AHS grad Archer returns to Scott

WILLIAMSBURG — R.J. Archer never has had a view this good at Scott Stadium. He’s also never faced odds this long.

William & Mary’s senior quarterback, a former Albemarle High standout, will try to shake up the football establishment Saturday as he leads the Tribe into the stadium in which he spent many childhood weekends.

“I’ve been coming since I was old enough to be carried,” he said. “We’ve had the same seats forever at the front of the upper deck on the 40-yard line.”

He’s seen his fair share of great games and upsets — mentioning the 1995 game against Florida State as a favorite — but this time, he’ll be a part of the history, hoping to silence the orange-clad crowd.

That won’t be easy. Oddsmakers don’t even set lines when Football Championship Subdivision teams head to their Football Bowl Subdivision counterparts for games, but if they did, Virginia likely would be favored by a few touchdowns.

In 30 years at William & Mary, coach Jimmye Laycock has a 1-6 record against the Cavs. The victory came in 1986. He said mistakes will be magnified against the bigger and stronger opponent.

“You get one guy out of position or a block isn’t sustained or whatever, and that’s something you might get away with against a lesser opponent,” he said. “But it gives us a chance to get rid of those problems before they can come back and hurt us later in the season.”

Laycock said he’ll spend the week preparing his team to play with strong fundamentals, instead of specifically game-planning for the Cavs.

Virginia has yet to announce a quarterback, and it will debut a spread offense, creating unknowns for the opposition. Tribe coaches will watch for anything unusual and try to adjust.

“It’s enough that it’s the first game against an opponent we haven’t played recently,” Laycock said. “But this is a first game against a new opponent running a new offense. . . . So we’ve got to be ready to make adjustments.”

UVa is preparing to adjust to Archer, who threw 21 passes last year in his lone start at quarterback. Though the Cavaliers have three starting seniors among the four linebackers, there isn’t much game experience in the group.

“I’m sure they will test us, and I look forward to that,” linebacker Aaron Clark said. “They have a lot of wrinkles in their offense.”

William & Mary’s players are no strangers to what it will take against a top-notch school, as the Tribe has taken on a FBS team every year dating to 1998. That was the year of its last victory against a big school, a 45-38 takedown of Temple.

For the Tribe to have a chance Saturday, it will come down to Archer having a breakout game in his hometown, as well as the defense holding its own against the Cavaliers’ spread offense.

Regardless of the outcome, Laycock knows his players will remember playing in front of tens of thousands of people for years to come. “That’s a part of their college experience,” he said.