After a disappointing season last fall that ended in tragedy, the Cavaliers now know what their 2023 schedule looks like as they finish up winter workouts in the coming week and get set for spring ball.
At first glance, the slate looks to be a pretty formidable one and likely will require a significant step forward for the program if the Hoos want to think about getting back to the postseason.
Today we’re going to go game by game and set the scene of how the fall shapes up.
September 2: vs Tennessee (in Nashville)
Virginia opens with a neutral-site game against an SEC team likely to be somewhere around the top 10 in the AP Top 25 come August. UVa will travel to Nashville for a showdown with Tennessee in a game that looks even more challenging now than it did a year ago. The Wahoos will be big underdogs in this one, as the Volunteers should enter the year with lofty expectations after winning 11 games in 2022 and playing what could be considered a defacto home game in their state capital.
In their second year under Josh Heupel, the Vols started the season 8-0, including a lopsided win at LSU, a rivalry win over Florida, and a famous game-of-the-year victory against Alabama at home. Tennessee exorcized plenty of demons and lost to eventual national champion Georgia and to eight-win South Carolina on the road. They lost star QB Hendon Hooker to injury down the stretch, but that may have helped their 2023 outlook as assumed starter Joe Milton got some valuable game action, leading UT to a comfortable Orange Bowl win over ACC champ Clemson.
September 9: James Madison
UVa may play the best team it’ll play all season in the opener but the home opener figures to be another challenging one. The Hoos will host nearby JMU, the first matchup between these two in-state foes in quite some time. The Dukes are in the second year of their transition to FBS football and are coming off of an impressive 8-3 debut campaign in 2022. The Dukes started the season 5-0 with some lopsided victories and outside of a three-game losing streak with its quarterback injured JMU certainly looked like it belonged among the FBS ranks.
The Dukes won’t have the same roster but they did score 37 points per contest in 2022, and if their offense is anywhere close in 2023 the Cavaliers will be under pressure to keep up. Not to mention, while this will be a big game for Virginia it will likely be even more of a motivator for the Dukes. JMU will be playing for state bragging rights against one of the state’s two P5 programs, and will come to Charlottesville confident that they can win.
September 16: at Maryland
If UVa can’t win one of its first two games of the season, the road doesn’t get any easier. The Hoos will renew an old rivalry with Maryland when they travel to College Park for their first true road contest of the season. UVa and UMd haven’t played since the Terps’ final year in the ACC, 2013, when UVa came up just short in a 27-26 road loss that came down to a late field goal that the Hoos missed. In the years since, the Terps struggled to find their footing in a competitive Big 10, though the last few years have seen an uptick for the program. Mike Locksley led the Terps to their first bowl trip in five years in the 2021 season, hammering the Hokies 54-10 in the Pinstripe Bowl. Last season, Maryland was able to build on that success, going 8-5 including a bowl victory over NC State to wrap the season.
It’s still an uphill battle for Maryland having to play the likes of Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State in conference but expectations should be pretty high for the Terps this year. They return veteran QB Taulia Tagovailoa, who threw for 3,008 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall. This will be another tough contest for the Hoos, especially on the road. Maryland will make a return trip to Charlottesville in 2024.
September 22 (Friday): NC State
Just like the season and home openers, UVa’s ACC opener is sure to be filled with lots of intrigue too. The NC State Wolfpack come to Charlottesville on a Friday night, the first of two weeknight games for the Hoos in 2023, and the only one at home. And unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past couple months, Cavalier fans should have a pretty good idea what the storylines heading into this contest will be.
The Pack are coming to Scott Stadium and for Brennan Armstrong, Robert Anae and Garett Tujague, it will be a not-so-welcome homecoming of sorts. Armstrong transferred to State after a rough 2022 in the new scheme and will be looking to close his college career out on a high note, reuniting with his former offensive coordinator. Together the two created a dynamic passing offense in Charlottesville and they’ll be looking to recreate that magic one more time in Raleigh and perhaps stick it to their old school in the process.
Maybe it’s fair and maybe it’s not, but this game will be more of a referendum on UVa’s staff and trajectory than a typical ACC opener would. If Anae and Armstrong come in and dominate, fans will not be happy. And if UVa pulls off a win, that would probably go a long way towards creating some good will.
September 30: at Boston College
Virginia will play its second conference game the following weekend, this time on the road as the Hoos will take a trip to Boston College for the first time since the 2010 season, a remarkably long time in between road trips to a conference foe. The Eagles, like UVa, didn’t have great luck on the field in 2022. After a couple solid seasons under Jeff Hafley, BC went 3-9 last fall, losing six of its last seven with a surprising win at NC State thrown in. The Eagles had trouble blocking, which disrupted their entire offense, and they scored just 17.8 points per game, and failed to score a touchdown in three contests.
BC lost senior quarterback Phil Jurkovec to Pitt via the transfer portal and dynamic receiver Zay Flowers is off to begin his pro career. On paper, BC looks like it could have another rough year in store, so perhaps this is a spot where the Cavaliers could pull off a big ACC road win? There’s another reunion on the cards here as well, with former Cavalier lineman Logan Taylor having transferred to play at BC.
October 7: William & Mary
It’s later in the season than usual but UVa gets the annual FCS opponent to start October when the Tribe come up I-64 to Scott Stadium. UVa and W&M seem to get together every other year or so, and the programs last met in the 2021 season opener with the Wahoos rolling to a 43-0 win.
Since then, though, the two have been heading in opposite directions. While UVa limped to a 6-6 finish in 2021 then switched coaches before a 3-7 season last fall, the Tribe have continued their turnaround under former Virginia coach Mike London. They won the CAA in 2022 and beat their FBS opponent, Charlotte, to open the season. London’s team won a playoff game against Gardner-Webb before the season ended with a blowout loss at Montana State in the Quarterfinals.
The Hoos will be favorites here, as they should be. But the Tribe, like Richmond last year, is one of the more talented FCS opponents out there, and should be taken seriously. Considering how the season may start off given their schedule, the Cavaliers may need this game to help turn the season around.
October 21: at North Carolina
UVa gets its bye after playing the Tribe and then returns to action for a pair of ACC road games. The first comes in Chapel Hill, with UVa traveling for the South’s Oldest Rivalry’s latest installment. The Cavaliers actually played one of their better offensive games against UNC last year, putting up 28 points in a close loss against the eventual (and final) Coastal champion Tar Heels.
UNC loses some skill talent but retains star QB Drake Maye, who figures to enter the season with a lot of hype and high expectations. The Heels also lost their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach to Wisconsin, and parted ways with DB coach Dre Bly, so they will have to overcome those shakeups and a challenging early slate to compete in the ACC again this season. This will be a tough spot for the Cavaliers, but they have had little trouble scoring against a porous UNC defense in recent years, so perhaps some success will be in the cards for this one.
October 28: at Miami
UVa stays on the road the following week, traveling further south to face the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium. The Cavaliers and Canes played a 4OT game last year that was the opposite of a thriller, with Miami taking a 14-12 decision in which neither team scored a touchdown. Miami again failed to meet high expectations last season and parted ways with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis last week. The Canes bring back quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who missed a large part of last season with injury, and perhaps he’ll have better chemistry with whomever is brought in to replace Gattis.
UVa has had some success against Miami in the past, and won in the last trip to Hard Rock (30-28 in 2021). This game will likely have more to do with how good Miami is than how improved the Cavaliers are. If Miami is anything like what we saw last season, Mario Cristobal will have much bigger problems than whether he’s able to sneak by Virginia or not.
November 4: Georgia Tech
UVa’s lone conference win last season came at Georgia Tech, and the Hoos open November with a matchup against the Jackets. Georgia Tech decided to convert interim coach Brent Key, who coached against the Cavaliers last fall, to the full-time head coaching job after looking at a few external options. The Jackets played better down the stretch last season but are going to have to continue their overhaul in the next couple of years.
Key made a few staff changes, including hiring Georgia analyst Buster Faulkner, who has previously been an OC at the Group of 5 level, as the Jackets’ offensive coordinator. QB Jeff Sims transferred to Nebraska but Tech did add talented signal caller Haynes King from Texas A&M.
This isn’t an automatic win, but if UVa is going to have a better season this fall, this is one the Wahoos probably need to have, particularly since it’s at home.
November 9: at Louisville
UVa’s road finale comes on a Thursday night, when the Cavaliertravel to the Derby City to take on Louisville. The Cards took out UVa last year at Scott Stadium despite playing without starting quarterback Malik Cunningham. And Louisville has had a busy offseason, with head coach Scott Satterfield making a bit of a surprising move to take the Cincinnati job. Louisville turned that situation into what looks like an upgrade, hiring UL alum Jeff Brohm away from Purdue.
The UVa/Louisville annual series continues in the new ACC scheduling format, and despite the setback last year Virginia has had some success against the Cardinals and won the last game on the road there two years ago. The Cardinals are going through a transition, so it’s hard to say how good they’ll be this fall, but history says that Brohm will get their offense to be productive and raise their ceiling in the near future.
November 18: Duke
The Cavaliers end their season with a pair of home games, starting with this matchup against Duke. The Blue Devils were the surprise of the league last year, winning nine games including their bowl, despite some very low expectations. In Mike Elko’s first year in Durham, the Blue Devils rallied around much-improved quarterback Riley Leonard and were a very competitive team. Virginia had little success in their game at Wallace Wade, losing a 38-17 contest that was barely competitive at any point.
It wouldn’t be a disaster for the program if Duke had a step back towards the median in 2023, and they very well could given their schedule. The Blue Devils open the season with Clemsona t home and after a few winnable non-conference games have a rough stretch starting September 30: Notre Dame, NC State, at FSU, at Louisville, Wake, and at UNC before they come to Charlottesville. Virginia hasn’t lost to Duke in Charlottesville in a decade.
November 25: Virginia Tech
And as always, UVa will wrap up the season at home against the Hokies. Both teams struggled on the field last season and the rivals didn’t meet after the tragedy that impacted the UVa program ended both team’s seasons. Like UVa, Tech won three games last fall, beating BC, Wofford and Liberty and going 1-6 in ACC play. And like Tony Elliott, Brent Pry is in the midst of what looks like a rebuilding project with significant roster turnover.
The outlook for Virginia Tech might not be very optimistic but the expectation is that the Hokies should improve from their worst team in decades. UVa gets this one at home, but Cavalier fans are very familiar with their track record of late against the Hokies. For whichever second-year coach gets it, a victory in this game will be a feather in the cap, as both Elliott and Pry attempt to gather some momentum both on the field and in recruiting.
