For all the turmoil Tony Elliott had experienced during his shortened first season as Virginia's head football coach, there were several times when media could see him smiling Wednesday.

The occasion was National Signing Day and Elliott had to know that times could only get better.

The Cavaliers were 3-7 when their final two games were canceled following shootings that killed three football players and severely injured a fourth.

Prospects had to be aware of that but Elliott and his staff were able to put together a 34-member recruiting class that was introduced Monday.

Six were from Virginia, including Tony Muskett, a quarterback at Monmouth University for the past three seasons after graduating from West Springfield (Va.) High School.

"Looking at the quarterback situation first and foremost, you've got a sophomore, two redshirt freshmen and then you had a high-school guy already coming in," said Elliott, presumably referring to Anthony Colandrea from St. Petersburg, Fla.

"We were looking for experience and the first thing that jumps out is that [Muskett] has played three years. He was the freshman of the year in his conference and was back-to-back all-conference in his league.

"So, we were looking for a guy with experience, a guy that wanted to come in and compete and wasn't afraid of the competition he was going to have to go through if he wanted to be the guy. He's from the state of Virginia and has a chip on his shoulder.

"I think, as a program right now, we have a chip on our shoulder. We have a lot to prove to a lot of people, even prior to how the season ended. I think it was just a natural fit and, when we watch him, he's very technically sound."

West Springfield is also the alma mater of Bryn Renner, who passed for more than 8,000 yards in his career at North Carolina.

Of the 22 players signed by Virginia, four were transfers, including Muskett, wide receiver Malik Washington from Northwestern, running back Kobe Pace from Clemson and offensive tackle Daijon Parker (6-foot-2, 310 pounds) from Saginaw Valley State, a Division II program in Michigan.

Two of UVa's starting offensive lineman, Logan Taylor and John Paul Flores, entered the Transfer Portal after Garrett Tujague, the Cavaliers' offensive line coach under Bronco Mendenhall and also UVa's most recent recruiting coordinator, took a job at N.C. State.

A signee whose name will stand out to UVa followers is Tekai Kirby, a 6-3, 210-pound tight end from St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Kirby is the son of Terry Kirby, a Parade All-American from Tabb High School in Virginia who set numerous records at UVa, where his No. 42 was retired, and who played 10 years in the National Football League.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Virginia was waiting for a signature from Jaden Gibson, a wide receiver from Tiger, Ga., who this year set a state record for career receiving yardage and touchdown receptions. He was joined by another promising receiver from Georgia, Suderian Harrison.

Suitors listed with Harrison included Virginia Tech, Louisville and Oklahoma.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Over the years, Scott Stadium has been a favorable venue for University of Virginia football teams.

That hasn't been the case this year, although the Cavaliers have been in a position to win on almost every occasion.

The most recent example was Saturday's game at Scott Stadium, where 17th-ranked North Carolina held off the Cavaliers 31-28.

The Tar Heels entered the game as 7 1/2-point favorites but that didn't keep Virginia from jumping out to a 7-0 lead in a game that featured six lead changes, the last when Carolina went ahead 24-21 in the third quarter and upped that to 31-21 early in the fourth quarter.

UVa had one last gasp after quarterback Brennan Armstrong scored on a 5-yard run with 3:24 left but never got the ball again.

On its most recent outing before Saturday, also at home, Virginia had led Miami 3-0 in the third quarter before falling 9-6 in two overtimes Oct. 29.

Prior to that, Virginia had trailed visiting Louisville by three points in the third quarter before falling 34-17. Before that, UVa had gotten in a three-point game at Syracuse before losing 22-20.

At this point, the Cavaliers (3-6, 1-5 ACC) will have difficulty matching the .500 records that former coach Bronco Mendenhall posted in his final two seasons before resigning following the 2021 season.

Mendenhall's successor, Tony Elliott, is not in any jeopardy but this is a program that is 3-10 over its last 13 games.

Surprisingly, Virginia's only win in the last six games was on the road, where it defeated Georgia Tech 16-9 on Oct. 20. Its only home victories were over FCS members Richmond and Old Dominion, the latter one in the final minute.

Elliott hasn't made many excuses, but the Cavaliers were without three primary receivers Saturday -- Keytaon Thompson (53 receptions), Dontayvion Wicks (39) and Lavel Davis (16) -- whose unavailability became apparent at midweek.

"We found out Thursday that we would be down those three," Elliott said following Saturday's game.

Virginia was able to stay in the game with the assistance of lesser-known players such as running back Ronnie Walker, who had six carries for 30 yards, including a touchdown. Tight end Sackett Wood Jr. from E.C. Glass in Lynchburg caught a touchdown pass.

"This one hurts a lot because they were so close," Elliott said. "I've got to continue to encourage the guys to continue to persevere because the joy is on the other side."

He said that Wicks' injury was likely "the longer term" for the three receivers who were sidelined. He expects Thompson to return to practice this week and that Davis would be "day to day."

From a defensive standpoint, the Cavaliers got a team-high 11 tackles from James Jackson, a sophomore from North Cross School in Roanoke, who also had one of the Cavaliers' four sacks.

UVa will end the regular-season with home games against Pittsburgh and Coastal Carolina before visiting Virginia Tech (2-7, 1-5) on Nov. 19.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- A bettor could have wagered on visiting Miami to beat Virginia in football Saturday and not been happy with the outcome.

That's because Miami, a three-point favorite, didn't beat the spread but the Hurricanes' team settled for a 14-12 victory in four overtimes at Scott Stadium

The game had been tied at 3-3. 6-6, 9-9 and 12-12 before Hurricanes' quarterback Jake Garcia, who had netted minus-13 yards on four previous rushing attempts, scored on a 4-yard two-point conversion run that UVa could not match.

Virginia had 327 yards in total offense compared to the Hurricanes' 272.

Incredibly, neither team scored a touchdown in regulation on an afternoon with no weather issues.

"They made a play there at the end and we didn't," first-year UVa head coach Tony Elliott said. "It seems like that has been the theme for us offensively. We're leaving points on the field

"The guys are going to be sick when they watch those four, five or six plays that would have made a big difference in the game that we didn't make."

"Man, we had about four opportunities [Saturday] to really separate the game and we didn't do it,"

It was the fourth loss in the last five games for the Cavaliers (3-5, 1-4 overall). Their only victory in the past five games was on the road, 16-9, at Georgia Tech.

No play will come back to haunt the Cavaliers more than a pass from quarterback Brennan Armstrong to Mike Hollins that turned into a 64-yard gain that took UVa to the Miami 3-yard line midway through the third quarter.

"That was a great sign for us that let us know we can get open," Hollins said, "and I knew that I would be ready, like I was on that play."

Miami subsequently was called for a personal foul after which UVa had a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Two subsequent pass attempts were incomplete and, with a 1-yard pass to Keytaon Thompson, UVa left with nothing.

"I don't recall being in a four-overtime game," Elliott said. "I think the format changes some things because, in the first overtime, you can kick the extra point. In the second overtime, you've got to go for two.

"From there on out, it's all two-point plays. I was thinking, late in the fourth quarter, man, we were up by three and we were going to get a stop and we were going to have a chance to score."

It didn't happen.

One of UVa's bright spots was freshman place-kicker Will Bettridge, a freshman from Miami, who was 4-for-4 on field-goal attempts, including back-to-back 41-yarders in overtime. He is 7-for-9 overall, including 3-for-3 from beyond 40 yards after replacing Brendan Farrell.

"I didn't even know the rules," Bettridge said of the overtime format "I had to ask."

It was a rough day for Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who completed 15 of 25 passes but was sacked five times on an afternoon when he also led the team in rushing with 67 yards.

Virginia didn't trail all day until the overtime.

"The positives were, 'We battled,' " said UVa quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who passed for 208 yards, marking the 23rd time in his career that he has passed for 200 yards or more. "The negatives were, we wouldn't have been in overtime if we had taken care of our business.

"If we get down in the red zone, we've got to score. Bottom line, we've got to make plays."

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It was hard to find positives for a Virginia football team that lost a 35-17 home game Saturday against Louisville.

Granted, Louisville had entered the game as a slight favorite but the Cavaliers had won three of the past four games between the teams and was 4-1 all-time against Louisville at Scott Stadium.

It seemed that trend would continue, given that "insider" Adam Rittenberg had suggested on ESPN.com that Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield possibly could lose his job if the Cardinals lost to Virginia.

Well, that didn't happen.

It looked as if the Cavaliers might dominate when they jumped to a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter and, while UVa trailed 13-10 at the half, it was a 20-17 game with time remaining in the third quarter.

It wasn't as one-sided as Virginia's 38-17 loss at Duke one week earlier.

If Virginia was going to go anywhere this season, it would have to beat Duke and Louisville.

The Cavaliers had won their previous seven games with the Blue Devils.

Virginia (2-4, 0-3 ACC) will be idle next week before visiting Georgia Tech on Oct. 20 for a Thursday night game.

Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury and football coach Geoff Collins were fired September 26^th, with Brent Key, who previously coached the offensive line, taking over as interim head coach. The team won its next two games.

First-year Virginia head coach Tony Elliott has a lot more security than that. However, the Cavaliers dropped to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in ACC play.

Quarterback Brennan Armstrong completed 24 of 32 passes for 313 yards but only one resulted in a touchdown pass, although he rushed for a TD. He was intercepted twice and was sacked six times, suffering 37 yards in losses.

First-time Louisville quarterback Brock Domann was not sacked once.

"I think what happens [for Virginia[ is everybody is looking around for someone else to make the play," Elliott said. "And a lot of that from the past is, you looked for No. 5."

That would be Armstrong, whose three running backs -- Xavier Brown, Perris Jones and Mike Hollins -- had a combined 11 carries for 13 yards.

"We're trying to get the team to understand, we're not asking No. 5 to make every play," Elliott continued. "What happens is, when we have success, right, guys get satisfied. They get fat and happy.“

"It doesn't matter what the score is and that's something I talk about a lot. You can't play to the scoreboard. It gives you justifications not to make your best effort. The guys are struggling to handle success when they have success and then, when adversary hits, we're all looking around."

Armstrong is in his third season as the Cavaliers' starting quarterback but wasn't shying away from any blame.

"Shoot, I've just got to protect the ball," said Armstrong, who had taken the Cavaliers to the Louisville 18-yard line in the first quarter before losing a fumble on second-and-6. UVa led 10-0 at the time.

"I've got to change my mindset of having to make every play," he said. "The fumble … I've struggled with all year. The execution is just not there. We told each other that we wanted to start fast and we could put these (Louisville] guys in a coffin early."

In the end, it was the Cavaliers who were suffering.

"We've just got to learn how to win," said Armstrong, whose 22-20 loss at Syracuse coincided with two missed field goals. "We don’t know how to win. I'm hard on myself to begin with.”

"We gave [Louisville] half their points, I feel like. It wasn't anything they were doing. We were down three at the half, no big deal. There's tons of little things I could have done better."

Is the open date a salvation?

"Obviously, it's not where we want to be," Armstrong said of UVa's current standing.

"We've put a lot of work in," Armstrong said. "Obviously, it's not where we want it to be. It's still not working. "We’ve put a lot of work in, but I don't know if it's been good work."

When Virginia travelled to Duke one week earlier, in the eye of a hurricane and with undesirable overnight accommodations, there might have been some excuses.

On Saturday, the Cavaliers had everything going their way on a pleasant autumn afternoon and a decent crowd, listed at 38,009, until they didn’t.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It's hard to figure the odds that faced Virginia's football team Saturday when Old Dominion scored a go-ahead touchdown with 61 seconds remaining at Scott Stadium.

It was the only time UVa had trailed all day against a visiting Monarchs team that was an 8 1/2- point underdog.

"Our defense made plays all day," ODU coach Ricky Rahne said, "but a veteran [UVa] quarterback made a couple of plays at the end that gave his team a chance to win."

The Cavaliers (2-1) prevailed 16-14 on a 26-yard field goal by senior Brendan Farrell, listed as a punter on the UVa roster, as time expired.

Farrell had missed a field-goal attempt earlier in the fourth quarter that would have given the Cavaliers a two-score advantage.

"I'm not going to lie; it feels a lot better now," Farrell said after the game. "It's very relieving.".

Old Dominion (1-2) had taken the lead with an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Wolff to Zack Kuntz.

The Monarchs' drive could have ended two plays earlier if not for a pass-interference penalty called against safety Langston Long on fourth and 15.

Rather than downing the kickoff after ODU's go-ahead touchdown, the Cavaliers brought the ball out to the 37-yard line, where the game-winning drive started,

UVa quarterback Brandon Armstrong was 1-for-3 on the game-winning drive, not counting an incompletion on which Old Dominion was charged with a pass interference that set up the Cavaliers for Farrell's game-winner.

Armstrong didn't have his best outing of the season, but he was 20-of-37 for 284 yards and also rushed for 76 yards, not counting two sacks by Old Dominion for 22 yards

"This one really hurt," ODU's coach said. "Our defense played against a top NFL Draft quarterback and [the Monarchs] played lights out. This one was there for us and we didn't get it done."

Virginia cringed at the thought of a second straight loss with back-to-back ACC road games on the horizon with Syracuse and Duke.

"They found a way to win the game," said first-year UVa coach Tony Elliott, who spoke of a two-minute drill he had held in practice Wednesday. "We try and prepare these guys and to see them not bat an eye and find a way to win the game."

It became easier to relieve the pain of a 24-3 loss at Illinois one week earlier, when the Cavaliers had failed to score a touchdown.

"A win's a win," said Armstrong after breaking the UVa career passing record Saturday.. "I'm really hard on myself, doing those things [against ODU] that I don't normally do. Bottom line is, we got the win, so I'm happy."

He said he had put the Illinois game behind him, "but then it kind of re-arrised today and then it was like, 'Dang, when are we going to fix this or when am I going to fix it and when are we going to figure this out and have all cylinders clicking?".

Even though it was a debut for new Virginia football coach Tony Elliott, there wasn't a great deal of hoopla surrounding the Cavaliers' opener with Richmond.

Although Richmond competes in the Football Championship Subdivision, one rung below the FBS, season openers have not always been favorable for the Cavaliers, especially when UVa has been breaking in a new coach.

George Welsh, the most celebrated Cavaliers' coach in program history, lost his first game as UVa head coach, when the Cavaliers headed to Annapolis, Md., his previous coaching home, to start the 1982 season.

When Al Goh took over following Welsh's retirement, the Cavaliers lost to Wisconsin in the Eddie Robinson Classic to start the 2001 season.

New Virginia coach Tony Elliott was preceded by Bronco Mendenhall, whose first team lost to Richmond in the 2016 opener, 37-20. The Cavaliers won their next five openers under Mendenhall.

Other UVa head coaches who had begun their Cavalier careers with losses included George Blackburn in 1965, Don Lawrence in 1971, Sonny Randle in 1974 and Dick Bestwick in 1976.

So, it isn't all that easy, although Mike London, who was not retained after the 2015 season, won four straight openers from 2010-2013.

"I think that in this profession, you can be fast and take the wrong job," Elliott told reporters after UVa's 35-17 victory over the Spiders.

"I believe I was patient and the Lord opened up the right door and I'm in the right place. The call to confirmation I needed was to see the joy in the locker room of those guys experiencing victory and just pure joy."

The Cavaliers finished 5-5 last year, including, a 29-24 home loss to Virginia Tech, a game with Florida State that was postponed but never held and a Wasabi Bowl invitation that was canceled due to Covid concerns.

Mendenhall had resigned Dec. 2 following a season-ending home loss to Virginia Tech, 29-24. Elliott was named to succeed him Dec. 10.

Nobody was surprised Saturday when the Cavaliers, who were 21 1/2-point favorites, quickly pulled away from the Spiders. UVa faces a tougher task this coming Saturday as a four-point underdog at Illinois, a 23-20 loser this past Friday at Indiana.

It's the second game in a two-game series with the Illini, who dropped a 42-14 decision last year in Charlottesville, where UVa quarterback Brennan Armstrong passed for 425 yards and five touchdowns.

He passed for 246 yards and two touchdowns Saturday against Richmond and also rushed for 105 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run.

"I guarantee he's not worried about the stats," Elliott said after the game. " I had to tell him, 'Don't take that hit … late in the game. Get down. But [he said], 'No coach. We weren't playing to the standard.'

"So, you just love everything about what his DNA is."

When former Clemson football assistant Tony Elliott was being pursued for the head-coaching job at Virginia, it’s unlikely that he was aware of the official title.

Tony Elliott. Courtesy of the University of Virginia.

It’s known as the Fralin Family Head Football Coach, named for Roanoke healthcare executive Heywood Fralin and his wife, Cynthia, who gave a $5 million endowment for the position.

It was Elliott’s predecessor, Bronco Mendenhall, who was first affiliated with the Fralin brand in 2020 and the Fralins were on hand in Roanoke when UVa supporters were introduced to Elliott last week.

Virginia speakers at Hunting Hills Country Club included Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Student Aid Foundation for the 26th year. Former men’s basketball standout Isaiah Wilkins spoke for that program.

“I have a vision for each one of my players,” Elliott said. “What I saw in Isaiah [Wilkins] is that vision. That was, at 30 years old, that he could stand in front of a room of very successful people and command their attention.”

Elliott was the new kid on the block but you’d never know it.

“I could have gone a lot of places,” Elliott said. “I’m not bragging on myself, but I was very intentional because I wanted to be in a place where education was vital and I would never feel pressured and would never be asked to compromise. I was looking for that and UVa has that.”

Elliott’s life story is chilling.

“My mom was killed in a car accident on the way to church when I was nine,” said Elliott, who was born in Watsonville, Calif., close to the central California coast.

“In high school, for a long time, I didn’t have any sense of faith and any sense of belief because you can imagine the trauma you experience as a nine-year-old.

“A dad took me in who was not very mature and exposed me to a lot of domestic violence. I’ve seen drug violence and drugs and alcohol, so I wasn’t kidding when I said that, if I had stayed in California, I probably would have been a statistic. And, I thank the Lord for that.

“It wasn’t till I was in college that I made a leap of faith.”

After playing from 1999-2003 at Clemson, where he was a wide receiver, Elliott was an assistant at South Carolina State and Furman before joining the staff at Clemson, where he eventually was the offensive coordinator.

“At Clemson, they have a [national] championship,” he said. “They’re going to have to change their mindset [at UVa]. It’s going to take a little longer, I’m committed to making sure that we take care of the state of Virginia first.

“We’re trying to find good football players that have a ceiling that they have not reached and they can become invested in the program. Football players have big egos but a lot of them suffer from self- esteem.”

Then there’s rival Virginia Tech.

“I’m not worried about that team down the road and I’m going to tell you why,” Elliott said. “Because leaders focus on winning and losers focus on winners, right? We’ve got to change our mindset.”

Elliott made several references to Scott Stadium, which hasn’t always served as a positive for UVa teams.

“If you bring energy to Scott Stadium — right ! — the players will play to their full potential,” he said. “So, we’ve got to stick together. This is not the Tony Elliott football program. It’s our football program and everybody has a role.

“We have a great quarterback [in Brennan Armstrong] and all those things. The best thing for me now is to change the mindset. Bronco [Mendenhall] did a great job and I’m very, very grateful and spent a lot of time with him that he didn’t have to. He’s very passionate about the program.”

So, what’s next?

“Now, it’s time to take [the program] into a championship mindset, So, how long will it be? I have a lot of respect for Virginia Tech but it’s about us and how we manage. We can’t be listening to what people say on the outside.

“You have to know what you’re doing each and every day, so there’s no guesswork. If it’s a 12 o’clock game, it’s not an excuse for Scott Stadium not to be full, is it? I fully understand why I’m sitting here.

‘This is an opportunity to build something and build it the right way, leaving a legacy for which all of us can be proud.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Among the Virginia football supporters who are making a case for quarterback Brennan Armstrong as a Heisman Trophy candidate, a tweet from California was hard to miss Sunday.

"Go ahead and add Brennan," tweeted Bryce Perkins, a back-up quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.

Perkins was putting together a record-setting career for Virginia when he was joined on the Cavaliers 2019 quarterback depth chart by Armstrong, who actually had played briefly in 2018 after enrolling at midyear.

As a result, Armstrong is a fourth-year junior who will be eligible again in 2022.

Opposing ACC coaches will have seen enough of him by now, judging on comments made by Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins following the Yellow Jackets' 48-40 loss to host UVa on Saturday night at Scott Stadium.

"The kid is really good," Collins said of Armstrong. "He was finding the holes, the soft spots in certain coverages. We kept trying to change the pressures and he kept seeing and finding it. Even with the multiplicity of what we were doing, he found us and exposed us."

Armstrong had 495 yards in total offense, passing for 396 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

After eight games, Virginia is 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the ACC.

"We're really confident right now," Armstrong said Saturday night. "We've got a good [four-game] win streak right now, good production in the red zone now and, just overall, every guy has been playing with a lot of confidence."

Virginia fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter Saturday night and it was 16-7 in favor of the Yellow Jackets before Armstrong connected with Dontayvion Wicks on a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes. That gave Virginia a 21-16 lead that it would not relinquish.

Armstrong's 495 yards in total offense only ranks behind the 548 yards he had at North Carolina in the season's second week. Armstrong ranks first in the FBS in passing yards (3,220) and second in total yardage (3,397).

"If he's not [in the national conversation], I don't know why not,' " UVa head coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

"I don't know what else you have to do or what other numbers you have to put up or how else you have to lead a team."

Given the long-standing relationship between Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall and his Duke counterpart, David Cutcliffe, even a 48-0 UVa romp Saturday was unlikely to cause a stir.

However, it was painful as they crossed paths after the final horn.

"Very [painful]," Mendenhall said in answer to a question. "Very because I admire not only how coach Cut does his job but why he does his job and there needs to be more of both in college football."

"And anytime someone doesn't have success doing that, especially now, yeah, I had mixed feelings from halftime on. There is a professional part but there is a personal part. It hurts me because of my support of him."

Could it be said that Virginia ran up the score? That would be hard. The Cavaliers, after building a 34-0 halftime lead, scored one touchdown in the third quarter and one in the fourth.

On Duke's last series of the game, Virginia stopped the Blue Devils on back-to-back rushing attempts from the 1-yard line.

By then, the UVa defensive unit was devoid of starters.

"We've known each other a long, long time," Cutcliffe said of Mendenhall. 'I wished him well. He wished us well and that's about it. We had a good talk before the game, too. There was nothing there [after the game] that was a concern for me or, I doubt, for him.

"There are circumstances at any time, [in] football or life, that occur like this. It obviously becomes somewhat of a gut check to start with. When you hit these times, I will simply tell you that, in our program, we have all run through these times. We've seen them."

It was a third straight win for streaking Virginia, which previously had beaten Miami and Louisville in back-to-back road games. The Cavaliers return (5-2, 3-2) ACC will bid for a fourth straight victory when Georgia Tech (3-3, 2-2) comes to Scott Stadium comes for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

The Cavaliers are an early 7 1/2-point favorite over the Yellow Jackets,

Georgia Tech has a slight edge in a closely contested 42-game series. The Yellow Jackets are 21-20-1 and UVa is 20-21-1, with the Cavaliers having won three of the last five games and nine of the last 17 games.

As he approaches the end of his 14th season as Duke football coach, David Cutcliffe is unlikely to enter Scott Stadium with many pleasant memories.

Cutcliffe's first trip to UVa ended with a 28-17 victory over UVa in 2009 and the Blue Devils prevailed 35-13 in Charlottesville in 2013.

Al Groh was UVa's coach in the Cavaliers' 2009 loss and Mike London was on the losing end in 2013.

Virginia has won the last five games in the series, three of them at Scott Stadium.

This will mark Cutcliffe's sixth meeting with Mendenhall, a colleague and friend on national coaches' panels.

The Cavaliers (4-2, -2 ACC) go into Saturday's game as 10 1/2-point favorites over a Duke team that is 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Virginia is coming off back-to-back road wins while Duke has dropped two games in a row after a 3-1 start.

Following Saturday's game, Duke finishes the regular season against Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Louisville and Miami. Pittsburgh, Louisville and Miami will be on the road.

It's unlikely but possible that Cutcliffe, who turned 67 in September, could turn things around.

It does not appear that his job is in immediate danger. According to the Coaches Hot Seat website, Cutcliffe ranks 23rd out of 30 possibilities.

That includes No. 5 Dino Babers at Syracuse, No. 6 Manny Diaz at Miami, No. 10 Justin Fuentes at Virginia Tech, No. 15 Mike Norvell at Florida State and No. 27 Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech.

(For the record, Coaches Hot Seat ranks Jeff Scott of South Florida at No. 1 and Jeff Brohm of Purdue at No. 2.)

And, in terms of criticism from the fan bases, Mack Brown from nearby North Carolina seems to be getting a lot more heat than Cutcliffe.

LOUISVILLE -- After trailing most of the way, Virginia rallied for a 34-33 victory at Louisville that included a touchdown-saving tackle by Darrius Bratton, a fifth-year defensive back from William Fleming High School in Roanoke who was cited as the "unsung hero by the TV announcing crew/

“He didn’t have a significant role tonight in terms of number of plays,” coach Bronco Mendenhall was quoted on virginiasports.com, “but, wow, there couldn’t have been a bigger play, and his effort and fortitude and just commitment to our team, I’m not going to forget as a coach. In fact, I only remember a couple plays from that whole game, and that was the one I remember most, and Grant Misch.”

Misch, the Cavaliers' second-team tight end, caught the winning touchdown pass with 22 seconds left.

Bratton’s reaction to being chosen to break the rock for the first time?

“I was just speechless, just so happy for my team, and for my teammates and my coaches,” Bratton said. “This is a big win for us, and we needed that win.”

Statistics tell the story as Virginia's football team enters the second third of its regular season.

The Cavaliers (2-2, 0-2 ACC) rank seventh in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense with 546.0 points per game.

On the flip side, UVa ranks 101st in the FBS in total defense with a yield of 423.0 yards per game.

And both categories are trending in the wrong direction, with UVa having lost its last two games by wide margins.

The Cavaliers have incurred back-to-back 20-point losses, 59-39 at North Carolina and 37-17 at home against Wake Forest, which was a 7 1/2-point underdog Friday.

And now Virginia is preparing for a night game Thursday at Miami (2-2, 0-0).

The Cavaliers looked strong to start the season, with home victories over William and Mary 43-0 and Illinois 42-14.

Even with the Carolina game, Virginia was averaging more than 40 points over its first three games.

UVa didn't score 40 in its 37-17 loss to Wake Forest but outgained the Deacons 506-473.

Were there any excuses? Not really. The most telling statistic was that Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong was sacked six times.

Armstrong has been the victim of an ACC-leading 12 sacks. Virginia's defensive unit has a total of six sacks in four games.

It's clear that neither the offensive or defensive line at Virginia has distinguished itself, which was clearly the case in the Wake Forest game.

You can add the linebackers and secondary to that latter list.

UVa didn't score 40 in its 37-17 loss to Wake Forest but outgained the Deacons 506-473.

Armstrong keeps putting up the numbers, ranking first in Division 1-A in total offense -- despite sack yardage -- with 438.2 yards per game. He's also first in passing yards with an average of 426.2 yards after four games.

On the flip side, Virginia is 101st in total defense and tied for 86th in scoring defense. Clearly, that's not going to get the job done.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It was a humbled Bronco Mendenhall who hustled to the podium late Friday night following Virginia's 37-17 loss to visiting Wake Forest.

The Deacons, who entered the game as 3 1/2-point underdogs, took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards on nine plays to take a lead they would not relinquish.

A sign that it wasn't going to be Virginia's night came on UVa's first drive, when quarterback Brennan Armstrong directed the Cavaliers to the Wake 5-yard line.

After Wake Forest's early touchdown, it appeared that UVa would tie the score on a pass from quarterback Brennan Armstrong to tight end Grant Misch.

Upon review, it was determined that Misch had not collected the ball in his arms as he hit the ground. Wake subsequently was called for a holding penalty but rather than kick a field goal, UVa ran four plays from the 5 and got nowhere.

Wake quickly took command behind quarterback Sam Hartman, who passed for 270 yards and three touchdowns.

Justice Ellison had 89 yards and a rushing touchdowns for Wake (4-0, 2-0 ACC).

Remarkably, Virginia (2-2, 0-2) outgained the Deacons 506-483. Armstrong netted 440 yards, completing 33 of 59 passes for 407 yards.

The numbers didn't mean much to UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"I thought Wake Forest was really well-coached," said Mendenhall, who had praised Wake coach Dave Clawson leading into the game. "I thought they executed very well. Their plan was exactly as it needed to be and the plays consistently [occurred] in the critical moments.,

"That reflects discipline, It reflects repetition and just really clean play."

Virginia could not make the same claims. UVa was penalized 11 times for 83 yards, compared to Wake's five penalties for 40 yards.

"Especially at home, I was so thankful for the crowd and the energy and we tried to give [the crowd] every opportunity to stay in the game," said Mendenhall, whose team had won its two previous home games convincingly

"The reality is, I didn't have our team executing well enough to maintain the homefield advantage.

"That's something we've taken such great pride in. That hurts maybe more than anything. So, there's lots and lots of work to do in terms of discipline, in terms of execution, in terms of making the right plays at the end."

Virginia now goes to Miami for a Thursday night affair. After that, UVa will go to Louisville for its third road game in four weeks.

The home crowd Friday night basically disappeared after the third quarter.

"We had chances all the way through the beginning of the third quarter and I thought we had a great chance, possibly, ro regain momentum," Mendenhall said. "[The Deacons] executed their plan really well as they have for quite a while."

"It reflects a well-disciplined and very sharp team that made every critical play they needed to."

Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman was not sacked once. On the other hand, UVa quarterback Brenna Armstrong was sacked six times.

"The bottom line is, Wake Forest won more one-and-ones from the beginning of the game till the end," Mendenhall said. "That had not been an issue for three games in terms of the pressure on Brennan and it was tonight."

Virginia's football program has had few winning streaks over the years to match its 17 consecutive victories over Wake Forest between 1984-2000.

Three straight UVa victories following a 34-30 home loss to the Demon Deacons in 2001 gave the Cavaliers a 23-1 record over a 24-game span.

Clearly, times have changed as the Deacons (3-0, 1-0 ACC) face the Cavaliers (2-1, 0-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Scott Stadium.

Virginia enters play as a four-point favorite over the Deacons, who have won the last four games in the series, the first against Al Groh in 2008 and the next two under former UVa head coach Mike London.

The Cavaliers' last victory over the Deacons was at Scott Stadium, 17-16, in 2007.

One thing has changed since last season, when back-up Lindell Stone got the start at quarterback for the Cavaliers, who were without an injured Brennan Armstrong.

At full strength this year, Armstrong has passed for an ACC-leading 1,298 yards after three games and is first in total yardage at 1,313. That's nearly 200 yards ahead of North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who totals 1,118. Wake Forest Sam Hartman is eighth at 757 but it's hard to knock the Deacons, who have outscored their opponents 118-40.

Virginia is coming off a game when the Cavaliers were outscored by North Carolina 59-39.

"Every game is so challenging and takes every bit of effort we have to prepare from the minute the last game is over until we play," sixth-year UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall said earlier this week. "It's not even on my mind. Looking back doesn't help anyone."

Wake Forest will be facing a Cavaliers team that is 19-2 in its last 21 home games and 15-1 over its last 16 games at Scott Stadium.

"When I saw our first game against Richmond when I arrived here, it was priority No. 1 to become exceptional at home first," Mendenhall said this week. "That's taken a lot of work. [It's] one of the best records in college football at home.

"That doesn't mean immediate results; it doesn't mean automatic returns," Mendenhall added. "It does mean emphasis."

"I think the effort most likely was at the highest level of any of the three games we've played overall. I thought the effort, overall, was a step forward. Execution was very inconsistent and poor at best."

In taking a look at execution in the past week, Mendenhall probably noticed the way Wake Forest has kept its focus in recent weeks.

"I really think that Dave Clawson is one of the best coaches in college football and has a really complimentary style, meaning the defense fits with special teams, which fits with the offense. It's a style that nobody else in college football is running, at least at the Power 6 level, which makes it difficult to prepare for. They like the personnel they have at wide receiver, running back, quarterback."

Mendenhall makes no hesitation in discussing the challenge presented by his opponent.

"It's pretty simple," Mendenhall in a Zoom interview with reporters. "There's a player in conflict most of the time. Regardless of who they play. It's a very tough system to stop."

There will be a Sam as the opposing quarterback for the second week in a row and Mendenhall knows not to expect a dropoff.

"Experience is first and foremost," Mendenhall said. "He's [Hartman] got a great idea of how to run their system, He has a great idea of where to look and he knows what decisions to make and he does it at real time.

"He's tough, he's competitive and he knows how to throw the ball."

As Virginia (2-1, 0-1 ACC) prepares to entertain Wake Forest (3-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. at Scott Stadium, some statistics are hard to avoid.

UVa quarterback Brennan Armstrong has passed for 1,313 yards, which ranks him second in the Football Bowl Subdivision behind Fresno State's Jake Jaener, who has passed for 1,464 yards.

On the flip side, the Cavaliers are 109th in the country in rushing offense, with 121.0 yards per game. Only Miami, among ACC teams, ranks lower in that category than the Cavaliers.

A lot of that has to do with UVa's penchant for the pass. Armstrong, who leads the Cavaliers in rushing after three games does not rank among the top 25 players in the ACC in rushing yardage.

Does it really matter how the Cavaliers are scoring their points? They're averaging 41.3 points per game.

On the other hand, times have changed. UVa and fellow ACC mate Boston College are tied for 20th in the FBS in scoring. ACC colleague Pittsburgh is tied for ninth in the FBS in scoring offense at 43.3.

• Meanwhile, Armstrong, to his credit, ranks second in the FBS behind Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky, which has only played twice. Armstrong has accounted for 437.7 yards per game.

• Virginia has had three different leading rushers in its first three games -- back-up quarterback Ira Armstead against William and Mary, Taulapa against Illinois and true freshman Jacon Rodriguez against Noth Carolina. Taulapapa had two carries for 1 yard at North Carolina, one week after a 10-carry, 35-yard afternoon against Illinois. Coach Bronco Mendenhall told reporters earlier this week that Taulapapa is in a concussion protocol.

Availability

Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall said earlier this week that veteran defensive back Joey Blount, who suffered an apparent collarbone injury that sidelined him at North Carolina, should be available to play Friday against Wake Forest.

Blount has a team-leading 19 unassisted tackles after three games and his 26 total tackles is three behind team leader Nick Jackson. Mendenhall also said that defensive back Josh "Hollywood" Hayes, a transfer from North Dakota State, should be ready to play Thursday.

Hayes played in 52 games for North Dakota State, which won three FCS national championships while he was there. He came from Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Fla., where his team reached the 6-A state title game and finished 13-1.

Quote-UnQuote

"I see scores all day that are impossible and can't happen," said North Carolina coach Mack Brown after a 59-39 victory over visiting Virginia. "I don't know if it's because of the transfer portal. Some teams are better than we thought because we didn't know about their transfers."

"Another thing was, the guys didn't like the fact that nobody in that room had ever beaten Virginia and this was really important. We had our opportunities the past two years, so I was really, really proud of our confidence...When the game turned and they had lost to these [UVa] guys enough that it could have gotten in their heads but it didn't."

Recent history should serve as solace as Virginia's football team prepares to meet North Carolina tonight at 7:30 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.

The Cavaliers have beaten the Tar Heels in each of their past four meetings, two of them at UNC.

It's been a series marked by streaks. After beating Carolina games in a row from 2006 through 2009, the Cavaliers lost the next seven under Mike London.

They have won the last three under Bronco Mendenhall, two of them at Kenan, where the Tar Heels (1-1, 0-1 ACC) are 7 1/2-point underdogs to the Cavaliers.

Carolina followed a 17-13 loss at Virginia Tech in the opening game of the season before walloping visiting Georgia State 59-17 last Saturday.

"After a win, you walk out with your chest stuck out and think, 'Oooh, that's good,' and you're not as tough on yourself," Brown said this week. "We've been really, really hard with evaluations.”

In his performance against Georgia State, quarterback Sam Howell passed for 352 yards and rushed for 104, joining Marquise Williams as the only UNC quarterbacks to pass for at least 300 yards and rush for 100 or more in the same game.

"It looked like Sam on Saturday night got back on track," Brown said. "We're protecting him better and he's doing a really good job with his legs of matching plays."

His opposite number tonight is Virginia quarterback, Brennan Armstrong, who passed for 405 yards and rushed for 31, with two rushing touchdowns, as Virginia walloped Illinois 42-14.

"It's basically the same [Virginia] team we've played for the past two years," Brown said this week.

"Brennan Armstrong played against us last year and did a great job. And, he's just a winner. He's tough, he's smart. He can throw the ball well in the pocket but he can scramble and plays down the field as well. He's got all five starters back from an offensive line that has 121 starts and rushed for 210 yards against us last year."

Brown was a television analyst during a period when he was away from coaching and it sounds like it in his return to coaching

"The [UVa] game the last two years has been good; it's come down to the last drive: said Brown, referring to a 38-31 UVa win in 2017, followed by a 44-41 Cavaliers triumph last year.

"We'e played Virginia 15 times more than anybody else in the ACC. Both went into the ACC in 1953. I'm not sure why they're [the unranked Cavaliers) not rated higher. They've outscored William & Mary and Illinois 85-14 and they've looked really, really good this year."

Brown was quick to praise Virginia's success at mining the transfer portal for players who have contributed almost immediately, quickly citing 6-foot-7, 270-pound tight end Jelani Woods from Oklahoma State as well as 2020 addition Keytaon Thompson from Mississippi State.

"They play him all over the place," Brown said. "He's played quarterback, he can play wide receiver, he's really a good player."

Brown pointed out that Virginia held the Tar Heel to 93 yards last year.

They had five sacks against us," he pointed out. " We haven't done well against them in the red zone. We were 0-for-3 two years ago and only 3-for-5 with touchdowns last year.

He pointed out that Mendenhall has most of the same staff that followed him from BYU in 2016.

"There are multiple defenses because Bronco's got an experienced staff," Brown said. "They do a tremendous job of coaching and they get you in third-and-long a lot."

Brown noted that Carolina's only home losses since his return in 2019 have been to Clemson, Notre Dame, Appalachian State and Virginia.

"I'd rather [the Virginia game] would be pushed back in the schedule because it builds up," he said, "but nobody asked me."

So, what are college football fans to make of Virginia's 42-14 romp over Big Ten foe Illinois?

"It goes back to zero week," said UVa coach coach Bronco Mendenhall, referring to a Aug. 28 game in which Illinois knocked off Nebraska, one of college football's storied powers.

"Probably the focus in college football was Illinois beating Nebraska. And this was that [Illini] team."

Illinois, which was a seven-point home underdog to Nebraska, was a 10 1/2-point underdog to UVa on Saturday.

It was a rare Virginia game against a Big 10 opponent and the closest connection might have been the Cavaliers' starting quarterback, Brennan Armstrong, who passed for 405 yards and five touchdowns.

Armstrong, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior, is from Shelby, Ohio. He is one of three UVa players from Ohio, along with offensive lineman Chris Glaser from Solon, Ohio and freshman Grant Lanham from Cincinnati.

"It's cool to beat a Big 10 team; I don’t think I had done that yet," said Armstrong, who became the third quarterback in UVa history to pass for 400 yards or more in a single game.

Armstrong originally had committed to Minnesota before signing with Virginia, where he backed up Bryce Perkins for two seasons. As the starter for the first time, he passed for 2,117 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2020.

He has passed for 744 yards and seven touchdowns in two games this year, ranking fifth in Division I in passing yardage and fourth in TD passes.

He has done so without five of UVa's top six receivers from a year ago, including 6-foot-7 Lavell Davis, an early season phenom in 2019 who has been plagued by injuries.

Billy Kemp had six catches for 55 yards and a touchdown against Illinois and 6-7, 265-pound tight end Jelani Woods, a graduate transfer from Oklahoma State, had five catches for 122 yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore wideout Dontayvion Wicks had five catches for 69 yards and two TDs.

"Can you imagine if we had Lavell to add to what we already have?" Mendenhall said of his receiving corps on a interview session with reporters.

"Dontayvion really is playing a critical role because we're basically living up to that [replacing Davis] as a trade, one for one. That's really a credit to Dontayvion that we really think he's of that caliber."

And, then there's Woods, a quarterback coming out of high school in Georgia who moved to tight end at Oklahoma State prior to its 2017 Camping World Bowl against Virginia Tech.

"A lot of our players that we're bringing in are quarterbacks and not just regular quarterbacks but great athletes at quarterback," Mendenhall said. "The exact hope is that it is a nightmare. It is sleep lost for opponents. It is uncertainty.”

"I really believed, right from the spring and through the summer that Game 2 would be Game 1. But what it showed was that we were learning about [Woods] as well and how much volume he can handle [and] how many special teams he could play.”

"We certainly got closer in Week 2 than Week 1."

Nobody had more rushing attempts than quarterback Brennan Armstrong during Virginia's 2020 football season and there was little reason to think a change was coming this year.

Armstrong had a team-high 126 rushing attempts last year, when he played in nine games of 10 games.

Before that, quarterback Bryce Perkins had a staggering 227 rushing attempts in 2019.

So, it was something of a surprise Saturday, when Armstrong had seven carries for a net gain of zero yards as UVa opened the season with a 43-0 victory over William and Mary.

What will UVa fans expect when the Cavaliers play host to Illinois on Saturday in Charlottesville?

Armstrong said he didn't look at himself as a run-first quarterback in 2020 and he doesn't feel like a pass-first quarterback after one game this year.

"Even for Brennan, things were not quite as clean to start," UVa head coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

The Cavaliers led only 3-0 after the first quarter Saturday.

"It's cliché," Mendenhall said, "but the game continued to slow down, and he continued to speed up. So, his decision-making, his rhythm, his certainty, his confidence, his execution … just got better and better."

Armstrong ended the game completing 21 of 31 passes for a career-high 339 yards against William and Mary and redshirt freshman Iraken Armstead had the only other pass attempt.

"We've got four different quarterbacks that all can do different things," Mendenhall said, "and there's no reason they all have to play quarterback.

We're just maximizing any good football player on our team, putting him out there in as many unique, creative but productive ways as we can."

------

Virginia has won its last nine home games against non-conference opponents and has never faced Illinois at Scott Stadium, although the Illini have defeated the Cavaliers twice in bowl games.

The Cavaliers (1-0) will face a 1-1 Illinois team that opened the season with a 30-22 upset of visiting Nebraska before falling to Texas-San Antonio one week later, 37-30.

The Illini's second-year coach is Bret Bielema, previously the head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas, where his teams were a combined 97-58 over 12 seasons.

They're facing a rare 11 a.m. start Saturday.

"As far as being on the road, I do like the fact that it's an early kickoff so we just wake up and get going," Bielema said before taking his team on the road.

"We've actually practiced at 9 a.m. Central Time every day of the week, It's possible that it's an advantage for us to have that early kickoff."

"I have tremendous respect for coach Mendenhall; he and I have known each other for quite a while," Bielema said, "and have some of the same beliefs and same thoughts.

"As I began to understand their preparation last spring and followed their news feed, he has three core principles that mirror a lot of the same things that we do.

"They've really turned the tide there, too. I believe they're 18-2 in their last 20 home games. So, they’ve done a tremendous job at home, which we're traveling to for the first time as a staff with our group of players. They played four different quarterbacks [last] Saturday and it seems like they plan to do the same throughout."

History showed that there was ample reason for Virginia not to look past its season opener Saturday against visiting William and Mary.

Former UVa head coach Al Groh knows all about that.

In the opening game of the 2009 season, Groh's team lost to William and Mary 26-14 at Scott Stadium. After an 0-3 start, the Cavaliers won three games in a row before losing their final six games.

It was the ninth season -- and final -- season for Groh, who actually finished his UVa career with a winning record, 59-53. Only George Welsh (134-86 in 19 seasons) surpassed that.

An interesting side note is that Groh was succeeded as Virginia coach by Mike London, a former Welsh assistant who happened to be William and Mary's head coach this past Saturday, when UVa defeated the Tribe in a rout 43-0.

London was the UVa head coach for six seasons, 2010-2015, and won four straight openers at Scott Stadium.

The Cavaliers will remain in Charlottesville for an 11 a.m. meeting this Saturday with Illinois, which will be making its first trip to Scott Stadium.

Their only two meetings were in Florida for the 1990 Citrus Bowl and 1999 for the Micronpc.com Bowl. The Fighting Illini won the first game 31-21 in a battle that featured future pro quarterbacks Jeff George of the Illini and Shawn Moore of the Cavaliers.

The 1999 game, won by the Illini 63-21, was the most lopsided postseason defeat for the Cavaliers until it was matched by a 49-7 loss to Navy in the 2017 Military Bowl.

Virginia's record against original Big Ten football teams is 4-9. The Cavaliers are 0-3 against Michigan, 0-2 against Illinois, 2-1 against Indiana, 1-0 against Minnesota, 1-1 against Purdue and 0-1 against Wisconsin and Ohio State.

UVa, which has never played Iowa and Michigan State, had Maryland as a yearly opponent until the Terrapins joined the Big Ten in 2013. Only Duke and North Carolina have met Virginia more times in football than Maryland, which has played 78 games against Virginia.

For the second time in his six-year tenure as Virginia's head football coach, Bronco Mendenhall will be matched against his predecessor, Mike London, who is in his third season as the head coach at William and Mary after six years as the head coach at UVa.

Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Scott Stadium.

It will be the third meeting overall between Mendenhall and London, who faced off twice when London was the head coach at Virginia and once when Mendenhall was at Brigham Young.

The home team is 3-0 in those games and the Cavaliers are 9-1 against the Tribe since 1986.

London, who was UVa's defensive-line coach under Al Groh, is the older brother of former Cavaliers' defensive back Paul London, who played in a Cavaliers secondary that included Ronde Barber and Anthony Poindexter.

The William and Mary staff includes such former Wahoos as Ras-I Dowling, Darryl Blackstock, Matt Johns, Keenan Carter and Gordie Sammis. William and Mary defensive coordinator Vincent Brown previously spent four years on the UVa staff.

This will be the sixth season opener in Virginia for Mendenhall, whose first UVa team lost at home to Richmond, 37-20, in 2016.

Since then, the Cavaliers are 4-0 in openers, including a 30-14 victory at Pittsburgh in 2019, followed by its most recent meeting with William and Mary, a 52-17 victim at Scott Stadium in 2020.

"I think it's every coach's desire, that you start playing clean and continue to improve from there," Mendenhall said on a Zoom call with reporters this week. "We all realize the Week One uncertainties."

"No team has ever [been] as I thought prior to playing an opponent [or] ever matched my opinion of the team after I played. My hope is that there are less of those discrepancies."

The Cavaliers are coming off a 5-6 season in 2020 in which there weren't more than 100 people in the stands because of COVID-19. Saturday's crowd is unlikely to approach capacity but it will look much more like the norm.

"I think that might be the one thing [the players] are looking forward to the most," Mendenhall said. "We've showed film from a year ago and sometimes we've panned the stands and there's nothing there and, wow, what a challenge!

"There are still setbacks that could occur with the virus, et cetera, but I think there's just a general sense of excitement and feeling forward that we're able to play there with the fourth side [UVa fans] again."