Game Notes: Virginia faces Miami in Thursday night national TV showdown

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Posted on Monday, Sep. 27, 2021, 6:07 pm

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uva footballVirginia (2-2, 0-2 ACC) will head south to take on Miami (2-2, 0-0 ACC) at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night.

Game Coverage

The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will air live on ESPN.

In addition to the ESPN broadcast, fans can stream the game live on ESPN.com or the ESPN app. The contest can be heard on Virginia Sports Radio Networks around the commonwealth and live on VirginiaSports.com. A list of stations can be found here. Fans can follow along via live stats and the Virginia Mobile app and get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter account, @UVAFootball.

Game Notes 

  • Virginia will play the first of back-to-back road games beginning with Thursday’s contest against Miami. The Cavaliers are seeking their first win away from Charlottesville since Nov. 2, 2019 against North Carolina.
  • Virginia travels to Coastal Division foe Miami for the third consecutive season. UVA has never played an ACC foe three straight years on the road. Virginia has played at Clemson three consecutive times on the road, but not in consecutive years (1973, 1974 and 1977).
  • UVA comes into the contest with the most passing yards in the country (1,722), and Miami has allowed 983 yards through the air in its first four games, second most in the ACC.
  • Miami leads 11-7 in the all-time series that dates back to the 1996 Carquest Bowl. The two teams have met every year since 2004.
  • The Hurricanes have won the back-to-back meetings against Virginia, including a 19-14 win last season.
  • The Cavaliers last win at Miami was on Oct. 27, 2011. Virginia scored the first 17 points and held on for a 28-21 victory. Michael Rocco passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns, including a 78-yard strike to Perry Jones in the fourth quarter.

Virginia Team Notes 

  • Virginia leads the country in passing yards per game with 430.5 and is second only to Fresno State (1,988 in five games) in total yards.
  • Quarterback Brennan Armstrong is credited with 1,705 of those passing yards and his 426.52 per game are the most of any signal caller in the country. He is averaging 438.2 yards per game in total offense, also the most of any player in the country.
  • Armstrong ranks 4th in the FBS in completion percentage (66.7%), fourth in points responsible for (92), sixth in points responsible for per game (23.0), and sixth in passing touchdowns in 2013. He is second in the ACC in all four of those categories.
  • His 13 touchdown passes Tajh Boyd (Clemson) Jerod Evans (Virginia Tech), Lamar Jackson (Louisville) and Philip Rivers (NC State) for the most by an ACC quarterback in the first four games since 2000.
  • Armstrong has thrown for 300 yards in four-straight games. Only Matt Schaub (8), Aaron Brooks (6), Bryce Perkins (5) and Armstrong (5) have five or more 300-yard passing games in their careers. Armstrong is the only one of the group to throw for 300 in four consecutive games.
  • Armstrong has amassed 1,753 yards of total offense, which includes 400-plus yards in each of his last three games. His 538 yards against North Carolina were a single-game program record. Including Armstrong, only four players in UVA history have put together 400 yards of total offense in a game – Bryce Perkins (twice), Benkert (twice) and Mark Verica (once).
  • Armstrong threw for 400 yards for the third time this season against Wake Forest. His 407 yards were the fifth most in a game in program history.
  • Dontayvion Wicks caught a career-high eight passes for 114 yards and a touchdown against Wake Forest. He has now caught three touchdowns in the last two games.
  • Wicks is the first Cavalier wide receiver with back-to-back 100-yard receiving games (183 at UNC; 114 vs. Wake Forest) since Hasise Dubois in 2019 (Virginia Tech & Clemson).
  • Jelani Woods, Ra’Shaun Henry, Billy Kemp, Keytaon Thompson, Mike Hollins & Dontayvion Wicks have each caught a pass in all four games this season.
  • Against Wake Forest, Woods caught four balls for 73 yards including a 17-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive of the second quarter. Woods has a touchdown in three-straight games. His three touchdowns are tied for the second most by a tight end in the country
  • Five Cavalier receivers rank in the top 17 in receiving yards throught four games – Dontayvion Wicks (1st – 460 yards), Billy Kemp (9th – 281), Jelani Woods (11th – 247), Keytaon Thompson (14th – 232) and Ra’Shaun Henry (17th – 224).
  • Woods’ 247 yards receiving are the fifth most in the country by a tight end.
  • Armstrong has spread the ball around in each of the first four games. At least nine different receivers have caught a pass in each game this season including a season-high 11 against North Carolina.
  • Wide receiver Billy Kemp moved into 12th place on UVA’s career reception list. He now has 127 for his career and needs two catches to crack the top-10 and tie former teammate Joe Reed (2016-19) and Perry Jones (2009-12) for ninth place.
  • Defensive back De’Vante Cross is expected to make his 30th start at UVA and has made 28-straight since arriving on grounds, the longest streak of any defensive player.
  • Running back Wayne Taulapapa needs 51 yards to become the 45th UVA rusher to reach 1,000 career rushing yards.
  • Left tackle Ryan Nelson is poised to make his 42nd-straight start for the Cavaliers, the most career starts and most consecutive starts of anyone on the team.