With 4:59 remaining in the third quarter on Saturday afternoon, NC State backup quarterback Will Wilson took a designed run up the middle and into the end zone. After converting on a two-point conversion, the Wolfpack had cut Virginia’s advantage to 24-8.
The Cavaliers’ lead inside a sold-out Scott Stadium wasn’t in any immediate jeopardy, but for the first time, the visitor’s sideline had a hint of momentum.
Over the next 12:15 of game time, however, the ’Hoos slammed the door shut with deafening
authority. With a program-record 23-play touchdown drive, Virginia not only extinguished the Wolfpack’s faint hopes of a late comeback but also sent a strongly worded message to the college football world: 2025 was no fluke, and the 2026 Cavaliers might be even better.
The 23-play touchdown march began at Virginia’s own 25-yard-line, featured 18 runs to just five pass attempts, and resulted in 21 plays for a gain. The ’Hoos, behind a starting line that received national buzz for its combined 31 seasons of collegiate experience, beat back the Wolfpack, getting whatever they wanted on the ground while mixing in well-timed aerial strikes to keep the defense honest.
“As the drive went longer and longer, they could feel it,” Tony Elliott said postgame. “To be honest, I didn’t even know it was 23 plays when we were in it. It was just [about] finding a way to keep the ball away from their offense and either flip the field or find a way to go score points on that drive.”
While draining the final five minutes of the third quarter and nearly half of the fourth, Virginia converted four fourth-down attempts before capping the drive with a one-yard touchdown punch up the middle by running back Xay Davis.
“I wanted to get off the field as fast as possible,” joked quarterback Beau Pribula, who ran for gains of nine, three, six, and eight on the drive. “Because those guys up front are old. They can’t take a beating like that.”
Despite the postgame ribbing from their quarterback, Virginia’s offensive line was the one inflicting damage throughout the afternoon. The old-timers allowed just one sack, and four of the five starters went without allowing a single pressure.
Perhaps even more impressively, the line paved the way for a 258-yard rushing output. Pribula, on a heavy diet of 12 designed runs plus two scrambles, plowed his way for 120 rushing yards (the most of his career), while five Virginia backs combined for another 138 yards on the ground.
“That’s who we are, in a sense,” Pribula said. “That’s what we’re able to do. It just opens up so many things when you have guys like that up front that are so experienced, and they’re so level-headed, and they’re so easy to work with. We can run the ball, and then we can do a bunch of different things off that.”
The Cavaliers and their seasoned front five, who finished off their 34-8 rout of the Wolfpack with one final field goal late in the fourth quarter, snapped a four-game losing streak against NC State dating back to 2018. The victory also marked Virginia’s earliest calendar-date win in program history.
The early start to the season, plus the location switch from Brazil to Charlottesville, proved to be the perfect opening ceremony for one of the most highly anticipated Virginia football seasons in recent memory. Scott Stadium, which sold out for the first time since 2008, was rocking well before the ’Hoos powered their way to a Week 0 win.
“Several years ago, when we showed up here as a staff, [the pre-game environment against NC State] is what we envisioned that it felt like pre-game,” Elliott said. “When you come in on the buses, you see people everywhere, tailgating. It’s hard to describe, but you know it when you feel it. It felt like how the guys played. They fed off that energy. It proves to everybody what we’re capable of here at the University of Virginia.”
