Under Tony Elliott, Virginia has made a habit of starting fast at Scott Stadium.
The Cavaliers are 3-1 in season openers during Elliott’s tenure, and all three wins came at home. That matters again now, with Virginia set to open the 2026 season on Aug. 29 against NC State at Scott Stadium.
The first of those openers came with plenty of production, even if the final score didn’t fully capture it. Virginia piled up 505 yards of offense and rushed for 259 yards, its highest total on the ground since 2020.
It was also a night of notable firsts: McKale Boley became only the second Virginia freshman ever to start a season opener at offensive tackle, joining D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Jonas Sanker and James Jackson also made their first career starts, and Virginia wore orange jerseys and orange pants for the first time since 2010.
Since then, the Cavaliers have gone with white-orange-orange in every home opener under Elliott.
The 2023 opener carried a different kind of weight. It was Virginia’s first game after the Nov. 13, 2022, tragedy, and Tennessee showed support by wearing 1-15-41 decals on its helmets.
A crowd of 69,507 filled Nissan Stadium for the neutral-site game. That opener also introduced several new faces to the college stage, with Kam Robinson, Jason Hammond, Anthony Britton, Eli Wood and Anthony Colandrea all making their debuts.
Colandrea entered late for an injured Tony Muskett, and that moment opened the door for him to earn multiple starts later in the 2023 season.
Virginia’s 2024 opener against Richmond followed a familiar script: control the game from the start, then keep pouring it on. Rain forced a two-hour delay in the middle, but the Cavaliers never lost their grip.
Colandrea finished with more than 340 total yards and three touchdowns while throwing only six incompletions. Trell Harris played his first game as a Cavalier, Malachi Fields posted the first 100-yard game of his career, Hammond made his first college start, and Ethan Minter made his collegiate debut.
Then came the 2025 opener, and it was the cleanest statement yet. Virginia overwhelmed Coastal Carolina in a performance that had too many firsts to count.
Cam Ross led the way with 224 all-purpose yards, Landon Danley made his first career start and finished with a team-high seven tackles, and J’Mari Taylor scored two touchdowns. The defense held Coastal Carolina to 1-for-14 on third down, and the offense put up 48 points, the most Virginia has scored under Elliott.
That opener proved to be more than just a strong start. Virginia went 10-2 in the regular season and finished with a school-record 11 wins.
In Other News...
Three New Cavaliers Enter Camp With Serious Pressure To Deliver
Virginias football program is heading into training camp with the kind of buzz that only comes after a school-record 11-win season, and the attention now shifts to how well the Cavaliers can replace the production and presence that helped get them there. Among the newcomers, quarterback transfer Pribula, wide receiver transfer Flores and safety Hillman arrive with experience and upside, but also with the expectation that they can help steady a team trying to build on last years breakthrough.
Each of them is stepping into a situation where opportunity and pressure come bundled together. Virginia needs new voices to emerge quickly, especially with starters gone from key spots on both sides of the ball, and these arrivals are being asked not just to contribute but to grow into leadership roles almost immediately. Camp will tell whether that transition happens smoothly, or whether the Cavaliers are left waiting for their new pieces to become reliable ones. [Read more 🡒]