Virginia is heading into Week 4 with the kind of bounce-back spot that usually gets attention fast. After Saturday night’s loss to West Virginia in Charlotte, the Cavaliers now turn home to Delaware as a heavy favorite, with FanDuel Sportsbook listing UVA at -20.5 and the over/under set at 55.5.
The West Virginia game exposed some real problems for Virginia, especially against the run. Michael Hawkins Jr. and the Mountaineers found too much room on the ground, and what had looked like one of the ACC’s better defenses came away with plenty to clean up.
That makes this Saturday’s matchup more than just a tune-up. It becomes a chance to reset before ACC play picks back up.
Delaware, though, is not arriving in Charlottesville as a pushover. The Blue Hens are 2-1 and coming off a win over Coastal Carolina.
They also pushed Vanderbilt to the wire earlier this month, which means Virginia can’t afford to treat this like a simple non-conference formality. Coming off a loss, the Cavaliers will get a test from a team that has already shown it can make opponents work.
There’s a recent blueprint for how Virginia would like this to go. After an early non-conference loss to NC State last season, UVA steadied itself, finished 10-2 and reached the ACC Championship Game. The question now is whether this group can take a similar step after its first real setback of the year.
Tony Elliott said the loss gave his team a chance to face something it hadn’t seen through the first two games.
"I told the team prior to that in the first two games, you really hadn't faced adversity... I knew going into this game with that bunch on the other sideline and their ability to score quickly and be explosive, that we were going to have some adversity, and I thought that there were there were times when we responded the right way in all three phases, and then I thought like there were times where we could have responded better in all three phases, and then that's my job as a coach to identify exactly what was off in those moments and do a better job of of helping the guys to to be better in those in those tight moments."
Virginia and Delaware kick off next Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.
In Other News...
Virginia Faces An Early Test After Another Brutal North Carolina Loss
Tony Elliott met the media after Virginias surprising loss at Bank of America Stadium, another frustrating trip through North Carolina for a Cavaliers team that has been trying to steady itself early in the season. The setback came with a reminder of how quickly things can tilt on the road, especially for a program still focused on keeping its bigger goals intact after a run of recent struggles in the state.
Virginia has bigger ambitions than one rough afternoon, with the ACC Championship game in December still the target Elliott and his players are working toward. For now, the response starts with a return home to Scott Stadium for Delaware, an early chance to clean up the issues that surfaced in Charlotte and show that this is a team capable of moving past another painful result. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Suddenly Has A Bigger Problem Than One Loss
Virginias first loss of the season came with some sobering context in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Cavaliers were outplayed by West Virginia in a 38-27 defeat. It was the kind of afternoon that exposed issues on both sides of the ball, with the offense never finding much rhythm and the defense struggling to handle the pressure the Mountaineers brought from start to finish.
Even with ACC play still intact, the margin for error has shrunk fast for a Virginia team that had been building toward bigger goals. The College Football Playoff path is still technically there, and the ACC Championship remains a live route, but the Cavaliers now need to respond in a hurry if they want either conversation to stay realistic. [Read more 🡒]