Ducks Add Home-And-Home

Mark Helfrich will start his head coaching career off on the road against Virginia on Sept. 7, 2013 at Charlottesville according to a media release issued by the Oregon Athletic Department on Monday. The Cavaliers will make a return visit to Autzen Stadium on Sept. 10, 2016.

The Ducks were scheduled to play Nevada in Reno on that day however when Nevada wanted to change the schedule which created the opportunity to for Oregon to play Virginia and the Ducks complied.

"This opportunity presented itself after we were approached by Nevada about a schedule change,” said Director of Athletics Rob Mullens. "We were open to the idea of adding a series against a BCS automatic qualifying conference and this should prove to be an exciting one for our fans, as well as an opportunity for our student-athletes to test themselves against a major conference opponent.”

This year's contest with the Wolfpack has been rescheduled for Sept. 7, 2019, in Eugene.

The upcoming Oregon-Virginia game will be the first time for a Duck football team to play at Virginia's Scott Stadium and will also be Mark Helfrich's first road game as the headman. Helfrich was promoted to head coach after Chip Kelly left for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football league. Helfrich had been Oregon's offensive coordinator for the entire Kelly-era in Eugene.

While Helfrich was the OC, Oregon played in four-straight BCS Bowls, winning the Rose Bowl in 2012 over Wisconsin, 45-38 and beating Kansas State in the 2013 Fiesta Bowl, 35-17 and propelling the Ducks to No. 2 final ranking in both the AP and Coaches Polls.

"This will be a great early challenge for our team and one that will help prepare us for Pac-12 play," Helfrich said. "A bi-coastal regular season game is unique in college football and we're excited to be a part of it."

The Ducks are 0-2 all-time against ACC competition and have never faced an ACC opponent during the regular season. Both losses came against Wake Forest in postseason play - the 1992 Independence Bowl (39-35) and 2002 Seattle Bowl (38-17). UO lost to current ACC member Miami in 1958 (2-0), when the Hurricanes were an independent.

Oregon's latest home-and-home series is one of several high-profile clashes on the schedule moving forward. The Ducks also have series planned with Michigan State (H2014/A2015), Texas A&M (H2018/A2019) and Ohio State (H2020/A2021). UO faces Tennessee this Sept. 14 at Autzen Stadium, concluding a home-and-home that saw the Ducks visit Knoxville in 2010 (48-13 Oregon win).