Game Preview: UVA football vs. BYU

Augusta Free Press coverage of UVA-BYU:
• Press Conference: Mike London
• Still two? Depth chart lists Lambert, or Johns, as starting QB at BYU
• Greyson Lambert needs to be the guy for UVA
• UVA Sports Today with Augusta Free Press editor Chris Graham

Virginia Makes First Trip to Provo Since 1999
• Virginia hits the open road for the first time in 2014 and returns to Provo, Utah, for the first time since the Cavaliers escapted with a 45-40 triumph in 1999.

Cavaliers Playing Their Third Top-25 Team
• UVa is the only team in the nation to play three ranked schools from the Associated Press poll in the first four weeks.
• By playing No. 21 BYU on Saturday, UVa becomes one of two teams in the nation that is facing three Top-25 teams from either the Associated Press or Coaches poll in the first four weeks..
• UVa has previously played No. 7 UCLA (Aug. 30) and No. 21 Louisville (Sept. 13).
• East Carolina is the only other team, as they are facing their third ranked team this week too. ECU makes the list with three opponents ranked in the Coaches poll, playing No. 21 South Carolina (Sept. 6), No. 19 Virginia Tech (Sept. 13) and hosting No. 25 North Carolina on Saturday.
• UVa also faced Richmond on Sept. 6 when the Spiders were ranked No. 17 in the FCS rankings.

Noting Virginia in Road OPeners
• UVa is 43-76-3 all-time in road openers.
• After last season’s 14-3 setback at Pitt, UVa has lost seven of its last eight road openers.
• The lone victory during the stretch was a 34-31 triumph in Bloomington, Ind., when UVa picked up the road victory over the Indiana Hoosiers.
• The last victory in a road opener at Indiana also serves as the last time UVa played its road opener against a non-conference opponent.
• This is Virginia’s first road opener against a ranked team since UVa played its first road contest of the 2010 season at then-No. 16 usc on Sept. 10, 2010. Prior to the usc game in 2010, the previous road opener against a ranked opponent for the Cavaliers was 2002 at then-No. 5 Floridia State on Aug. 31.

Virginia vs. BYU
• Virginia owns a 3-1 edge in the all-time series with BYU, which dates back to the 1987 All American Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. Saturday’s game is the finale of a home-and-home contract.
• BYU’s lone win vs. UVa (Sept. 2, 2000) opened up the 2000 season and was the dedication game at the newly expanded Carl Smith Center, home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium. BYU won in overtime, 38-35.
• The 2000 meeting featured two coaching greats – Virginia’s George Welsh and BYU’s LaVell Edwards, who amassed 446 career head coaching wins between the two of them. Ironically each man retired from coaching following the 2000 season. Entering 2014 season, Welsh’s 189 career victories place him No. 31 all-time at the FBS level and Edwards’ 257 wins place him No. 7 all-time.
• The 2013 meeting with BYU marked the first Independent team UVa had faced since hosting Navy on Sept. 10, 1994.
• BYU was in the WAC when these programs first met in the 1987 All American Bowl and the Mountain West Conference during the 1999 and 2000 meetings.
• UVa and BYU also have two more meetings scheduled: Sept. 7, 2019 (Charlottesville) and Sept. 19, 2020 (Provo).

Last Meeting: 2013 (UVa 19, BYU 16)
• Kevin Parks ran 13 yards for a touchdown with 2:36 to play after a tipped ball led to an interception, a lateral and 33-yard return as Virginia beat BYU 19-16 in a wild, rain-drenched season-opener that had a 2-hour weather delay.
• Anthony Harris made 11 tackles, had one sack, blocked a punt and recorded the key interception that set up the game-winning score by Parks. Harris was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in UVa’s 19-16 win over BYU.
• The game was delayed and the stadium was cleared for 2 hours, nine minutes at the end of the first quarter when lightning was reported in the area. The storm eventually brought a heavy downpour, too.

Notables From the BYU Series
• The 1987 All American Bowl was billed as a high scoring, offensive shootout between Virginia QB Scott Secules, the ACC’s top-rated passer, and BYU’s Sean Covey. Instead the Cavaliers relied on a conservative run-oriented attack and several big defensive stands to defeat pass-happy BYU, 22-16, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.
• BYU’s Covey threw for 394 yards on 37-of-61 passing with one INT and one TD, while Secules was 10-of-19 for 162 yards and one TD pass. Secules rushed for another score.
• In the 1999 trip, UVa’s first to Provo, Utah, the Cavaliers outran No. 17 BYU 45-40 behind 210 rushing yards and two TDs by future NFL standout Thomas Jones.
• Dan Ellis threw for 190 yards and three TDs as UVa jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead.
• BYU made the contest interesting with the game’s only score of the fourth quarter when an errant 19-yard pass by BYU QB Kevin Feterik caromed off a UVa defender in the end zone and into the hands of Carlos Nuno for a TD with 10:54 to play.  Feterik was later intercepted on a fourth-and-goal pass by UVa safety Jerton Evans with 1:37 left to preserve the victory.
• Owen Pochman’s 26-yard field goal in overtime lifted BYU to a 38-35 win over UVa, in Charlottesville to kickoff the 2000 season.
• BYU rallied from 21-0 deficit at halftime to force overtime. BYU’s Bret Engemann was 34-of-41 for 447 passing yards. He completed two TD passes in the final 8:11 of the second half, including a six-yard scoring strike to WR Margin Hooks with 50 seconds remaining to erase a 14-point fourth-quarter Cavalier lead.

Rare Trip West of the Mississippi for the Cavaliers
• This is only the 17th game played west of the Mississippi River in UVa school history.
• Virginia is 4-12 in games played west of the Mississippi.
• UVa’s last venture west was a 27-7 loss at then-No. 17 TCU in 2012; the Cavaliers’ last win west of the Mississippi was a 45-40 win at Brigham Young on Sept. 25, 1999.
• At approximately 2,100 miles from Charlottesville, this game is also the fourth-longest trip in school history.
• The longest is a journey of approximately 4,800 miles for the 2000 O’ahu Bowl in Honolulu, while the second longest was the trip to Seattle in 1976 (approximately 2,800 miles). UVa’s 2010 trip to usc is the third-longest trip at roughly 2,500 miles.
• This is the first of five straight years that UVa will play a regular season game west of the Mississippi River
• Virginia returns to California to open the 2015 season at UCLA on Sept. 5, 2015. UVa will also travel to west to play Oregon (2016), Boise State (2017) and Stanford (2018).

Shadowing BYU’s Van Noy
• UVa’s Max Valles came to UVa as a tight end in 2013 and when camp started moved to defensive end. A few weeks later he made the move to linebacker.
• Not expected to play much as a true freshman, Valles was tasked as playing former BYU All-American Kyle Van Noy on the scout team in advance of UVa’s 2013 season opener with the Cougars.
• Valles impressed the coaching staff and was named UVa’s scout team player of the week. He didn’t make his collegiate debut until UVa’s third game against VMI, appearing on seven plays. He made first collegiate start a week later at Pitt and had five tackles and 2.5 sacks. Valles has been on the field ever since.

BYU Connections
• UVa offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild knows BYU well, facing the Cougars as the quarterback at Colorado State from 1978-80.  Fairchild was a second-team All-WAC quarterback in 1980 behind BYU’s Jim McMahon.
• Fairchild also faced BYU 16 times during his coaching stops at Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and now Virginia.
• UVa associate head coach for offense and tight ends coach Tom O’Brien first faced BYU as a collegiate coach in the Inaugural Holiday Bowl in 1978 when he was at Navy as the offensive tackles and tight end coach. It was O’Brien’s first bowl game as a collegiate coach. Navy won 23-16.
• O’Brien was also part of the UVa staff during the 1987 All American Bowl as the offensive line coach. O’Brien defeated BYU in 2005 and 2006 as the head coach at Boston College.
• UVa offensive line coach Scott Wachenheim faced BYU while playing on the offensive line at the Air Force Academy.
• Wachenheim also faced BYU seven times during his coaching stops at Air Force, Rice, Utah State and now Virginia.
• UVa special teams coordinator and running backs coach Larry Lewis has faced BYU six times as a collegiate coach during stops at Colorado State , Washington State and now Virginia.