Let's take a look at Virginia Football for 2024.
Best / Worst Case Record for :
Louisville | Miami | Duke | Georgia Tech | SMU | Boston College | Pittsburgh | Florida State | Virginia Tech | Cal | NC State | Clemson | Syracuse | North Carolina | Stanford| Wake Forest
Virginia
Virginia has arguably the best top-to-bottom athletics in the ACC. The football team, well that’s another story, unfortunately. The Hoos have won just 17 games in the last 4 years, with no bowls and no bowl wins. Even worse they only have 6 victories in the last 2 years since Tony Elliott took over. The program has been beset with tragedy, bad luck, and sometimes just plain bad football. Getting absolutely laid to waste by Virginia Tech 55-17 in last year’s season finale certainly didn’t help. It feels like a make or break year for Tony Elliot where a bowl game is a must.
Will Go 7-5 (4-4) if:
The defense can go from atrocious to average. It’s really difficult to win games when you are give up nearly 34 points each time out, especially when your offense is 93rd in scoring. Virginia had a lot injuries last year so getting through a season mostly healthy is going to make a big difference. The QB will either be Tony Muskett or the young Anthony Colandrea, and whoever it is going to need to play consistently at the high level either sometimes displayed when called into action last year. Richmond, at Wake Forest, Maryland, at Coastal Carolina, and Boston College is not a cakewalk, but Virginia does have the opportunity for a 4-1, maybe even a 5-0 start. If that happens it should be enough to get the Hoos to a bowl. The back end of the schedule will be difficult. Virginia needs that fast start.
Will Go 3-9 (2-6) if:
The early start to the season gets the best of Virginia. If Virginia starts the year 2-3 or worse, they won’t be able to recover the last half of the season. With a finishing scheduling of Louisville, at Clemson, UNC, at Pitt, at Notre Dame, SMU and at Virginia Tech, it’s really hard to envision even in a best-case scenario more than 3 or 4 wins. Certainly, the wheels could come completely off and they go 1-6 or 0-7 in that stretch. Richmond might be the only certain win. If the offense and defense stay where they were last year both ranked higher than 90, Virginia isn’t getting through a pretty tough schedule without a bunch of Ls.