- Virginia Tech at No. 18 Virginia: Saturday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) from Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.
- Betting line: Virginia -9.5
- Roster cards: Click here
- Charlottesville weather: Click here
- Gameday information: Click here
The Cavaliers are a game away from the ACC championship, and while they’ve been in that situation a couple of times in the past, both times it was a competition with the Hokies to see who got to represent the Coastal Division. There is no more Coastal Division, and Tech certainly isn’t in the conversation this season.
The Cavaliers are one of three one-loss teams who are hoping to play for the ACC title, and there are a trio of two-loss teams in there as well who all have a shot if things happen to get really crazy.
UVa has won a number of close contests to get to this point, including a double-overtime win over Florida State and other overtime victories over Louisville and North Carolina. It also has a two-point win over Washington State. However, it’s also been on the short end of the stick in its two losses — a narrow 35-31 defeat at the hands of NC State and a 16-9 loss at home to Wake Forest.
The Cavaliers don’t wow you with star power, but they are stocked with seniors on both sides of the ball, and they’ve made that count. Let’s take a closer look at Virginia Tech’s in-state rival, beginning with the offense.
The Up-And-Down Nature Of The UVa Offense
It’s been interesting to follow the ups and downs of the UVa offense this season. We can break them down into segments. Here are the first four games against FBS competition (I threw out the William & Mary game):
• Coastal Carolina: 454 yards, 48 points
• NC State: 514 yards, 31 points
• Stanford: 590 yards, 48 points
• Florida State: 440 yards, 46 points
• Average: 499.5 yards, 43.25 points
That’s just about 500 yards per game, and well over 40 points. It doesn’t get much better than that.
However, UVa seemed to hit a wall after that. Check out the numbers from their next five games:
• Louisville: 237 yards, 30 points*
• Washington State: 301 yards, 22 points
• North Carolina: 259 yards, 17 points
• California: 456 yards, 31 points
• Wake Forest: 327 yards, 9 points
• Average: 316 yards, 21.8 points
*A double-overtime win with two defensive touchdowns
In that five-game stretch, only against Cal did the Cavaliers look like themselves from early in the season, and Virginia Tech fans know all about the Bears’ defense (or lack thereof). Quarterback Chandler Morris went out of the Wake game with an injury, and how much he was banged up before that is unclear, but that’s quite an obvious step back for an offense that was dominant early in the season.
UVa got it back in its most recent game against Duke, however, scoring 31 points and posting 540 yards of total offense in a game that it dominated from start to finish. It wasn’t perfect, though, as Morris threw a couple of interceptions that made the 34-17 final score look closer than the game actually was.
So what’s the real UVa offense? It’s probably not as good as it showed early in the season when opponents had no film to study of an offense that featured so much new personnel at most positions. However, it’s also certainly not as bad as it showed against Wake Forest.
Quarterback Chandler Morris And The UVa Passing Game
Chandler Morris (6-0, 192, r-Sr.) is the son of once highly-touted offensive coordinator Chad Morris. He began his career at Oklahoma, then transferred to TCU, where he spent three seasons. He started for part of one of those seasons and put up solid numbers, and then he spent the 2024 campaign at North Texas, where the led the AAC in completions, attempts, yards, touchdown passes and yards per game.Morris has been a big part of UVa’s resurrection. He doesn’t have good size at all, but he’s a natural passer. He’s completed 66.6 percent of his passes this season for 2,404 yards, with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s a solid rusher, having gained 865 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per carry during his career. However, because of his size, it’s not a great idea to use him too much in the traditional running game because he can get worn down.
Overall, Morris is a gamer who understands how to play the game. He’ll toss some picks at times. For example, he had three interceptions in the win over Florida State that nearly cost his team the game. But overall, he does a good job of protecting the football, especially considering how often he is asked to throw it.
Though Morris doesn’t have traditional quarterback size, he’s very capable of doing exactly what Carson Beck did to the Virginia Tech defense last week if the Hokies don’t tighten up their coverage in a hurry.
The Cavaliers have a variety of very effective wide receivers in the passing game, and Morris is also very good at hitting his checkdown running backs (who we’ll talk about later). The wide receivers to keep an eye on are:
• Trell Harris (6-0, 200, Sr.): The Kent State transfer leads the team in receptions (51), receiving yards (766), yards per catch (15) and receiving touchdowns (5). He mostly lines up outside, but spends some time in the slot as well.
• Cam Ross (5-10, 186, r-Sr.): Ross began his career at UConn and then played at James Madison in 2024 before moving to Charlottesville for his final season. He has 42 receptions for 458 yards with two touchdowns.
• Jahmal Edrine (6-3, 221, Sr.): Edrine is a senior who previously played for FAU and Purdue. He’s a big option on the outside who has 37 catches for 465 yards and a touchdown on the season.
• Tight end Sage Ennis (6-4, 245, r-Sr.) also can’t be discounted. The Clemson transfer has 17 receptions on the season, which is well behind those wideouts, but he’s second on the team with four touchdown receptions.
Running Back J’Mari Taylor
The Cavaliers went to the FCS ranks to sign their starting tailback. They got Charlotte native J’Mari Taylor (5-9, 204, r-Sr.) from North Carolina Central, and he’s been a huge part of the offense, both on the ground and in the passing game.
• Rushing: 187 carries, 917 yards, 4.9 ypc, 13 TDs
• Receiving: 35 catches, 185 yards, 5.3 avg
Taylor currently leads the ACC in both carries and yards, and he’s got three 100-yard games under his belt this year, including in UVa’s most recent game against Duke (133 yards). He’s displayed his durability all season long, and his worst performance in an ACC contest was a 69-yard game against North Carolina on October 25.
This is a quality back, and combined with a quality quarterback, this makes for a dangerous UVa offense.
The Experience/Transfer Factor
This UVa offense won’t wow you with pure talent, but it’s extremely experienced. Every single starter is a senior or a graduate student, and it’ll be facing a Virginia Tech defense that lacks experience at some critical positions.
The Cavaliers also leaned heavily into the transfer portal this offseason. As we covered earlier, their starting quarterback, running back, tight end and top three receivers all came from the portal. Two of their starting offensive linemen did as well: guard Drake Metcalf (UAB via Stanford) and center Brady Wilson (UAB). Wilson was one of the top portal offensive linemen in the country and has brought a lot to this group.
From a personnel standpoint, this offense is completely different from the one the Hokies faced last season.
The UVa Defense: The Numbers
Here’s a look at UVa’s traditional defensive numbers:• Rushing: 107.27 ypg, No. 23
• YPC: 3.30, No. 19
• Passing: 214.8 ypg, No. 61
• Opp. QB rating: 123.02, No. 43
• Total: 322.1 ypg, No. 28
• Yards per play: 5.02, No. 33
• TFL: 5.27 per game, No. 79
• Sacks: 2.55 per game, No. 26
• Third downs: 28.48%, No. 3
That defense is solid across the board. I suppose you could say that the unit doesn’t play in the backfield a lot against the running game, but other than that, it’s been fantastic this season.
Here are a couple of advanced metrics:
• DF+: No. 38
• Available yards: No. 21
Back at the beginning of the year, the UVa offense got all the hype, but it was the Cavaliers’ defense that kept their head above water when the offense struggled over that five-game stretch. This is a very good unit.
The UVa Defense: The Players
This defense suffered a big blow when starting linebacker Kam Robinson was lost for the rest of the season with a torn ACL he suffered against Duke. Robinson has been a bit banged up for much of the year, but when healthy, he’s UVa’s most dynamic defender. He was a favorite recruiting target of mine coming out of high school, but he’s one of the few head-to-head recruiting losses the Hokies have suffered at the hands of the Cavaliers over the last decade.
However, even without Robinson, this defense is formidable. Like the offense, this defense is very experienced with a large number of seniors in the starting lineup. It features seven seniors or graduate students, as well as three juniors. Sophomore safety Ethan Minter (6-0, 201, So.) has been UVa’s youngest regular starter this season.
The Cavaliers have plenty of transfers on that side of the ball, too. Nineteen players have played 200-plus snaps in 2025, 13 of whom have come from the transfer portal. Their previous schools vary from as low as Morgan State and Elon to as high as Alabama and Ohio State.
Strong safety Devin Neal (6-0, 214, r-Sr.) is the team’s leading tackler with 66. Neal has had a terrific season against both the run and the pass. PFF lists him as having only allowed 94 passing yards all season. He played at Louisville for the last two seasons after starting his career at Baylor.
Edge defender Daniel Rickert (6-2, 232, r-Sr.) hasn’t started a game all year, but he has 6.5 tackles for loss and leads the team with 5.5 sacks. He’s undersized and struggles against the run as a result, but he’s a playmaker in the passing game. He is a transfer from Tennessee Tech who has played extremely well in his role, and he’s an example of how this particular UVa team has seniors backing up seniors.
Ja’son Prevard (6-2, 199, Jr.) is one of the few non-seniors in the starting lineup. The Morgan State transfer plays slot corner for the Cavaliers and leads the team with three interceptions this season.
Edge defenders Mitchell Melton (6-4, 256, r-Sr.) and Fisher Carmac (6-7, 248, Sr.) have arguably been UVa’s most consistent defensive players this year. A transfer from UNLV, Carmac has 6.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Meanwhile, Melton is an Ohio State transfer who leads the team with 10 tackles for loss while also posting five sacks.
Overall, there isn’t a single UVa rotational player on defense who has posted a grade under the PFF baseline of 60 this season. The Cavaliers are extremely solid and disciplined across the board.
Special Teams
Virginia’s special teams ranks No. 39 in SF+, which is a combination of the FEI and S&P+ special teams rankings. It hasn’t been without issues, as it allowed Wake Forest to return a punt for a touchdown that ended up being the difference in the game. However, it seems pretty solid across the board.
Cam Ross averages 8.5 yards per punt return and also returned a kickoff for a touchdown this season back in the opener vs. Coastal Carolina. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers allow just 15.12 yards per kickoff return, which ranks No. 7 in the country.
Kicker Will Bettridge has been excellent this year, going 18-for-22. He missed his only kick from beyond 50, but he’s 6-of-8 from beyond 40. He’s been extremely efficient this season.
Unless the Hokies can manage a punt return, it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll gain an advantage on special teams this week.
Virginia Tech-Virginia Prediction Poll
Before our staff makes their picks, tell us what you think will happen on Saturday.Final Thoughts
Virginia’s offense is good, if inconsistent, but it’s the defense that concerns me. Here is the number of points it’s allowed since the Louisville game when the offense started struggling:• Louisville: 27
• Washington State: 20
• North Carolina: 16
• California: 21
• Wake Forest: 16
• Duke: 17
• Average: 19.5 points per game
The Hokies have failed to score 20 points in each of their last three games.
I don’t really see much of a chance of Virginia Tech scoring enough to win this game, especially when it’s allowed 30-plus points in five of its six games. I’ll go with that trend with my score prediction.
Chris’ Prediction: Virginia 31, Virginia Tech 17
Will Stewart (Founder): Virginia is favored by about 10 points in this one. That’s fair, but there have been other years where the Cavaliers have been favored and have managed to lose, anyway. There’s some serious voodoo for Virginia in the last 25 years of this series, which has seen the Hokies go 23-2.
Things have a way of going sideways for the Hoos against the Hokies. In 2023 in Scott Stadium, Virginia Tech was only favored by three points over UVa, but the Hokies blew out Virginia 55-17. It snowballed quickly and was never a close game.
In the post-Beamer era (2016 and beyond), UVa has only been favored once in this rivalry: 2018. The Cavaliers were favored by 4.5 (according to our game preview) and lost by three, 34-31. That game featured a spectacular one-handed TD catch by Tre Turner and a touchdown-saving tackle after an interception by Ryan Willis.
By the way, Chris Coleman picked UVa to win, and I picked Virginia Tech to win. Hold that thought.
This time, for this preview, I did look at Chris Coleman’s prediction. Chris leads the staff prediction competition by one (at 8-3) over me, David, and Nick (at 7-4). Chris picked Virginia Tech to win, so if I want to catch him, I’m going to have to pick the opposite. Fine by me.
So I’m picking the Hokies to win. But I also picked UVa to score 31+ points in Buy or Sell this week, so (gulp) I’m going to have to pick the Hokie offense to score more than that. Virginia Tech has only averaged 22.7 points per game this year, and in the last three games, as the newfangled forward pass has become increasingly difficult for the Hokies to complete, Tech has only averaged 15.7 points per game.
So, yeah, something’s going to have to go sideways for VT to win. But it’s happened before.
Will’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 34, Virginia 31
David Cunningham (Managing Editor): Unfortunately, I don’t think Saturday’s game in Charlottesville will be kind for the Hokies. Unlike the 2021 game, where they had a decent team and just couldn’t seem to put things together at certain points, this group just doesn’t have the oomph.
We’ve seen Virginia Tech play good teams very close throughout the season, including Vanderbilt, Louisville and Miami, but all pulled away in due time. I expect a similar result in this one, simply because the Cavaliers are a better team. Their offense had a lull, but their defense has been stout, and this is a Tech offense that can’t pass gas.
I expect the result in Scott Stadium to be a humbling experience for the Hokies, though they’ve got plenty to look forward to with James Franklin taking over as soon as the game ends — and if all goes well on that front, Tech might quickly turn it back into a one-sided rivalry.
David’s Prediction: Virginia 38, Virginia Tech 20
Andy Bitter (Senior Staff Writer): This is the one Hokies fans have been dreading. It’s all lined up for UVa to get to the ACC title game. The Cavs are in the middle of a dream season. They’re at home. They’re coming off an open week. Their quarterback looks healthier than he has been in the last month. And their rival is at one of its lowest points in the last 30 years.
The only real reason to pick the Hokies in this matchup is history, hoping that the lopsidedness of the last two decades and the weight of the moment is too much for UVa to handle, and it, I don’t know, throws a lateral to an offensive tackle in the game’s most critical moment. Feels like that’s asking a lot to happen again. The Cavaliers might not get this kind of opportunity again in a while. I think they take advantage of it.
Andy’s Prediction: Virginia 34, Virginia Tech 20
Nick Brown (Director of Media): My pastor grew up a massive West Virginia football fan, and to this day, he says the Mountaineers’ 13-9 loss to Pitt in 2007, which kept the Mountaineers out of the national title game, was the worst day of his childhood. I think West Virginia felt too much pressure despite facing a 4-7 football team.
History WILL repeat itself. The Hoos have way too much to play for, and they’ve clearly proven over and over again that they just can’t beat the boogeyman. The Hokies will win an ugly one in Charlottesville, and Philip Montgomery will go down in Virginia Tech history as a legend.
Nick’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 13, Virginia 9
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24-11 |
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44-20 |
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 45-26 |
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38-6 |
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23-21 |
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 30-23 |
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35-20 |
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42-34 (2 OT) |
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28-16 |
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34-14 |
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34-17 |
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| Fan Poll | Score | ||
| Gamecocks Win by 11+ (39%) |  |
Gamecocks 24, Hokies 11 | |
| Hokies Win by 1-10 (50%) |  |
Vanderbilt 44, Hokies 20 | |
| Hokies Win by 1-10 (36%) | |
ODU 45, VT 26 | |
| Hokies Win by 11+ (62%) | |
Hokies 38, Terriers 6 | |
| Wolfpack Wins by 11+ (59%) | |
Hokies 23, Wolfpack 21 | |
| Hokies Win by 1-10 (58%) | |
Deacs 30, Hokies 23 | |
| Jackets Win by 11+ (63%) | |
Jackets 35, Hokies 20 | |
| Hokies Win by 1-10 (52%) | |
Hokies 42, Golden Bears 34 (2 OT) | |
| Cardinals Win by 11+ (64%) | |
Cardinals 28, Hokies 16 | |
| Seminoles Win by 11+ (49%) | |
Seminoles 34, Hokies 14 | |
| Canes Win by 11+ (79%) | |
Hurricanes 34, Hokies 17 | |
| Hokies Win by 11+ (46%) | |
Hokies 37, Hoos 17 | |
| Gophers by 11+ (45%) | |
Gophers 24, Hokies 10 | |