After a 24-17 win over the East Carolina Pirates, NC State football will now face its next test against a familiar opponent in the Virginia Cavaliers.
NC State (1-0) and Virginia (1-0) are two founding members of the ACC since its inception in 1953. With this, it is very unusual to see these two playing a non-conference game, but it has happened for other teams in the ACC. In 2019 and 2021, North Carolina and Wake Forest played a home-and-home non-conference series.
The Wolfpack leads the all-time series against the Cavaliers 36-21-1 and head coach Dave Doeren is 3-0 against them. The most recent game between these two teams was in Charlottesville in 2023, where NC State won 24-21 after a last-second field goal. This was also a homecoming for then-Wolfpack quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who previously played for Virginia. The last time these two played in Raleigh was in 2018, with a 35-21 victory for the Wolfpack, where then-quarterback Ryan Finley threw for 257 yards.
Virginia is led by head coach Tony Elliott, who is currently in his fourth year at the helm in Charlottesville. Elliott previously served as the offensive coordinator at Clemson and has not yet made a bowl game at Virginia. After a heavy offseason where he recruited 31 transfers out of the portal, he’s in the midst of what is a make-or-break 2025 season.
Like the Pack, Virginia has played one other game this season–a dominant 48-7 home victory over Coastal Carolina, in which it looked much improved. Now, Coastal Carolina is a G5 team that didn’t make a bowl game last year, so it’s hard to tell how good a team Virginia really is. The same can be said about NC State, which had multiple sloppy moments against East Carolina.
Virginia’s offense is led by senior quarterback Chandler Morris. In the game against Coastal, Morris threw for 264 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions while also leading the team in rushing yards with 50.
Virginia’s top receiver was senior wide receiver Cam Ross, who totaled seven receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown. Senior wide receiver Trell Harris also made noise during the game, totaling 93 yards in just three receptions.
Virginia’s defense was an obvious standout in its week 1 win, allowing just seven points. The leading tackler for the game was junior linebacker Landon Danley, who totaled seven tackles in the game. Senior defensive end Fisher Camac marked the second-most tackles with five.
The Cavalier defense forced three takeaways, two of them from fumble recoveries and the other being an interception, all by different players. The fumbles were recovered by senior linebacker James Jackson and sophomore cornerback Kevon Gray. The interception came by sophomore safety Ethan Minter.
NC State and Virginia are set to face off on Saturday, Sept. 6, in Carter-Finley Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon.
