Coastal Carolina (Saturday, August 30th)
Virginia will open the season on Labor Day weekend, hosting Coastal Carolina. UVa was scheduled to host the Chanticleers back in 2022, but the game was cancelled after the on-campus shooting that took place a week before that game was to take place. Virginia did beat Coastal last fall, easily handling the Chanticleers in Conway in a 43-24 win. The Chanticleers finished the season 6-7.
Coastal lost both quarterbacks that played in the Virginia game last year, with Ethan Vasko transferring to Liberty and Noah Kim moving on to Eastern Michigan. Coastal also lost star DB Matthew McDoom, who transferred to Cincinnati. The Chants will also have two new coordinators, bringing in Drew Hollingshead from Western Kentucky to run the offense; Jeremiah Johnson comes over from Louisiana Tech to run the defense. Coastal also signed former Maryland and NC State QB MJ Morris, who could end up starting against the Hoos in the season opener.
at NC State (Saturday, September 6th)
Virginia’s first road game of the season is a bit strange. It’s a matchup with conference rival NC State, but a game that is technically a non-conference matchup and thus, won’t count in the league standings. UVa last played the Wolfpack in the 2023 season, losing on a last second field goal at Scott Stadium on a Friday night. They last played in Raleigh in 2018, losing an early season matchup at Carter Finley Stadium.
State dismissed offensive coordinator Robert Anae after two seasons, and gave the keys to the offense to Kurt Roper, who was formerly the OC at both South Carolina and Duke. The Pack also lost their defensive coordinator, Tony Gipson, when he got the Marshall job in December. Dave Doeren hired DJ Eliot away from Baylor’s staff to take his place. The Wolfpack were able to retain breakout QB C.J. Bailey, who had a promising freshman season starting for the injured Grayson McCall. It could be an interesting year for the Wolfpack, who lose both coordinators and a bunch of talent from their defense, who entered the portal after Gipson’s departure.
William & Mary (Saturday, September 13th)
UVa’s annual matchup with an in-state FCS program comes in game #3, when they host WIlliam & Mary at Scott Stadium. The Hoos and Tribe have continued playing every other year, dating back to 2015. It was a bit of a disappointing 2024 for the Tribe, who were ranked in the FCS poll for most of the season, but missed the playoffs. Then, they lost offensive coordinator Marco Acitelli to Bronco Mendenhall’s staff at Utah State. William & Mary has become known for innovative offense, which will now be led by Winston October who left his offensive coordinator role at rival Richmond to come back to Williamsburg.
Stanford (Saturday, September 20th)
Virginia’s conference opener is also their first ACC matchup with new league rival Stanford. The Cardinal will come east after opening up ACC play themselves the week prior, against Boston College. In 2024, Stanford had the disappointing season they were expected to have going in, finishing 3-9 and 2-6 in league play. The Cardinal did post a pair of upset wins though, stunning ranked Syracuse on the road in September, and inching past Louisville at home in November. Third-year coach Troy Taylor is looking for a breakout 2025 campaign, under the direction of new program GM Andrew Luck. Stanford lost both of the quarterbacks that played most of last year’s snaps; Ashton Daniels transferred to Auburn and Justin Lamson left for Bowling Green. Freshman Elijah Brown played a bit in 2024, and might be asked to take on a much larger role in 2025.
A lot can happen between now and the fall, and this isn’t a knock on Taylor as a coach, but it seems fair to expect the Cardinal to be picked near the bottom of the league again.
Florida State (Friday, September 26th)
UVa has a second-straight home contest to start league play, with Florida State coming to Charlottesville on a Friday night. The Seminoles had a nightmare 2024 season after nearly making the College Football Playoff the year prior. Doomed by injuries and poor quarterback play, the Seminoles struggled to a dismal 2-10 year that featured just one conference win (Cal).
It seems unlikely that the Seminoles, who still have a talented roster, will follow up last year’s struggled with another similar season. Mike Norvell made staff changes, bringing in Gus Mahlzahn, who gave up a head coaching gig to run FSU’s offense. He also landed BC transfer QB Thomas Castellanos out of the transfer portal, though Castellanos is the only quarterback on an FBS road team to lose at Scott Stadium last year.
This game between the Hoos and Seminoles in Charlottesville also represents the 30th anniversary of FSU’s first ACC loss, coming on the same field in November 1995.
at Louisville (Saturday, October 4th)
One of UVa’s toughest games of the season comes just before their first bye. UVa travels to Louisville on October 4th for their 5th game of the season, and third straight in ACC play. The good news is that the Hoos get an extra day of rest to prepare for this one. The bad news is that Louisville has continued to stack their roster in the portal year after year, and should be a tough out once again. Jeff Brohm has had two transfer QBs in each of his first two years at his alma mater, and both achieved quality results. Now the Cards turn the offense over to talented USC transfer Miller Moss, who projects as one of the ACC’s top QBs in 2025.
UVa and Louisville have played some close games in each of the last two years, with the Cards rallying in the 4th quarter of both games to win. There is an interesting wrinkle in this one though, with UVa adding a pair of Cardinals from the portal, in safety Devin Neal and offensive lineman Monroe Mills.
-OPEN DATE-
Washington State (Saturday, October 18th)
Virginia’s final non-conference game of the season comes in mid-October, when Washington State crosses the country to come to Charlottesville. In the first leg of this home-and-home, the Hoos will host the Cougars, who had an offseason full of change, and probably not for the better.
Head coach Jake Dickert left for Wake Forest, so UVa will see him, just on a different week than initially intended. The Cougars also a few key players to Wake, following Dickert. But their biggest loss was star quarterback John Mateer, who was one of the top players in the transfer portal this offseason, and followed offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle to Oklahoma. Washington State replaced Dickert with successful FCS coach Jimmy Rogers, who won a national title at South Dakota State in 2023.
at North Carolina (Saturday, October 25)
Virginia heads back out on the road on October 25th for the annual installment of the South’s Oldest Rivalry. This one will look a bit different though, with Bill Belichick on the opposing sideline. An out-of-the-blue hire, Belichick to UNC is sure to draw tons of attention, but we don’t yet know what it will mean for the Tar Heels on the field in 2025. UNC had a wild 2024 under Mack Brown, and fired Brown despite him leading the Heels to a strong finish and a bowl berth, that also included a blowout win over UVa.
We don’t have the total picture with this UNC team just yet. Belichick hasn’t filled out his staff, including offensive coordinator, and a lot of the roster seems to be in flux after the coaching change. Belichick obviously knows football and should make the Heels more relevant if nothing else, but its tough to know how winnable this game is for the Hoos right now.
at Cal (Saturday, November 1st)
UVa makes their first ever ACC west coast trip, playing at Cal on November 1st. The Bears had a hot start to the 2024 season that included an upset win over Auburn, but faded a bit, still making a bowl game though and ending up with a 6-7 record. Cal only went 2-6 in ACC play though, winning at Wake Forest and at home against Stanford. The bad news of the offseason is that Cal lost quarterback Fernando Mendoza to Indiana after a very successful season, and now head coach Justin Wilcox turns to Ohio State transfer Devin Brown. Cal and Virginia have never met on the gridiron, and this will be UVa’s first game in California since a 2015 trip to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA.
Wake Forest (Saturday, November 8th)
We mentioned earlier that Washington State lost their head coach, and Wake Forest is where Jake Dickert landed. Dickert replaced Dave Clawson, who stepped down after a rough 4-8 season that included an early loss to UVa and four straight losses to end the season. Wake is a program that will be in transition under Dickert, but so far he seems to have done a good job restocking the Wake roster in the portal, bringing quite a few players over from Washington State. Dickert brought in a pair of transfer QBs, Auburn’s Robby Ashford and Charlotte’s Deshawn Purdie, to compete for the starting job. Star running back Demond Claiborne returns to the Deacs too, which should be a big boost for their offense. They might not have lofty preseason expectations, but Wake could be an improved team if their additions gel well and the players take to Dickert’s leadership quickly.
at Duke (Saturday, November 15th)
It might not register right away just given the name of the opponent, but UVa’s November 15th game at Duke might be one of the toughest of the season. Virginia’s road finale in Durham matches the Hoos up against their old Coastal Division rival, with the sides not meeting in 2024 for the first time in many years. Duke switched coaches last year, with Mike Elko leaving for Texas A&M and Manny Diaz replacing him, but the program didn’t miss a beat. Duke won 9 games last year, and in the offseason, made a major splash in landing Tulane transfer QB Darian Mensah, one of the top signal callers in the portal.
-OPEN DATE-
Virginia Tech (Saturday, November 29th)
As always, UVa closes the season with Virginia Tech, and this time, they get to do it coming off of a bye. The Hoos and Hokies again had similar seasons last year, with Tech’s win in their November meeting sending Virginia Tech to a bowl game and UVa into the offseason. The Hokies went on to lose to Minnesota in their bowl game and finish 6-7; Brent Pry then fired defensive coordinator Chris Marve, replacing him with Arizona Cardinals linebackers coach Steve Siefkes on Monday.
UVa has had rough luck against the Hokies over the last few decades, but on paper, UVa might be in a better spot than their in-state rival going into the spring. Tech kept quarterback Kyron Drones but lost a lot of talent from last year’s roster, and while they’ve made additions of their own, they probably haven’t backfilled players like Mose Phillips, Monsour Delane and Xavier Chaplin, who transferred to SEC programs. Tech also loses star running back Bayshul Tuten, who had his way with the UVa defense in the past two meetings.
