While at the time of writing this we are still three and a half months away from when Virginia will play NC State in Brazil on week zero, it is never too early to poke some fun and take a look at the schedule the ‘Hoos will be playing.
The ACC has made multiple announcements across the last couple of weeks regarding timing, dates, and networks. A few of these announcements do affect Virginia including some date changing and a kickoff time.
- Week Zero opener against NC State in Brazil kickoff time
The ACC announced that the season opening game will kick off at 3:30 ET and will air on ESPN live from Rio de Janeiro. - Home opener against Norfolk State flexed to Friday night September 11th.
While we do not yet know the time of kickoff, the home opener that was originally scheduled for Saturday September 12th has now been moved to Friday night. - ACC Championship rematch against Duke has been slated for Friday October 23rd.
The matchup was originally listed as Fri. October 23rd OR Sat. October 24th. The ACC announced May 15th that it would be set for the Friday night kickoff. Again, no kick time or network yet.
The main takeaway from these changes is that Virginia is getting two Friday night kickoffs at home this season. Last year Virginia had one Friday night game which came against FSU when UVA pulled the upset in one of the most memorable games in Cavalier history.
There is certainly a concern around the fanbase about how this season’s schedule contains a couple of neutral site games and Friday night games. For starters, the Virginia NC State game in Brazil was supposed to be a home game this year for UVA. The game has since been switched to play as a neutral site in Brazil now. There is also a neutral site matchup on September 19th against West Virginia in Charlotte. Season ticket holders probably feel a certain type of way when Virginia elects to take the payday to go to Brazil instead of having another home Saturday game at Scott Stadium.
To add to that frustration, many fans prefer Saturday games to Friday night starts. For the simple reasons of having to get off work early and Saturday’s just being more convenient are all reasons fans may be opposed to these Friday night games. The one good thing that comes out of it is that it gives Virginia more of a national spotlight since it will not be trampled over by hundreds of other games going on in the country.
On the surface level, the schedule for Virginia is a bit on the easier side, not quite as easy as last season but the ‘Hoos once again avoid the National Champion runner up Miami Hurricanes this season, as well as Clemson, and Louisville. The toughest games include NC State as the season opener, an interesting non-conference neutral game against West Virginia, at Florida State, at SMU, Duke at home, and of course at Virginia Tech. NC State returns a lot of talent from last year including dynamic QB CJ Bailey. As for FSU, nobody on this planet knows how good they will be, but there is definitely talent down there, and any time a team has to go to Tallahassee it is never easy. Meanwhile, SMU has become a pretty consistent piece in the ACC returning starting QB Jennings. Duke of course got the best of UVA in the ACC Championship last season, and then there is Virginia Tech. Nobody knows how fast the turnaround will be for James Franklin’s Hokies, and again, anytime a team goes into Blacksburg it is NEVER easy. Especially for Virginia seeing as it has not won in Lane Stadium since the 20th century.
Please also note that it is very early, a couple of the above listed teams could end up being terrible, and there could be some non-mentioned teams that are incredible. For example, I think Syracuse at home on October 10th could be a dangerous game. Fran Brown is a good coach and the Orange brought in a nice portal class. At Wake Forest could be tough too as Coach Jake Dickert has done a great job rebuilding that program and they could take the next step next season. Lord knows what is happening down in Chapel Hill right now and if Bill Belichick can turn things around, and it is a rivalry game, so you just never know.
The over under line for Virginia wins this season is 7.5. In my opinion, a very good and realistic line. This Virginia roster seems very good and has a lot of potential, the question is, how does it compare to last season’s roster? There is certainly a lot of depth and talent, it is so tough to know how they will look on the field. Last season the line was 5.5 which felt like an automatic over at the time and it turned out to be so. I believe Virginia will finish anywhere between 7-10 wins this season, and while I have not formed my official prediction, yet I will say they will hit the over and achieve 8 wins. There are multiple toss-up games that will be very tough to call.
Success for Virginia looks like building off of what was established last season. Sustaining the success. While the goal is to get back to Charlotte and win the ACC, realistically, Virginia needs around 8 wins to consider another successful season and probably a bowl win as well. And then of course there is the game against Virginia Tech. Many fans will judge Virginia this year on if they can go into Blacksburg and beat the Hokies. So, 8 wins including one against Virginia Tech? I believe fans will be plenty happy with that.
Again, take much of this article with a grain of salt, there is still so much time until the season kicks off, and we just do not know what some of these teams will look like. It sure is fun to speculate though and spitball what 2026 can look like. One thing I will leave you with though, I am still a firm believer in Coach Tony Elliott, and I think he will coach Virginia to another successful season.