CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A year ago, as he prepared his Virginia football team for its season opener against Coastal Carolina, Tony Elliott showed the players video of special teams gaffes and turnovers in the Stanford-Hawaii Week 0 game as a warning.

Now, as they get set for their own Week 0 opener, at home Saturday against North Carolina State, Elliott is again cautioning the Cavaliers.

“Don’t be the example,” Elliott said he told them. “Don’t be the one that the coach comes in next week and says, “Hey, look at these guys from Virginia. We don’t want to be like them.’” 

Openers traditionally can be among the sloppier games of the season, and that has only been exacerbated in the transfer portal era. Teams are breaking in transfers and, all over the lineup, players are playing together in a game for the first time. 

Even in last season’s one-sided, 48-7 romp over Coastal Carolina, the Cavaliers committed more penalties – seven for 50 yards – than Elliott would have liked.

“A lot of it is just the stuff you can control, right?” Elliott said. “Like aggression-type mistakes you can live with, but the ones that are concentration-type mistakes, those are the ones that you’ve got to make sure that you stay away from. And those are the ones that add up and end up putting you in an adverse situation.”

For coaches, game-planning for opening opponents has become infinitely more complicated, as not only may schemes change from year to year, but teams are undergoing massive roster overhauls, with new starters joining lineups through the portal. 

North Carolina State reconfigured its receiving corps with the additions of transfers Joshisa Trader (Miami), Victor Snow (Buffalo) and Davion Dozier (Appalachian State), and bolstered its linebackers by adding Harvey Dyson (Tulane), Raul Aguirre (Miami) and Da’Karri Nelson (Penn State).

“There’s a lot of guys that you know are good players, but you don’t have enough film to validate it because they’re moving from place to place and tracking down that film is very difficult,” Elliott said. “So, it does pose some additional challenges.”

For UVA’s players, that’s meant studying both game footage of the Wolfpack from last season, when State went 8-5, including a Week 2 win over Virginia in Raleigh, 35-31, and taking in video of some of the new players who have joined.

“We’re watching anything you can get your hands on,” tight end Dakota Twitty said. “And we still know there will be a couple of curveballs.”

North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren, going into his 14th year leading the Wolfpack, has a track record of having his team ready to go when the season starts. State has won eight straight season openers under Doeren, its last Game 1 defeat coming in 2017 against South Carolina in Charlotte. 

“Game 1’s a little bit of that for both sides, trying to figure out what the new pieces are and adjusting as you go,” Doeren said this week.  “What are they going to do the same? What do we think might change? You’re guessing in some ways. But educated guess because you’re watching a lot of film.”

In all, Doeren is 12-1 in season openers with the Wolfpack, including a perfect 6-0 in games played in August. 

State has gone 25-7 in the first four games of the season the last eight years. 

Saturday’s opener figures to be a pivotal game in the ACC standings for both teams. Virginia was tapped to finish sixth in the conference in the preseason media poll, one spot ahead of North Carolina State.

For his part, Elliott believes he has a strong team, even voting the Cavaliers No. 19 on his ballot for the preseason coaches Top 25 poll.

The challenge for the Cavaliers is to come out and put their best football forward in the opener.