Game Preview: UVA faces Richmond on Saturday

Notes for Saturday’s non-conference football game between UVA (0-1) and Richmond (0-1) set for Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia vs. Richmond, CAA
• Virginia owns a 27-2-2 edge in the all-time series with Richmond. UVa has won the last nine meetings, including a 42-19 win the last time these teams met in 2012.
• Richmond’s last win in the series came in 1946, a 19-7 victory in Richmond.
• The Cavaliers own a 56-9-3 record against current members of the CAA.
• London is 16-3 all-time vs. the CAA and 8-3 all-time against FCS ranked CAA foes.

London Faces Alma Mater
• Mike London is facing his alma mater, Richmond, for the third time as UVa’s head coach.
• London is a 1983 graduate of Richmond where he played as a defensive back.
• UVa hosted Richmond in 2010 and again in 2012, both Cavalier wins.
• In 2010, London became the second UVa head coach to make his debut for the Cavaliers against his alma mater.
• Former UVa head coach George Welsh made his debut in 1982 against his alma mater, Navy.
• In both cases, London and Welsh also made their UVa debut against the programs they just left as head coach. London was the head coach of Richmond from 2008-09 and Welsh was the head coach at Navy from 1973-81.

Last Meeting: 2012 (UVa 43, UR 19)
• Former UVa quarterback and current Richmond Spider Michael Rocco threw for 311 yards and a touchdown to help top Richmond in the 2012 season opener.
• Rocco finished 25 for 37 with a touchdown on a short pass that Darius Jennings took 51 yards for a score. Kevin Parks ran for two touchdowns andPerry Jones ran for another for UVa.
• The Cavaliers took a 16-0 lead in the first 6:27, had to settle for two field goals in the second quarter and put the game away with touchdown runs by Parks in the third quarter and Jones early in the fourth.
• The Cavaliers outgained Richmond 523-201 in the first three quarters, and much of the Spiders’ yards came after the game was well in Virginia’s control.

Familiar Faces on Both Sidelines
• The coaching staffs from the two teams are uniquely intertwined, with former ur head coach Mike London now in his fifth season at UVa and former UVa assistant head coach Danny Rocco now in his third season as the head coach at Richmond.
• Both London and Rocco served as defensive assistants together at Virginia under former UVa head coach Al Groh (2001-04). Rocco played two seasons under Groh at Wake Forest, was a graduate assistant with the Demon Deacons and later joined Groh with the Jets in 2000.  Rocco followed Groh to Charlottesville in 2001 and spent five seasons with the Cavaliers.
• ur head coach Danny Rocco’s daughter Amy is a fourth-year at UVa and works in the UVa athletics media relations office.
• Three Richmond assistants (Bob Trott, Levern Belin, Byron Thweatt) have been assistant coaches at Virginia.  Thweatt is a former Cavalier standout and was a UVa graduate assistant in 2006.
• Richmond tight ends coach Fontel Mines is a 2007 graduate of UVa and was a wide receiver for the Cavaliers. Mines finished his career with 68 receptions for 737 yards and five touchdowns before a short career in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.
• UVa OL coach Scott Wachenheim spent three seasons as the OC and assistant head coach at Liberty (2006-08) under current Richmond head coach Danny Rocco. The Flames put up prolific numbers under Wachenheim’s offense and ranked in the top-10 in the FCS in yards and scoring during the tenure.
• Richmond assistant coaches Brandon Streeter (OC/QBs) and Blaine McCorkle (OL) both worked under Wachenheim during UVa’s offensive line coach’s time at Liberty.
• Richmond QB Michael Strauss spent the 2010 and 2011 seasons at UVa. He redshirted the 2010 season and did not appear in any games in 2011 before enrolling at Richmond as a transfer student for the 2012 spring.
• Richmond QB Michael Rocco spent three seasons (2010-12) at UVa. He started 21 games for the Cavaliers at quarterback, going 11-10 as a starter, including an 8-5 mark in 2011 and an appearance in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Rocco is No. 8 all-time at UVa with 4,731 career passing yards. He transferred to Richmond to play for his uncle Danny Rocco following the 2012 season.

UVa Players from Richmond
• UVa has 16 players on its roster from Richmond and its surrounding areas: Jack Babcock (Glen Allen), Maurice Canady (Richmond), Malcolm Cook(Richmond), Conner Davis (Henrico), Doni Dowling (Richmond), Jack English (Richmond), Greg Gallop (Chester), Anthony Harris (Chesterfield), Tim Harris (Richmond), DreQuan Hoskey (Richmond), Andre Miles-Redmond (Richmond), John Pond (Chester), Tyler Shirley (Midlothian), Eric Tetlow(Richmond), Alec Vozenilek (Richmond), Connor Wingo-Reeves (Midlothian).

Freshmen Shine Among UVa Receiving Corps
• Redshirt freshman Andre Levrone and true freshman Doni Dowling made their collegiate debuts in solid fashion against No. 7 UCLA.
• The duo caught eight combined balls for 100 combined yards and one touchdown.
• Dowling caught five balls for 25 yards, while Levrone recorded three receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown.
• Dowling’s five receptions are the most by a UVa true freshman receiver in a debut since 1972. That was the first season in which freshmen were eligible to play varsity football. The NCAA had historically prohibited freshmen from varsity competition, except during the US involvement in World War II.
• Dowling’s effort passed teammate Darius Jennings’ four catches in the senior’s 2011 debut against William & Mary.

Defense Stuffs UCLA after First Down
• UVa yielded 175 yards to the Bruins on first down in the season opener.
• However, No. 7 UCLA only managed 183 combined yards on second, third and fourth down against the Cavaliers.
• That comes out to an average of 5.8 yards per first down play and 4.2 yards average for second, third and fourth down combined. UCLA was 0-2 on fourth down chances.

Defense Pressures Vaunted UCLA Offense
• UVa sacked UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley five times and recorded 11 tackles for a loss.
• TCU and Baylor are the only football programs during the opening weekend of college football to amass more tackles for loss. TCU had 14.0 and Baylor had 13.0.
• Baylor, FIU and Louisiana-Monroe are the only programs during the opening weekend of college football to record more sacks than the Cavaliers. Baylor had 8.0, while FIU and Louisiana-Monroe had 6.0.