North Carolina travels to Charlottesville, VA, to participate in 'The South's Oldest Rivalry' in an early November showdown with Virginia. The meeting with the Cavaliers will serve as the Tar Heels’ ninth game of the season.

Carolina left Kenan Stadium victorious over UVA in last fall’s meeting, ending the Cavaliers’ four-game winning streak against the Heels.

UNC got off to a fast start but found itself trailing, 28-24, at halftime. After the break, however, the Heels came out swinging. Carolina outscored UVA, 35-11, in the second half.

UVA started the season 6-2 but dropped its last four games. Bronco Mendenhall surprisingly announced his retirement, and the bowl matchup versus SMU was canceled, so the Wahoos finished at 6-6.

Ton Elliott was hired to replace Mendenhall, and with it he inherits plenty of skill on offense, notably quarterback Brennan Armstrong, and a bevy of accomplished receivers. But he has begun the process of building the UVA program in his image. So while many of the parts are known, the overall manner Virginia will march forward isn’t.

Today, we preview UNC’s game at Virginia:

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Nov. 5 @ Scott Stadium (61,500)

Head Coach:

First-year Coach Tony Elliott went to Virginia after serving as Clemson’s offensive coordinator

comes to Virginia, leaving his position as Clemson's offensive coordinator. Elliott spent the last 11 seasons working under Dabo Swinney, first as running backs coach, later he added co-offensive coordinator to his tag, then he was the sole OC, and last year added associated head coach to his duties as well.

Noteworthy:

Athlon Sports ranks Virginia No. 68 in its FBS preseason polls.

Returning starters:

The Cavaliers return nine starters, four on offense, and five on defense.

Stars:

Brennan Armstrong returns to Charlottesville for his fifth year with the program. Last season, Armstrong had a 31-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio and threw for more than 4,000 yards.

Dontayvion Wicks, who caught 57 passes for 1,203 yards and nine touchdowns, will lead the Cavaliers’ receiving core. The 6-foot-1, 206-pounder was named to the preseason Biletnikoff Watch List and preseason first-team All-ACC.

Keytaon Thompson, another skill player for the Cavaliers, caught 78 passes for 990 yards. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder spent three years at Mississippi State as a quarterback before transferring to UVA, where he has found a niche as a jack-of-all-trades for the Hoos.

Key Stats:

UVa was No. 21 in the country in points per game last season with 33.8.

My thoughts:

North Carolina will look to use this game against UVA to start a winning streak of its own in this matchup. The Cavaliers come into the 2022 season returning key skill players. Still, they might struggle to protect their veteran quarterback, who led the ACC in passing yards (4,449) after losing the entire offensive line from a season ago.

If UVA can get good play from its new offensive front, having an elite receiver-quarterback combination gives the Hoos’ offense credibility. Though the Cavaliers have a change in coach, the program has the resources and support to make the transition smooth.