Virginia vs NC State: Three Biggest Storylines for Saturday's Game

Chandler Morris was having a good debut on Saturday, but left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. After the game, head coach Tony Elliott sounded confident that Morris would be ok and able to play this weekend:

"Yeah, so looks like his left shoulder. You know, mild possible AC. We'll get it reevaluated in the morning. But just wanted to be very cautious there. And he even said it on the ground. He's like, Man, I should have gotten down, but that's the competitor that he is. He also said, Coach, I saw the end zone. I wanted, I wanted to score. So that's the kind of player that he is. But we're encouraged that I'm very hopeful for next week."

Morris ended the game 19-27 for 264 yards and two touchdowns and looked poised and accurate all night long while he was in. If he does play, UVA has a great chance to win this game.

2. Will Cam Ross continue his great start to the season?

In his Cavalier debut, Cam Ross accounted for 224 all-purpose yards (124 receiving, 100 KOR), which included a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. His kickoff return TD matched that of the longest in school history and is the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Cavalier since Joe Reed did so against Duke in 2019. The 100-yard return is one of five in program history, with the last by Reed against William & Mary in 2019.

Ross collected his fourth 100-yard receiving performance of his career. His four career 100-yard receiving performances lead all players on UVA’s 2025 roster.

Head coach Tony Elliott could not have been happier with the performance that Ross had and he said he saw it early in camp:

"You know, a couple, a couple days into practice, you saw that that one, he's a, he's a football player, like he's got really, really good football instincts. He's got a great skill set as a receiver. And you felt like, based on what you saw in film from JMU last year, and then the validation of the short area quickness, that he would he would be able to make some plays for you. So just super excited for him. He's a guy that just came in and worked and maybe some of the other guys might have been more talked about in terms of their transition coming in the door, but he's just, he's just a workman. He reminds me a lot of Malik, and I said that before. They're different, and he's got a long way to go, obviously, because Malik did some, some, some exceptional things here, but he's kind of cut from the same cloth. You just see his ability as a football player and also as a return guy, it doesn't say much, very quiet. He just shows up every single day and goes to work."

If Ross can continue his hot start, UVA has a chance to win this game.

3. How will the defense hold up?

Virginia's defense held Coastal Carolina to only seven points this past Saturday, but this is going to be a completely different test. NC State quarterback CJ Bailey is one of the ACC's most underrated quarterbacks and he has a talented group of weapons around him. UVA was able to stop the run against Coastal, but will have to be better at pressuring the quarterback and creating havoc plays. If they can, I like their chances to win on Saturday.