**- denotes true freshman 

Player Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• OL Dillon Reinkensmeyer started at left guard, making him the only player in all of FBS since 2010 to start at least one career game at all five offensive line positions. He owns 21 career starts at center, 12 at right tackle, two at right guard, two at right tackle and now one at left guard.
• QB Brennan Armstrong made his first career start and became only the second left-handed quarterback to start a game for Virginia. 
• Armstrong’s four-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter was the first of his career. 
• Armstrong finished with 269 passing yards, becoming the 21st Cavalier quarterback to throw for 150+ yards in his first career UVA start. His 269 yards rank No. 2 for most passing yards in a first career UVA start. 
• With four receptions, WR Terrell Jana extends his consecutive streak of games with a catch to 17.
• WR Lavel Davis Jr.’s 18-yard reception in the second quarter was the first of his career. 
• Davis Jr. finished with four receptions for 101 yards in his debut, highlighted by his first two career touchdown receptions, both coming in the fourth quarter. His first went for 18 yards and his second went for 26 yards.
• QB Iraken Armstead notched his first career reception in the second quarter for five yards.
• PK Brian Delaney finished 1-of-1 on field goals (32), extending his FBS-best streak to 14 consecutive makes.
• S D’Angelo Amos notched his first Virginia interception in the second quarter. It was the third of his career. He notched two at JMU.
• ILB Zane Zandier notched a career-high 15 tackles. His previous high was 10 against Ohio in 2018.
• SS Brenton Nelson notched a career-high two interceptions, both coming in the third quarter. They serve as the seventh and eighth of his career. It was the second home game in a row a Cavalier intercepted two passes. Noah Taylor also did so against Virginia Tech in the 2019 regular season finale. 
• TB Wayne Taulapapa rushed 16 times for a career-high 95 yards. His previous high was 77 against Duke last year. 
• FS Joey Blount recorded his first interception of the season and sixth of his career.

Score By Quarters

Scoring Summary

Team Stats

UVA Offensive Player Stats