In the coming weeks, UVa should finalize their non-conference schedule and fans can start marking their calendars for key contests on the slate. As of now, UVa has more than half of their non-conference schedule announced via FOIAs or reports from the media, and they surely are closing in on finalizing the now-expanded non-conference slate behind the scenes.
The ACC rolled back the number of conference games from 20 back down to 18 for the upcoming season. The idea behind the reduction in league games is to help ACC programs get more exposure to non-conference opponents, and hopefully boost the league’s profile. For the previous several seasons with the conference at 20 games, schools played about two thirds of their schedules against ACC opponents, and if the league had lagging metrics compared to other conferences, more ACC-on-ACC games provided fewer opportunities for conference teams to boost their resumes. Last season, Duke scheduled a game against Ilinois in February for this reason, anticipating that the ACC could be weaker and they wanted to step outside of league play for one game late in the year to potentially help with metrics and get exposed to a quality opponent outside of the league schedule.
Looking at UVa’s ACC opponents for 2025-26, the slate looks relatively balanced. UVa will miss Clemson next season, which does take away a potentially helpful game for a resume. But the Hoos get NC State home and away, and the Wolfpack should be much improved under first-year coach Will Wade, who has assembled a talented roster. The Hoos will face Virginia Tech home and away as well. The Hokies will probably be a bit better this year, and perhaps the road game in Blacksburg will be a Quad-1 opportunity.
UVa has road games at ACC contenders Duke and Louisville, which should be good for the resume. SMU on the road could be another Quad-1 game, and Notre Dame could be much improved as they bring back a talented young core.
Virginia’s home ACC schedule looks manageable but the Cavaliers will need to take care of business there to avoid costly Q2 or Q3 losses. Besides NC State, UNC is probably the only other ACC foe set to come to JPJ that will be projected to make the NCAA Tournament when the season tips off in November.
UVa probably needs to be aggressive in scheduling quality non-conference opponents, as the ACC will probably be behind the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 in metrics like NET and Kenpom this upcoming season. And what the Hoos have on the schedule thus far doesn’t look like a slate strong enough to boost the program’s metrics before league play begins.
Of UVa’s known non-conference games, about half are buy games against low-major programs, which is typical. Virginia’s annual holiday tournament doesn’t appear to be a particularly strong one, as the Hoos are set to play in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, with games against two of Butler, Northwestern and South Carolina. All power-conference programs, but not exactly a murderer’s row based on recent performance. UVa has a home game against a Maryland program in transition, but the fact that it’s at home could prevent that game from being a Quad-1 opportunity, depending on how good the Terps are. UVa also has the ACC/SEC Challenge, with the opponent TBD. The Hoos played on the road at Florida in the challenge last year, and typically that would mean they’ll be home this season, though the Hoos do need at least one quality game away from home, and they don’t have that yet, to our knowledge.
Virginia has to schedule two more non-conference games than they typically do, which provides them more opportunities to schedule quality games, though they may be a bit difficult to find so late in the game. Under Tony Bennett, UVa typically found a neutral site game to play, which is good for resumes and gives players an opportunity to travel and play in a neutral site, as they would in the postseason. Last year UVa took on Villanova in Baltimore, and the year before that they earned a big win against Florida in Charlotte, a victory that surely put them over the top and into the NCAA Tournament given how tenuous their resume would have been without it. So it would make sense for Virginia to find a non-conference game at a neutral site against a comparable P4 opponent.
We also mentioned the current lack of road opportunities. UVa always plays at least one true road game in non-conference play, and right now they don’t have any home-and-homes with a game on the road this season. Of course, they can try to schedule a new series that starts this season away from JPJ, and would make sense opposite of the UVa/Maryland four-year series, that will start in Charlottesville in December and move to College Park in 2026-27.
On Jon Rothstein's podcast last week, Ryan Odom teased a unique opportunity for Virginia to play a non-conference game against an ACC foe. Until this upcoming season, such a move would've been pointless as everyone in the ACC played every other school. But under the new format, there is one opponent that each school will not see annually, and for Virginia in 2025-26, it's Clemson. Odom teased the ideas of the Hoos and Tigers squaring off in a non-conference game, an arrangement that is sort of funny given the league is reducing the number of conference games to hopefully improve schedules, and then potentially UVa could take one of those openings and simply add an ACC game back to the slate.
This particular move might make more sense though, because both UVa and Clemson are expected to be pretty good this year, so it could be an opportunity for both programs to add another quality opponent to the schedule. Could this game be played on a neutral floor, thus potentially helping both teams' resumes and creating a Quad-1 game for both schools? We'll see if this scheduling option comes to pass in the weeks to come.
Virginia could also look for one-off home games (or neutral if it’s the right opponent) against quality mid-major opponents. UVa has had some success scheduling these games in the past, against the likes of VCU, Northern Iowa and Davidson. There are a lot of quality mid-majors nearby too, with VCU, George Mason and JMU all within the Commonwealth, and plenty more on the east coast. These games can end up being solid wins if those teams end up making a run in their league and either make the NCAA Tournament or win 20+ games. They also help balance out the sub-300 Kenpom opponents that typically make up nearly half of UVa’s non-conference games annually.
Obviously none of this matters if UVa isn’t good enough to be in the mix for the postseason, so putting a good team on the floor is priority #1, and then gaming the schedule can help a quality group get where they want to go. But for now, it does look like UVa needs to find ways to add quality games to their non-conference slate, as what they have thus far isn’t going to turn many heads unless the Greenbrier opponents have surprisingly-good years, and UVa gets some luck with the ACC/SEC Challenge opponent.
It will be interesting to see how Odom’s first non-conference schedule comes together, and it should help us understand his scheduling philosophy at his new program.
