Week 0 opens with an ACC matchup that should tell us plenty about both NC State and Virginia right away. The Wolfpack and Cavaliers meet Saturday in one of the more intriguing games on the slate, and the betting angle here leans away from the fireworks we saw when these teams last hooked up.
Virginia is coming off a season in which it won the regular-season title before falling to Duke in the conference championship game. Now the Cavaliers are trying to climb back into the top tier of the ACC with a new quarterback leading the way.
That quarterback is Beau Pribula, the former Penn State and Missouri passer Virginia landed through the transfer portal. Last season at Missouri, Pribula completed 67.4% of his passes for 1,941 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He also brought plenty with his legs, rushing for 297 yards and six scores. The upside is obvious, but Virginia will need cleaner play through the air if it wants to make a serious push.
The more appealing play here is the total, not the side. The number feels inflated when you look back at last year’s meeting, a 35-31 NC State win that turned into a shootout. This time, the setup points in the other direction.
Virginia’s defense was the backbone of the team last season, and the Cavaliers are bringing back 62% of their production from 2025. That’s enough to expect the defense to be the steadying force again. On the other side, Pribula still has to prove he can make the right decisions consistently before the offense can be trusted.
That’s why the UNDER is the best bet for this one. Both defenses should have a say in how this game plays out.
In Other News...
Tony Elliott Just Raised The Stakes For Virginias Breakthrough Season
Virginia football spent 2025 doing something it had never done before, stacking up 11 wins and coming just short of the College Football Playoff. Now Tony Elliott is trying to make sure that breakthrough does not turn into a finish line. With a calmer, more stripped-down approach heading into 2026, he has pushed the Cavaliers to stay grounded, lean into humility and keep the focus on the larger standard the program is chasing.
The stakes are obvious in Charlottesville because the next step is no longer just about being good, it is about winning the ACC, a title Virginia has claimed only twice. Elliott also knows the path could be more manageable on paper this season, but he has made it clear the real challenge is internal: building champion men while trying to turn last years breakthrough into something even bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Virginias Playoff Hopes May Hinge On One Brutal Resume Problem
Virginias path to the ACC title game and, beyond that, a College Football Playoff push in 2026 looks simple on paper and punishing in practice. The expanded 12-team field has already shown that the league can produce at-large qualifiers, but those bids have tended to come with the kind of rsums that leave little doubt, and Virginia will have to build something similar if it wants to be taken seriously outside a conference championship route.
The problem is that the Cavaliers do not have much margin for error in the way their schedule is set up, which makes every quality win matter even more. An undefeated regular season would obviously change the conversation, and even a strong one-loss finish would need enough support from the rsum to survive the selection debate, but the whole case still comes back to whether Virginia can stack enough meaningful wins to look like more than just a hopeful ACC contender. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Loses Key Season Opener Contributor With Bigger Questions Still Looming
Virginias season opener took an early hit this week when Solomon Beebe was removed from game-day plans after his arrest on three Class 1 misdemeanor charges tied to animal abuse allegations. Tony Elliott said Beebe is still a member of the program, but the linebacker will not be available when the Cavaliers open the season, leaving Virginia to adjust before the first snap and revisit a situation that has quickly become bigger than football.
Beebe appeared in Albemarle County District Court and was released on unsecured bail, while the university declined to say more because the legal process is still ongoing. For Virginia, the immediate concern is depth and availability for the opener, but the larger issue is how long this absence lasts and what the programs response looks like if the case continues to move through court. [Read more 🡒]