Boston College will try to slow Virginia’s resurgent running game when the teams meet on Saturday afternoon for an Atlantic Coast Conference contest in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 ACC) are coming off a bye week after rushing for a whopping 384 yards in a 43-24 victory at previously unbeaten Coastal Carolina on Sept. 21. It was the highest rushing total for the Cavaliers since they gained 446 yards against San Jose State in 1998.
“We want to run the football,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “We want to be effective running the football. We want to be efficient. And then in games where we have opportunity to lead and dominate with the rush, that’s what we want to do.”
Off to its best start since going 4-0 to begin the 2019 campaign, Virginia ranks third in the ACC with an average of 195 rushing yards per game.
Xavier Brown leads the Cavaliers with 293 rushing yards and tops the ACC with 8.9 yards per carry. Kobe Pace has 210 rushing yards and quarterback Anthony Colandrea has 135.
They will face a Boston College defense that ranks sixth against the run in the 17-team conference, allowing 101.4 yards per game. The Eagles (4-1, 1-0) have surrendered only two rushing touchdowns in five games.
Boston College rallied for a 21-20 home win against Western Kentucky last weekend. Grayson James, filling in for injured quarterback Thomas Castellanos (undisclosed), rushed for a touchdown and threw a TD pass in the final 11:36 to overcome a 20-7 deficit.
“Our guys hung in there,” Eagles coach Bill O’Brien said. “They’re resilient. They’re a tough group of guys. They practice hard. They work very hard. When they came (into the locker room at halftime), they looked in the mirror and self-assessed, and they went out there and played better in the second half. I’m very proud of that.”
Castellanos was back in practice on Tuesday, and ESPN and the Boston Globe reported Thursday that he would return for the Virginia game.
“I think he’s doing all right,” O’Brien said Tuesday. “I thought he showed up ready to go today and had a decent practice. And Grayson will be ready to go, so we have two guys that can play, no doubt about it.”
Boston College leads 7-1 in the all-time series, including a 27-24 win last season in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The only Virginia victory was 43-32 in Charlottesville in 2020.
