Virginia’s 2026 schedule has given the Cavaliers a real chance to turn last season’s breakthrough into something bigger.
That’s the view Greg McElroy laid out on ESPN’s “Always College Football,” where he pointed to Virginia as a team that could end up surprising the ACC. The setup, on paper, is hard to ignore: the Cavaliers avoid Miami, Clemson, Pitt, Louisville, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, and they get seven games at home.
“They dodge Miami,” McElroy said. “They dodge Clemson.
They dodge Pitt. They dodge Louisville.
They dodge Georgia Tech. And they dodge Notre Dame.
Every team that could realistically beat them is missing from that card. And they play seven games at home.
“Now, here's the kicker that kind of ties everything up with a bow. Virginia's season opener against NC State was supposed to be the first-ever FBS game played in South America... it collapsed back in June... so NC State is just going to come to Charlottesville.”
That kind of slate only adds to the buzz around Tony Elliott’s program. Elliott entered the 2025 season under heavy pressure after going 11-23 in his first three years, but Virginia answered with the best season in school history, piling up 11 wins and reshaping the outlook in Charlottesville.
The Cavaliers reached the ACC Championship Game before falling to Duke, and a victory there would have likely punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff. Virginia then closed the year with a 13-7 win over Missouri in the Gator Bowl.
Now the question is whether that run was the start of something lasting or just a one-year spike. The schedule certainly helps Virginia’s case. The Cavaliers’ four road games are at Florida State, SMU, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, and those four teams combined for a 14-18 record in conference play last season.
McElroy’s point was simple: Virginia may be getting overlooked. With a veteran core and one of the ACC’s friendliest schedules, the Cavaliers have a real opening to show that 2025 was no fluke.
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Virginia's 2026 Opener Already Carries Pressure Tony Elliott Can't Ignore
Virginias 2025 surge changed the conversation around the program almost overnight. An 11-win season, an ACC Championship Game appearance and a Gator Bowl victory gave Tony Elliott and his team something they had not had before: real proof that the rebuild had taken hold, along with the kind of expectations that come with it. Now the Cavaliers head into 2026 with a home opener against NC State that already feels heavier than a typical September start, because the standard in Charlottesville is no longer about simply being competitive.
Elliott has been careful to frame the next step the right way, stressing that last years success does not carry itself forward and that the focus has to stay on commitment to the process. That message matters even more with the opener looming, since Virginia is trying to stack winning seasons and turn one breakthrough into something more durable. The matchup has also sparked a familiar debate about where it fits among the programs most significant home openers, which only adds to the sense that Scott Stadium will be under an early spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Faces A Defining Test After Its Breakout Season
Virginias breakout season has changed the conversation around football in Charlottesville, and now the program is trying to turn that momentum into a fuller Scott Stadium. The school has launched its Sell Out Scott push for the 2026 opener, leaning on the idea that last years surge should carry over from the field to the stands. Tony Elliott has made clear that fan engagement matters, but so does the experience waiting for people once they get there.
The timing makes this more than a routine ticket drive. Virginia is coming off a year in which attendance climbed sharply, yet the program is still trying to prove that the interest can become something more durable on a fall Saturday. The Athletics Foundations revised season-ticket setup has also changed the seating picture for some longtime supporters, so the challenge is not just getting fans back, but getting them back in a way that feels like a true home-field event again. [Read more 🡒]