Virginia gets another shot to protect Scott Stadium on Saturday night, and after what happened in Tallahassee, the Cavaliers could use a steadier performance in a hurry.
The Cavaliers are back home in Charlottesville, Va., for an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with Syracuse, trying to keep their perfect mark at home intact. Virginia is 3-0 at Scott Stadium this season and 9-1 at home since the start of last season, a sharp contrast to the way its two losses have unfolded. One came on a neutral field against West Virginia in Charlotte, N.C., and the other was a 38-7 beating at Florida State last weekend.
That trip to Tallahassee exposed plenty. Virginia was beaten up in almost every phase, with missed tackles and dropped passes piling on as the Seminoles rolled to a 464-205 edge in total yardage.
Florida State also controlled the ground game by a massive 281-37 margin. Beau Pribula, who had been so efficient early in the season, completed just 43.8% of his throws after hitting 76.7% through the first four games.
He was also sacked 10 times.
Tony Elliott didn’t try to spin it after the loss.
"We're not going to point fingers," Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott said. "We're not going to lay blame anywhere other than the things that we didn't control that we said we were going to try and control. And we're going to go back to work and have a great week of practice and show back up Saturday and see if we can get this bad taste out of our mouth."
Syracuse arrives with its own issues in league play. The Orange have dropped nine straight ACC games since a 34-21 win at Clemson on Sept. 20, 2025, and they enter this one at 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Still, they’re coming off a 42-41 overtime road win at Connecticut last weekend, their first road victory of the season.
Fran Brown, in his third year as Syracuse’s head coach, has not coached against Virginia before. The teams last met in 2022, when Syracuse won 22-20 at home.
"Really excited about the opportunity," Brown said. "I think they are tough, they run the ball extremely well, they have a bunch of really good running backs and a tough quarterback. ... We got our hands full this week but excited for the opportunity to go down there and get a chance to go play them."
The Orange got a big lift from quarterback Amari Odom in the win over UConn. In his first start of the season, he tied a school record with five touchdown passes and added a rushing score. Umari Hatcher was the top target, catching 12 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns, while Tylik Hill carried 28 times for 140 yards.
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Phillips stressed that the NCAA still has to enforce its rules if it wants to avoid turning eligibility into chaos, even as athletes continue to assert their right to litigate. For Syracuse, and for schools across the conference, the concern is less about the headlines than the possibility that roster planning could remain cloudy well into the season if the disputes keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]