The 2-1 Virginia Cavaliers are back in action on Saturday, hosting one of the newest members of the Atlantic Coast Conference — Stanford — for the first time in program history. This kicks off true conference play, where the games do actually count toward UVA’s ACC record.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm ET on the ACC Network and it is a particularly important nightcap. If the ’Hoos are up to the task and able to surge into the Florida State game the following Friday night at 3-1, Scott Stadium will be
rocking. Tony Elliott needs to truly build momentum in year four as the leader of this program, and his guys must fully take advantage of these opportunities in order to make that happen.
Stanford currently sits at 1-2, featuring an upset victory over Boston College last Saturday, but is still suffering the consequences of sluggish performances against Hawaii and BYU in the preceding weeks. To put it bluntly, UVA is the much more talented team and should control this game. That said, Elliott’s maximum margin of victory in conference games has been 10 points (24-14 win over BC in 2024). Many Wahoos fans are still in “prove it to me before I start believing mode,” and understandably so. In that sense, the program can absolutely make progress with how they perform against a bottom-three ACC team.
Here is what you should be on the lookout for:
Three Players to Watch
QB Ben Gulbranson
The starting quarterback is pretty much always included in the ‘players to watch’ but that is about all we can say about Stanford’s signal caller. The Oregon State transfer, now in his sixth season in college football, has had a miserable showing to kick off the year.
Overall, Gulbranson has completed 45 of 84 passes (53.6%), averaging 5.2 yards per attempt with just one touchdown and three interceptions. He did play better against Boston College, featuring a pair of long touchdowns, one through the air and the other on the ground. However, the bulk of the film shows short passes with varying degrees of accuracy, sacks taken, and untimely turnovers. Simply not a formula to score points and win games.
RB Micah Ford
The sophomore back from Toms River, New Jersey, has been the workhorse in this offense and by far the most productive skill player. Ford was named ACC Running Back of the Week for his performance in the BC game, where he carried the ball 17 times for 157 yards and a house call. He also had triple-digit yardage totals against Hawaii, albeit he was held completely in check at BYU. Ford goes into the weekend ranking third in the ACC in rushing yards (291) and fourth nationally in broken tackles, per Pro Football Focus.
DL Clay Patterson
After finishing second in the all-time Yale record books in career sacks (22.5) as an undergrad, Patterson decided to continue his storied academic and athletic career at Stanford. The 6-foot-3, 280-pounder was able to redshirt in 2024, playing in just four games, and is now off to a roaring start in 2025. Patterson sacked the quarterback twice in the losing effort in Week 0 and added another the following week.
Virginia does happen to have one of the five FBS offensive lines that has yet to allow a sack this season. Patterson, who will primarily go to work in the interior, will be perhaps the biggest individual test for the Wahoos in the trenches thus far.
Two Keys to Win
Let the three-headed monster in the backfield cook
Despite the proven capability of starting QB Chandler Morris, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings has reaffirmed his philosophy of ‘run to set up the pass,’ rather than vice versa. Given Virginia’s 44.7 points per game average through three weeks, and their vast efficiency in both areas, it is hard to complain about anything happening on that side of the ball right now.
Even with Noah Vaughn’s injury following his breakout performance last Saturday, Kitchings has a trio of legitimate running back options. J’Mari Taylor and his ACC-leading six rushing touchdowns should continue to be the focal point of the ground attack. Meanwhile, Xavier Brown will continue to get some work while Harrison Waylee can no longer be ignored.
The one nitpick about UVA’s offensive performance against NC State is that even though they converted much of the time, constantly getting into third-and-long situations is not a formula for sustained success. Ideally, this dynamic running back room can consistently get 4+ yards on first and second down, which will keep the defense guessing and open up the play action.
Shore up the defense with key returning pieces
The overall report card on the Virginia defense so far falls somewhere between a C+ and a B-. They asserted their dominance in the trenches against their non-P4 opponents, but their flaws were heavily exploited in Raleigh. Fortunately, the updated depth charts are just what the doctor ordered for this group.
Linebacker Kam Robinson, the group’s leader and most important player, will make his season debut against Stanford. As Morris told the press, “you know when five’s out there.” In addition to making a living in opposing backfields, Robinson’s sure tackling ability will help mask many of the mistakes that allowed NC State’s Hollywood Smothers run all over the defense.
Safety Antonio Clary returns as well, and he provides immediate support to another hole in the defense — back end support against the pass. Again, if we want to nitpick, even William & Mary was able to pop a couple of deep shots against the ’Hoos. As alluded to earlier, Stanford’s downfield passing attack is not something to lose sleep over, but Clary’s return will be pivotal in the ensuing weeks.
One Prediction
Look, Virginia is certainly a question mark right now, but Stanford is straight up a bad football team. Unlike against the Pack, the Cavaliers are able to cement a miniature halftime lead and pull away down the stretch. I like ’Hoos 35, Cardinal 17.
