Virginia’s path to a 2026 bowl berth runs through a lot more than just December speculation. The Cavaliers have not strung together back-to-back bowl trips in seven years, though they did put together a three-year postseason run under Bronco Mendenhall, capped by the 49-7 loss to Navy in the 2017 Military Bowl, the 28-0 win over South Carolina in the 2018 Belk Bowl and the 36-28 defeat to Florida in the 2019 Orange Bowl.
Now Tony Elliott’s team is coming off a breakthrough 11-3 season in 2025, one that ended with a Gator Bowl win over Missouri, and the roster has plenty of experience. That’s why missing a bowl this year would feel like a major step backward. Some fans are already looking even higher, toward a first College Football Playoff appearance that slipped away after last year’s loss to Duke in the ACC championship game.
That kind of leap would require a near-perfect season. Virginia would almost certainly need to get back to the ACC title game first, and winning it would lock up an automatic CFP spot.
Even getting there, though, looks like a tall order. In a 17-team ACC, an 8-1 conference record now feels like the bare minimum to finish first or second, and the league’s new tiebreaker setup - put in place after last season’s five-team mess that sent Duke to the final - may not do Virginia any favors.
The Cavaliers also don’t draw Miami, Clemson, Louisville or Georgia Tech in conference play, which keeps the schedule from lining up as neatly as some others.
So if Virginia does not run the table, the more realistic conversation shifts to bowl placement. A 10-2 finish would be a strong season, and even 11-1 might not be enough to reach Charlotte.
But a record like that would leave the Cavaliers positioned near the top of the ACC’s bowl hierarchy, especially if the league manages to place two teams in the 12-team CFP. That remains uncertain; neither ACC finalist from last season got in, though Miami did.
With the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A bowls tied to the playoff quarterfinals and semifinals, the best non-CFP ACC destinations would be the Dec. 29 Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando and the Dec.
30 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. The Pop-Tarts Bowl goes to the highest-ranked non-CFP ACC team, and in this scenario Virginia could even move ahead of the ACC championship game loser and land there.
If SMU were to upset Miami in the ACC final, both teams could end up in the playoff.
A Pop-Tarts Bowl invite would not exactly thrill every Virginia fan, but it would still represent clear progress under Elliott. It would also set up a difficult matchup with a Big 12 opponent such as BYU, Utah or Houston.
There are other landing spots too: a return to the Gator Bowl against an SEC team, the Dec. 18 Boca Raton Bowl, the Dec.
29 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, or the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
Different projections see different outcomes. The Athletic has Virginia facing BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Athlon Sports projects the Cavaliers against Utah in the Sun Bowl. College Football News thinks Virginia will meet South Carolina in the Dec.
18 Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa.
For now, though, all of that depends on what happens in the first 12 games. If Virginia trips up against NC State in the opener, expectations will shrink fast. If the Cavaliers come out sharp enough to impress, the ceiling gets a lot more interesting.
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Virginia Fall Camp Is Turning Up Pressure On The Depth Chart
Fall camp is doing what it is supposed to do in Charlottesville, sorting out who can hold up when the pace rises and the reps get more serious. Virginias latest practice observations point to a roster with real competition at multiple spots, from defensive backs and receivers to the trenches, with players drawing attention for their versatility, physical growth and willingness to push for bigger roles.
The most interesting part now is not just who has flashed, but how that translates once the staff starts settling on a depth chart. Several positions still look unsettled, and the way this camp has been tracked suggests Virginia is trying to separate promising depth from players who can actually start. For a team looking to build trust across both sides of the ball, these next practices could go a long way toward defining who gets first crack when the season opens. [Read more 🡒]
Virginias 2027 Class Is Giving Fans Real Hope For The Future
Coach Aaron Roussell and Virginia womens basketball are starting to show real momentum on the recruiting trail, and the early returns in the 2027 class have given the program a lift. The Cavaliers already have two top-75 prospects lined up, a sign that the staff is putting together a class with both regional appeal and national credibility. Among the headliners is point guard Sabrina Anderson, a highly regarded Northern Virginia product whose scoring rsum and long list of college offers made her one of the more watched names in the cycle.
For a program that is trying to build something sturdier for the seasons ahead, landing a player like Anderson matters beyond the immediate headline. A talented guard from the state who has already made her college choice gives Virginia a foothold in a recruiting lane that can pay off again and again, especially as the roster and eligibility picture continue to shift in the coming years. The bigger question now is how far Roussell and his staff can keep pushing before this class is finished taking shape. [Read more 🡒]