Virginia and North Carolina will renew the South’s Oldest Rivalry for the 129th time in Charlottesville on Saturday afternoon. The Cavaliers look to end their two-game losing streak, while the Tar Heels hope to get back into the winning bracket for the first time in more than a month, having lost their last four games. Both teams are eager to win, but only one will leave Scott Stadium with a significant ACC victory on Saturday.
Read on for our full preview of the Virginia-North Carolina game, including everything you need to know, including game details and notes, opponent scouting report, what to look for, and score prediction.
WHO: Virginia Cavaliers (4-3, 2-2 ACC) – North Carolina Tar Heels (3-4, 0-3 ACC)
When: Saturday, October 26 at 12:00 ET
Where: Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia (61,500)
How to watch: The CW Network
How to listen: SiriusXM 138 or 194, SXM App 956 | Virginia Sports Radio Network
All-time series: North Carolina leads 65-59-4
Last meeting: Virginia then beat – No. 10 North Carolina 31-27 at Chapel Hill on October 21, 2023.
Read Virginia’s injury report for the North Carolina game here: UVA Football Week 9 Injury Report: James Jackson, Antonio Clary, Ty Furnish
see below for UVA’s Week 9 depth chart For the UNC game:
2023: 8-5, 4-4 ACC
2024: 3-4, 0-3 ACC
The post-Drake Maye era of North Carolina football began with a gutsy victory in Minnesota, but quarterback Max Johnson was gone with a season-ending injury, bringing even more uncertainty to the most important position on the field for the Heels. Things stabilized a bit on that front, with Jacolby Criswell emerging as the new starter. Criswell had a unique college football journey as he started his career at UNC in 2020 and transferred to Arkansas, appearing in eight games over the next three seasons before returning to Chapel Hill.
Criswell played well enough, throwing for 1,367 yards and eight touchdowns with three interceptions, but the engine of the UNC offense is All-American running back and potential first-round pick in the NFL Draft Omarion Hampton. Hampton, the ACC’s leading rusher and the nation’s fourth-leading rusher, has rushed for 901 yards and seven touchdowns and has rushed for at least 100 yards in six of the seven games played so far this season. Hampton had a good but not incredible game against Virginia last season, rushing for 112 yards on 19 carries.
Despite having to find a difficult quarterback position, UNC started the year 3-0 and should have started 4-0 if not for a terrible defensive performance against James Madison, in which the Tar Heels surrendered 611 yards of total offense and were mentally ill. An astonishing 70-50 defeat at home. This game was not the start of a spiral for UNC’s defense, which held Duke to 20 points the following week but lost 21-20. But the Heels lacked consistency on the defensive side of the ball, losing 34-24 to a still-undefeated Pittsburgh team and 41-34 to Georgia Tech, dropping them to 3-4 overall.
North Carolina has a number of quality defensive playmakers, including linebacker Power Echols, who leads the Heels in scoring with 48 points, but is ranked in most defensive categories (14th scoring defense, 15th total defense, 12th pass defense, 15th rushing). defense) ranks at the bottom of the ACC. total tackles, defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie, who led the team with five sacks, and linebacker Amare Campbell, who paced UNC with 6.0 tackles for loss.