Virginia hosted NC State on Saturday in a game that mattered more than a normal Week 0 opener. The Wolfpack had won 4 straight in the series and are just 1-3 at Scott Stadium since 2006, with last year's meeting decided by a late interception in a 35-31 NC State win. Books had Virginia favored by 5.5 heading in, and through 2 quarters the Cavaliers looked like they wanted to make a statement out of it.
The Cavaliers led 17-0 at the half, and the way they got there is what had Barstool's football accounts buzzing. This wasn't a fluky score off a turnover or a special teams gift — Virginia moved the ball on the ground and through the air behind an offensive line that's been drawing praise all preseason.
Virginia’s OL is so damn good. One of the best units in the country. Bully ball.
That line was already a talking point before kickoff, and 2 quarters of bullying NC State's front only reinforced it. When your run game is opening up lanes like that against an ACC opponent, it changes how people talk about your ceiling for the whole season.
Virginia might be a wagon
That return touchdown was the exclamation point on a half NC State clearly wasn't ready for. It's the kind of explosive, non-offensive score that turns a comfortable lead into a laugher, and it had Pardon My Take calling Virginia "a wagon" in real time.
The bigger reaction, though, was about where this puts Virginia in the ACC picture. Beating a team that's owned this series for the better part of 2 decades, and doing it convincingly at home, is exactly the kind of result that gets a program mentioned in the same breath as the conference's contenders.
Was already super high on Virginia coming into the year but holy shit do they look good. Real contender to make the ACC title game.
It's one half of one game, and NC State has 30 minutes to try to salvage this thing. But Virginia entered the year as a trendy pick to take a step forward, and blowing the doors off a team that's given the Cavaliers fits for years is the kind of opener that gets a fanbase — and Barstool's college football corner of Twitter — thinking bigger.