In 2014, the Virginia football team used a strong home record to get to the verge of bowl eligibility. The Hoos posted a 5-2 mark in Scott Stadium, including a 3-1 mark in ACC games. So far in 2015, home hasn’t been as sweet. The Cavaliers have lost twice already in Charlottesville where they own a 1-2 record. They hope ACC play turns around those fortunes in Scott Stadium, starting this weekend with Syracuse.
Unfortunately, at least one member of the Orange has won in Charlottesville before. Cuse coach Scott Shafer was the defensive coordinator for Western Michigan when the Broncos claimed a 17-10 win in 2006. That was part of a 1-3 out-of-conference record that season as Virginia fell to 5-7 on the season, starting a string of seven losing seasons in the next nine years.
“It was a fun win for our kids and we had a young team,” Shafer said. “I think we had maybe eight sophomores playing on defense and had a couple kids get dinged up in the game. We had Louis Delmas, had a knee injury, a very good safety; he’s still with the Dolphins. E.J. Biggers was out with a high ankle sprain, so I had a couple walk-ons playing in that game. A little guy named Anthony Gebhart had a tipped pass to Des Stephen and Des took it in for a touchdown. That was a great memory for me because those two young men came into the program paying their own way, and ended up making a difference in the game. That’s a neat part of college football when you see somebody come in and get an opportunity like those two young men did. So that was a very good memory for me.”
Virginia hopes Shafer’s return trip isn’t nearly as much fun for the Orange. Here’s “Everything You Need To Know” about the ACC home opener for the Hoos.
Essentials
- Game Time: Saturday, Oct. 17, 3:30 p.m.
- T.V. Info: RSN
- Radio Info: WINA 1070AM | Other affiliates | Satellite Radio – Sirius 132, XM 193
- Live Game Tracker Stats
- Park and Ride Shuttles
- Maps and Parking Information
- Scott Stadium Information
- Tailgating Info and Policies
- UVa Official Notes and Stats – printable pdf
- Syracuse Notes and Stats – printable pdf
- Projected UVa Depth Chart – printable pdf
- UVa vs Syracuse Roster Card – printable pdf
- Exclusive Weather Updates
Game Nuggets
- Virginia and Syracuse are meeting for the fifth time. The series is tied 2-2 with UVa winning the last meeting in 2005, 27-24.
- This is the first meeting between the schools as ACC foes. The Hoos are 1-6 all-time when facing a new ACC member for the first time, defeating Louisville in 2014 but falling to Georgia Tech (1982), Florida State (1992), Miami (2004), Virginia Tech (2004), Boston College (2005) and Pitt (2013).
- UVa is 45-43-2 all-time on Homecomings. The last win came in 2011, a 24-21 victory against Georgia Tech.
- Syracuse is 17-11 all-time against teams from Virginia (Richmond, William & Mary, Virginia, and Virginia Tech). The Orange hasn’t played in the state since 2004.
- Since joining the ACC, Syracuse has yet to defeat a team in the Coastal Division (0-4). The Orange, however, are 2-0 in ACC road openers during their brief time in the league.
Spotlight On Eric Dungey
Freshman quarterback Eric Dungey enters this game off a career-best outing at South Florida. He passed for a new career high of 232 yards last week, which included two touchdown throws. He also had a rushing touchdown.
That performance is the latest step in what is becoming a solid true freshman campaign. In fact, of Syracuse’s six all-time true freshman starters, Dungey is already the leader in touchdown passes with seven. With seven games remaining, he’s easily on pace to set a new yardage record as well. At this point in the season, he has gone 42-of-70 passing for 660 yards and seven touchdowns. He ranks fifth in the nation in passing yards per completion (15.71) and ninth in the country in passing efficiency (169.3) thanks to a 7-1 touchdown-interception ratio. In his first career start against Wake Forest, he threw for 221 yards and two scores.
“He’s very talented,” UVa coach Mike London said. “Obviously, when the ball is in his hands and he’s running the option, he likes to carry the ball as well. He runs the offense. It looks like he runs it really efficiently. He has the ability to, if you play hard to the run, then he has the ability to throw and find his receivers. So he’s done a nice job of just kind of executing the offensive style that they have, that they play, and being a ball carrier in that style is something that’s critical for the overall operation. So as a freshman, you’re impressed with a guy that runs the offense the way he does.”
Dungey is part of a youth movement for the Orange, who have played 15 true freshmen this season (the number jumps to 21 freshmen if you include redshirts). True freshmen, led by Dungey at quarterback, have accounted for 67 percent of Cuse’s total offense (1,151 yards).
Matchups To Watch
Syracuse receiver Ervin Philips vs. Virginia cornerback Tim Harris and the secondary. This is a broken record from week to week, but as long as opposing receivers continue to find ways to pile up big plays against UVa, it has to be one of the key matchups. While you could put leading receiver Steve Ishmael in this spot too, keep an eye on Philips. He returned from a three-game injury absence last week to grab five receptions and a career-best 75 yards. In the season opener before his injury, Phillips had two catches and both went for touchdowns.
Virginia fullbacks Vincent Croce and Connor Wingo-Reeves vs. Syracuse safety Antwan Cordy. This probably seems like an odd one to point out. However, Pitt had some success sending extra rushers around the edges where the fullbacks had responsibility for that player, but couldn’t execute the blocks. Cordy leads the Orange in tackles for loss (seven) where he ranks sixth in the conference on a per-game basis (1.4). Cordy is also on a bit of a roll. He had a team-high seven tackles at South Florida one week after setting a career high with eight tackles against LSU. He also had five tackles against Central Michigan, giving him 20 of his 27 total tackles over the last three games.
Syracuse running back Jordan Fredericks vs. Virginia linebackers Mike Moore and Zach Bradshaw. With an option attack as part of the offense this week, UVa could try to make QB Eric Dungey more of a runner but when Fredericks gets his chances, Moore and Bradshaw need to play well as the usual suspects at outside linebacker. Fredericks leads the Orange with 42 carries, 236 yards, and two touchdowns. He’s averaging 5.6 yards per carry. If Cuse is able to get the ground game going, it could cause problems because UVa continues to struggle at times against play-action looks.
Virginia receiver T.J. Thorpe vs. Syracuse cornerback Julian Whigham. The Cavaliers clearly wanted to get Thorpe involved after a bye week on the schedule, drawing up a number of ways to get the senior receiver targets. Many of those were designed to take shots over the top of the defense, but quarterback Matt Johns and Thorpe could never connect on a deep shot. I suspect the duo put in extra work this week on the timing of those patterns. The Hoos will try to take some shots against Whigham and company, though Whigham is Syracuse’s active leader in passes defended with 12. The Orange defense is vulnerable to big plays, giving up 12 of 30+ yards this season (tied for 75th nationally).
Kris’ Keys
1. Red zone touchdowns. Syracuse has scored on 15 of its 16 red zone opportunities this season, but it only has 9 touchdowns. That’s 56.25% for the touchdown percentage, which ranks 90th in the nation. UVa, meanwhile, has 5 touchdowns in 10 red zone trips – 50% is tied for 10st nationally. If this game comes down to offense inside the 20, the team that can improve on its red zone numbers will have a big advantage. Virginia’s defense is 19th nationally in defensive touchdown percentage in the red zone, while Cuse’s is tied for 45th.
2. Prevent big passing touchdowns. Another game, another long touchdown allowed through the air. Jon Tenuta’s defense has given up 9 touchdowns of 24 yards or more this season with 8 scores in the passing game. Pittsburgh was the latest team to join the party with a 37-yarder last week. While Syracuse is a run-first offense (60.7% of its plays are runs so far this season), it gobbles up yards in the passing game when it goes to those calls. The Orange ranks 30th nationally in passing yards per completion (13.36) and they have 11 passes of 20 yards or more, including 6 touchdowns.
3. Field position. It’s boring, but it’s killing Virginia. As Greg Waters detailed in his grades and trends piece earlier this week, Virginia has lost the field position battle in all five games this season. Four opponents have averaged a starting point beyond their own 30-yard line, while Virginia has only averaged beyond the 25-yard line once in five games. The bad news is that Syracuse features a good returner (Brisly Estime is third nationally at 21.1 yards per punt return and he has 2 career TDs in that category) and a good punter (Riley Dixon is 16th nationally at 45.2 yards per punt).
The Pick
Virginia can win if … the offensive line steps up its game despite injuries. There were some positives at Pittsburgh, but the work in the trenches still isn’t consistent and, frankly, it isn’t good enough to win. The Cavaliers haven’t been able to run the ball and key breakdowns in pressure seem to have given Matt Johns happy feet in the pocket. Plays are available against Syracuse on misdirection, cutbacks, screens, and the like but all of those require a better effort from the offensive line than it has given so far.
Virginia can lose if … it allows tackles for loss and sacks. Syracuse ranks 20th nationally with 7.8 tackles for loss per game and 33rd with 2.60 sacks per game. UVa’s offense has struggled to stay on schedule or to get anything going consistently on offense the past two outings. While Cuse has shown breakdowns on defense, it will be harder to produce big plays if the Cavaliers are playing ‘and-long’ downs a lot in this one.
And the winner is … Virginia. Both of these teams are moving in the wrong direction. UVa has lost back-to-back games and is 1-4 on the season. Syracuse, despite being 3-2, has lost two straight too and needed overtime at home to get by Central Michigan. So how do you pick games like that? It’s safest to go with the home team and I think the Hoos are hungry for a win. UVa 31, Cuse 24. 2015 record to date: 4-1.
