The Virginia football team will play its third and final game of a homestead Friday at 8 p.m. against Boise State.
Virginia (1-2) is seeking to keep its momentum after narrowly fending off William and Mary 35-29. While the Tribe proved to be more of a challenge than expected, taking the lead early and making it close towards the end, the victory marked the first for the Cavaliers this season.
“A win’s a win,” junior strong safety Kelvin Rainey said. “Sometimes, that’s all you need to spark a movement.”
Friday night, the Cavaliers will go up against a team ranked inside the preseason AP Top 25 for the third time this season, taking on Boise State (2-1) for the first time in program history. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, ever since the Broncos fell 35-24 to Brigham Young and subsequently fell out of the AP poll, they have been playing with a chip on their shoulder.
Last week, Boise State completely demolished Idaho State 52-0. While the team lost its starting quarterback, sophomore Ryan Finley, due to an ankle injury sustained in the first quarter, the offense remained potent. With the Broncos scoring six rushing touchdowns through three different running backs, expect them to run the ball aggressively against the struggling Virginia defense, which gave up 100 yards to Tribe senior running back Mikal Abdul-Saboor last week.
Additionally, in lieu of the injured Finley, two quarterbacks — sophomore Thomas Stuart ( who finished 9-13 with 69 yards, one touchdown and 46 yards rushing) and true freshman Brett Rypien (who completed 8-9 passes for 126 yards) — proved their chops against Idaho State. Those two will split reps against Virginia, Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said earlier this week.
This means that on top of containing a dual-threat offense, Virginia must also brace for two different styles of quarterback.
“There may be two types of quarterbacks — one might be more of a thrower, the other more of a running-threat guy,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “So we'll have to prepare to make sure that we take care of our assignments first and foremost.”
On the other side of the ball, Virginia needs to match Boise State’s offense blow-for-blow in a game that will likely turn into a shootout. While the Broncos’ rushing defense — which ranks second in the nation with just 45.7 rushing yards surrendered per game — will undoubtedly challenge the likes of junior running back Taquan Mizzell, the Cavaliers’ aerial attack will have the help of a starter returning from injury: senior wide receiver T.J. Thorpe.
“[Having Thorpe back] will be huge,” junior quarterback Matt Johns said. “We need to fit him into the game plan, and the coaches will do a good job of doing that.”
Thorpe, who transferred to Virginia from North Carolina after three impressive years, saw his first action last week after missing five weeks with a broken clavicle. This week, he will make his first start as a Cavalier. With the addition of Thorpe, Johns will have another target to throw to along with senior wide receiver Canaan Severin.
If Virginia wants to win this game, it must be able to force some turnovers. While the Cavalier defense had dozens in 2014, it has yet to force one this season. With turnovers, the Cavaliers can swing momentum in their favor — something that is absolutely crucial if they want to remain competitive against the high-powered Bronco offense.
Though Virginia’s win last week held significance as the team’s first of the season, it is now in the rearview mirror in the wake of a difficult opponent.
“We congratulate ourselves for winning the game,” London said. “Now, we got to get better and move on to another excellent football team coming in.”
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