Virginia is back in bounce-back mode, and Delaware is the team standing in the way after last Saturday night’s 38-27 loss to West Virginia in Charlotte. The Cavaliers are still big favorites - 19.5 points, according to FanDuel - but the real question is whether they can get back to the level that carried them to a 2-0 start.
On paper, the first argument is easy: Virginia simply has more talent. Delaware has a respectable program, but it doesn’t line up with a Kam Robinson, a Brandyn Hillman or a Beau Pribula. In just its second season at the FBS level, the Blue Hens are still putting pieces together, while Tony Elliott’s team has the kind of roster that can win even without getting overly complicated.
There’s also a built-in response angle for the Cavaliers. Elliott didn’t see panic after the WVU loss, just a team intent on keeping one bad night from turning into something bigger.
He pointed to last season, when Virginia answered a September loss to NC State by winning seven straight and taking control of the ACC race. With 31 grad students on the roster, leadership matters here, and the Cavaliers still have nearly all of their season goals in reach.
The matchup details lean Virginia’s way, too. In Delaware’s biggest game this season, the Blue Hens allowed Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis to run for two touchdowns and throw for another in a 35-26 Commodores win.
That sounds a lot like the kind of approach Virginia used with Pribula against NC State, and Des Kitchings could lean on the ground game again. That plan gets a little trickier if standout guard Noah Josey is out with a knee injury, but Virginia still has options in Jekail Middlebrook, Xavier Brown, Noah Vaughn, Xay Davis and Peyton Lewis, with Pribula also set to mix in on the ground.
Still, Delaware has enough offense to make Virginia work for it if the Cavaliers drift. Senior quarterback threw for 3,683 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, then has already piled up 814 yards and five scores this year. He was Offensive MVP of the 68 Ventures Bowl last season, and he has dependable help in Sean Wilson, who has 18 catches for 288 yards and three touchdowns, and former Virginia Tech wideout Da’wain Lofton, who has 13 receptions for 258 yards and one score.
That’s where the danger creeps in for Virginia. This can turn into a trap game if the Cavaliers start looking ahead to next weekend’s trip to Florida State. Delaware is good enough to punish a team that’s not sharp, and Elliott and his staff will be hammering that point all week.
Virginia’s depth has held up, but last week offered a reminder that the starters are starters for a reason. The Cavaliers opened the year without Robinson and Rico Flores on the sideline, then last week Josey left the game and Hillman was limited, and those absences mattered. If Pribula or Robinson were forced out, the picture could change quickly.
In Other News...
Virginia Has A Bigger Problem Than Saturdays First Loss
Virginias first loss of the 2026 season came in Charlotte against West Virginia, and the result was only part of the issue for Tony Elliotts team. The Cavaliers arrived with momentum after a strong start, but the setting turned into a reminder that on-field progress does not automatically travel well, especially when a neutral-site game tilts heavily toward the opponents base.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was strikingly one-sided, with the crowd overwhelmingly behind West Virginia instead of the Cavaliers. For Virginia, that creates a problem bigger than a single Saturday setback: if the program wants to keep building on its early success, it has to find a way to bring more of its own support into these road and neutral-site environments where the margin can disappear before the opening kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Gets An Early ACC Reality Check Against Kentucky
The SEC/ACC Challenge will put Virginia on a national stage again when Kentucky comes to town in a meeting that already looks like one of the early measuring-stick games on the calendar. For a Cavaliers team expected to carry high aspirations, it is the kind of matchup that can reveal a lot before conference play starts, especially with a ranked opponent bringing its own size, pace and pressure into the building.
Kentuckys visit also gives Virginia a chance to see how it handles a top-level opponent in a game that matters beyond the box score. Both programs are projected to spend the season near the top of their leagues, so this one should offer an early read on how ready each team is to deal with road-game intensity, adjust on the fly and stand up against strong competition when the spotlight turns brighter. [Read more 🡒]
Why Virginia Still Looks Safe Against Delaware To One Key Model
Virginia heads into its home matchup with Delaware in a familiar spot, heavily favored and carrying the kind of early-season confidence that models tend to reward. DraftKings has the Cavaliers as 19.5-point favorites, and ESPNs Football Power Index sees them as a clear winner as well, leaning on expected points added to judge what teams are really doing beyond the box score and the win-loss record.
The nuance for Virginia is in how that projection treats the bigger picture. FPI is not simply reacting to the most recent result, but weighing the quality of play beneath it, which is why the Cavaliers still sit in a strong position despite a mixed start to the season. Delawares own recent EPA profile has been uneven, and for Virginia the question is less about whether it should be favored than whether the numbers are accurately capturing how much better the Cavaliers really are. [Read more 🡒]