Relax, Virginia fans. This team knows how to work with a chip on its shoulder.
That’s part of what makes the Cavaliers’ 2026 setup so interesting. The highest-profile name among Virginia’s 31 football transfers this season is Beau Pribula, and he came in from Missouri - the Show-Me State, which feels like a fitting place to borrow a little attitude from.
There are plenty of Virginia supporters who are steamed that a team coming off a historic 11-win season was left out of the American Football Coaches Association preseason Top 25 poll released Tuesday. Add in the ACC media picking Tony Elliott’s team to finish sixth after it won the league’s regular-season title last year, and the reaction from some corners is obvious.
But the better response from Virginia might be the simplest one: just watch us.
Respect doesn’t arrive on demand. Virginia has spent most of this millennium proving that point the hard way.
Since George Welsh retired after the 2000 season, following the most successful run in school history, the Cavaliers have put together only nine winning seasons. They have finished above .500 in back-to-back years just once in the last 20 seasons, when Bronco Mendenhall did it in 2018-19.
That history is part of why the outside skepticism keeps showing up. A year ago, Elliott’s seat was among the hottest in the country, and Virginia was picked 14th in the ACC. Then the Cavaliers turned around and delivered arguably the best season in school history.
A lot of the players who helped build that run are gone now. But Virginia still has returning starters, experience, depth and confidence in the building, along with enough talent to believe the standard can hold.
The message from the rest of college football is clear enough: do it again.
And if Virginia wants to answer back early, the schedule gives it a chance. The Cavaliers can make a statement on Aug. 29 on national television by beating NC State, a team they have not defeated in four tries since 2012. If they want to push back harder against the attention Virginia Tech has gotten after hiring James Franklin, they can do it by winning in Blacksburg for the first time since 1998.
That’s the kind of challenge this group should embrace. Virginia was built for this underdog role a year ago, and Elliott’s team responded. There’s no reason to think that formula has stopped working.
Welsh, a Hall of Famer, needed three years to get Virginia to its first bowl. Elliott’s time at Virginia started slowly, and with tragedy, before the breakthrough finally came.
Maybe this is the beginning of something bigger. Maybe it isn’t. But the 2026 Cavaliers have the look of a team with real ingredients for another run: experience, talent, depth, the confidence of proven accomplishment, and financial support in this new era.
The rest of the country has done Virginia a favor by handing it more motivation. The Cavaliers and their fans should take it.
In Other News...
Virginia May Finally Have The Pass Rush Depth Fans Needed
Fall camp has brought a more encouraging tone around Virginias pass rush, with defensive coordinator John Rudzinski spending part of his media availability breaking down a group that looks deeper than it has in recent seasons. Fisher Camac, Matthew Fobbs-White, Jewett Hayes and Devon Baxter all drew mention as players who could help give the Cavaliers more pressure off the edge, and the overall message was one of cautious optimism about what that room might provide this fall.
Camac, in particular, sounds like a player the staff believes is on an upward track. Rudzinski pointed to his athleticism and his study habits as important pieces of his development, the kind of traits that can help a pass rusher turn flashes into steady production. Virginia has been looking for more consistent disruption in that area, so the real question now is whether this group can translate camp promise into something the defense can count on once the games start. [Read more 🡒]
Virginias Martin Carrere Could Solve A Backcourt Question This Fall
Martin Carrere arrives at Virginia with a profile that should make him interesting in more than one way. The 6-foot-9 forward transferred from VCU, brings shooting touch and some ball-handling ability, and fits into the kind of versatile mold Ryan Odom seems eager to explore as he pieces together the roster for the 2026-27 season. Carreres scoring numbers were modest last year, but his skill set gives Virginia a player who can help stretch the floor and do a little more than just play on the wing.
What makes Carrere especially intriguing is the possibility that he could end up easing some of the pressure in the backcourt. Virginia does not look especially deep behind Chance Mallory at point guard, and that could push the Cavaliers toward leaning on bigger, multi-skilled options to help start offense. If Carrere can handle the ball well enough to serve as a secondary initiator, it would give Odom a flexible answer to a roster question that may matter all winter. [Read more 🡒]
Beau Pribula Now Holds The Key To Virginias Ceiling
Virginias quarterback decision is now official, and with Missouri graduate transfer Beau Pribula tabbed as the starter, the Cavaliers have settled the most important position on the field heading into the season. Tony Elliott has been consistently upbeat about what Pribula has brought to the program, pointing to his leadership and poise, along with the way he has already connected with teammates and handled himself around the media.
John Rudzinskis view adds another layer to why this choice matters so much for Virginia. The defensive coordinator has emphasized Pribulas athleticism, his command of the offense and his ability to make life harder on the defense, which is exactly the kind of profile that can change what the Cavaliers are capable of this fall. The job now shifts from winning the competition to proving the ceiling really is higher with him at the controls. [Read more 🡒]