NC State quarterback CJ Bailey was saying in an interview that aired on “ACC Huddle” Saturday morning that he planned to lead the Pack to the ACC title and the CFP, and it started with the season opener at Virginia.
His fifth pass of the game was batted into the air by UVA defensive end Fisher Camac, then picked off by safety Brandyn Hillman, leading to a Virginia TD that put the ‘Hoos up 10-0 in the first quarter.
A second quarter scramble that got Bailey inside the UVA 10 ended up with the ball on the turf, and recovered by linebacker Landon Danley.
That one was basically the game.
ICYMI
- UVA Football: ‘Hoos open 2026 season with dominant 34-8 win over NC State
- UVA Football: ‘Hoos run the ball, a lot – 57 times! – down the throat of the NC State D
Bailey, who passed for 3,105 yards and 25 TDs, against nine INTs, with a 68.8 percent completion rate, in 2025, had a career-worst game in the 34-8 loss to Virginia – 12-of-23, 84 yards, the INT, the fumble, and he ended the day on the sidelines, lifted for a relief pitcher in the fourth quarter.
“At the end of the day, it came down to executing, and that’s something that we couldn’t do,” Bailey told reporters after the drubbing. “Whether it was me making throws, making the right throws, or me completing passes, or us in the trenches – no matter what it was, we just couldn’t execute.”
“They did a good job getting their hands up,” Pack coach Dave Doeren said. “They batted four or five passes at the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t get any of those on our side. Then, obviously, the one fumble. Those plays are costly in a game like that.”
Virginia held State to 168 total yards and 3.3 yards per play – and 4-of-13 on third downs.
“Collective effort, all three levels of the defense, and also the depth and preparation. Guys communicating, being in the right spot, taking advantage of tips for turnovers,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said, assessing the work of his defense, which was utterly dominant from the jump.
“I think some of it was not allowing him to get ahead of the chains, especially on early downs in the run game. That forced it to be more dropback. I think when you go dropback, you can change some looks on the back end, make it a little bit more difficult and make you progress more,” Elliott said. “I think that was really the biggest thing that we did. We stayed efficient on first and second down, didn’t let them get ahead of the chains as much, and forced them into longer, more dangerous passing situations where you might have to get the ball out before you like to.”
The State offense averaged 3.4 yards on first downs, and faced an average third down with seven yards to gain to keep the chains moving.
The Pack was actually decently efficient on third-and-shorts – four yards or less to go – convering on 3-of-5.
That means they were just 1-of-8 on third-and-5 or more.
“Seven pass breakups, an interception off of a tip. I thought they did a good job coming up and supporting the run, making some tackles,” Elliott said. “We’ll get into the nitty-gritty when we watch the tape just to evaluate the technique, but I thought they brought a ton of energy. Also, they give us some versatility to be able to walk up and play a little bit tighter coverage, which helps us.
“We were able to get two sacks, and both of those sacks came from the second level. But when you can play man coverage, now you can bring pressure and make it a little bit tougher. Then you can bring pressure and drop out and play exotic coverages on the back end when you do have that type of personnel,” Elliott said.
And all of this was done without the services of preseason All-ACC linebacker Kam Robinson, a game-time decision that Elliott made in favor of giving Robinson two more weeks to make his return from a November ACL tear.
“It was close. I think he could have played, and he would have played. But at the end of the day, just, I didn’t feel great about it,” Elliott said. “He had he had a full week of practice, so he did have some contact, but I didn’t want to force the issue. We’ve got two more weeks before we play, and so now I have another two weeks, which would be three weeks of contact, before he is ready to go. But he said he felt great, and he looks great. It was just more of, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself throwing him out there, and something happened, right?”
Robinson’s teammates picked him up.
“Kam Robinson is a beast. He’s one of the best players in the country,” said Camac, who had three tackles, and it was his hand that batted the Bailey pass into the air on the first quarter INT.
“One thing that Coach E talks about a lot is competitive depth, and I feel like there shouldn’t be any drop off when you go to ones, twos, threes. That’s one thing that we harp on, we work, we go deep, we have a lot of guys, and anyone that we put in can go make a play. That’s how we’re going into it,” Camac said.
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Chris Graham
