Virginia’s annual Homecomings game will get a prime-time spotlight.
The Cavaliers’ home matchup with Syracuse on Saturday, Oct. 10 is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced Monday, Sept. 28.
It will be the seventh meeting all time between Virginia and Syracuse, and the first in Charlottesville since 2015. The game will air on ACC Network and the Virginia Sports Radio Network.
Syracuse enters the week at 1-2 overall and 0-2 in ACC play after back-to-back conference losses to Cal, 21-18, on Sept. 12 and Pittsburgh, 27-13, on Sept. 19.
The Orange’s only win came in a 66-3 season-opening blowout of New Hampshire on Sept. 5 in the JMA Wireless Dome. Syracuse heads to UConn this Saturday, Oct. 3, for a noon kickoff on CBS Sports Network.
The series between Virginia and Syracuse is dead even at three wins apiece, dating to the first meeting in 1975. The teams have faced each other only twice as ACC opponents, with Virginia winning the first matchup in Charlottesville in 2015 and Syracuse taking the rematch in 2022.
That 2015 game remains one of the wildest in UVA history: a 44-38 triple-overtime finish that ended on Jordan Ellis’ 3-yard touchdown run in a Homecomings game at Scott Stadium. Seven years later, Syracuse escaped with a 22-20 win on a Friday night after Andre Szmyt drilled five field goals, including the 31-yard go-ahead kick with just over a minute left. Virginia had nearly erased a 16-point halftime deficit in that one.
Before Syracuse arrives, Virginia will be on the road at Florida State on Saturday. The Cavaliers are 3-1 and 1-0 after their latest outing, while the Seminoles are 2-2 and 0-1.
Florida State snapped a two-game skid with a 34-7 win over Central Arkansas on Sept. 26 after losses to then-No. 19 SMU, 27-24, and then-No.
8 Alabama, 50-36.
Florida State owns the all-time series lead over Virginia, 15-5, including a 9-1 edge in Tallahassee. Still, the Cavaliers have won three of the last four meetings.
Last season at Scott Stadium, Virginia beat then-No. 8 FSU, 46-38, in double overtime in a Friday night ESPN broadcast that drew a record 6.9 million viewers.
UVA also has one road win at Doak Campbell Stadium, a 14-13 victory in 2011 sealed when the defense held the Seminoles to 34 yards on their final drive and Dustin Hopkins missed a 43-yard field goal with three seconds left.
The ACC also announced several other Week 5 kickoff times and TV assignments for Oct. 9-10: Florida State at Louisville on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.
ET on ESPN; North Carolina at Pitt at noon ET on ESPN or ESPN2; Wake Forest at NC State at noon ET on The CW; and Virginia Tech at Cal at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m.
PT on ESPN2 or ACC Network.
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