Head Coach: Tony Elliott is entering his 3rd year with the program with a 6-16 record. It’s been a challenging tenure so far with them trying to find their footing on the field and the tragic incident that ended their 2022 season prematurely. With a full normal offseason under his belt he will be hoping to make some progress. Things are getting desperate Virginia Tech is starting to cook again, Liberty went to a NY6 bowl, JMU should have been in a NY6 bowl and even Old Dominion made a bowl game, competition in the state has never been tougher.
Program Outlook: Sustaining success has been so difficult for Virginia football. They made an Orange bowl back in 2019 but things fell off during Covid and after. There’s been times in the past where they found brief success, only for it to fall apart. A big part of the challenge is Virginia is known as a basketball school and for academics, but still there are resources in place. This has been a tough nut to crack though.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: For better or worse this seems to be the season Tony Elliott and co have been working toward. Virginia brings back just about everyone. Virginia brings back both QBs who started games last year. Anthony Colandrea was extremely entertaining to watch for better or worse, his good moments were fun to watch and his bad moments were entertaining to watch if you weren’t a Virginia fan, they will be rooting for more of the former from him. If Colandrea can’t become more consistent then you’ll see more of Tony Muskett who is the more experienced of the two. The passing game will need to be reworked because Malik Washington, who was a one man wrecking crew is off to the NFL. They do have a few fun transfers led by Chris Tyree from Notre Dame along with the rest of their group from last year. Virginia returns a lot of experience on the offensive line and they’ll hope to gain more balance with a better run game, they couldn’t run it well at all last year. Don’t blame that on the backs they have a couple solid ones. If Virginia doesn’t improve this season it’s going to be because of the defense. They run a 4-2-5 system which requires a strong defensive line, but that unit got pushed around all last season, especially in ACC play. They return a lot of experience up there this season, and they didn’t flinch this offseason, there weren’t any moves in the portal to bring in competition, nor a switch in defensive scheme. For better or worse they’re holding a lot of confidence in that group improving. The backend of the defense looks a lot better, they have a solid pair of linebackers and the secondary will be good if a couple transfer corners slot in and play well.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: Well this won’t be easy. I really love the regional matchups on Virginia’s non-conference slate, reviving an old rivalry with Maryland, playing at Coastal Carolina and facing a FCS foe from in-state. Problem is you combine that with them drawing Notre Dame this year and you get a pretty tough slate. Richmond won’t be a gimmie game, the Spiders are a potential FCS playoff contender so Virginia must be careful with that game. The conference slate is rough too, rival Virginia Tech is on the rise, they also drew Clemson and Louisville. There’s winnable games here but none of them are obvious wins. Virginia needs a good deal of improvement and no slip ups to make a bowl.
Vegas Projection: Virginia’s win total is set at 4.5 the odds are even for the over and under. Vegas is expecting a little improvement but not to a bowl game.
2024 Best Case: Virginia’s returning experience leads to some improvement finally. The Cavaliers open with a win over Richmond, beat Wake Forest and then they prove they’re for real with a massive win at home over Maryland. The Cavaliers avoid a letdown against Coastal Carolina and beat BC for a 5-0 start. They lose a few games from there but the Cavs finish the regular season 9-3 beating North Carolina and their rival Virginia Tech who disappoints compared to expectations. Virginia wraps up the season with a bowl win for an incredible turnaround to 10 wins.
2024 Worst Case: Bringing a lot of players back doesn’t help. They don’t improve and even regress. It’s apparent from the start when Virginia can’t quit turning the ball over in a loss to Richmond. They can’t rebound to beat Wake Forest either and they’re blown out by Maryland. They lose to Coastal Carolina on the teal turf which sets them out toward a disaster of an 0-12 season. Virginia is forced into a change and can do nothing but watch as Virginia Tech and Liberty both crash the College Football playoff.
Welcome to Updog Sports Talk 
Leave a comment