Observations From the 2024 Virginia Football Schedule

Breaking down some key observations from the release of the 2024 UVA football schedule

The complete 12-game schedule for the 2024 Virginia football season was released on Wednesday, giving UVA fans plenty to chew on as the seven-month countdown to college football season begins. As the Cavaliers prepare for their third season under Tony Elliott, let's break down some key takeaways from the 2024 UVA football schedule. 

2024 Virginia Football Schedule

Saturday, August 31st: Richmond (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, September 7th: at Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, NC)
Saturday, September 14th: Maryland (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, September 21st: at Coastal Carolina (Conway, SC)
Saturday, September 28th: OPEN
Saturday, October 5th: Boston College (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, October 12th: Louisville (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, October 19th: at Clemson (Clemson, SC)
Saturday, October 26th: North Carolina (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, November 2nd: OPEN
Saturday, November 9th: at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
Saturday, November 16th: at Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
Saturday, November 23rd: SMU (Charlottesville, VA)
Saturday, November 30th: at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)

Here are some observations from Virginia's 2024 football schedule:

Manageable start, but a brutal second half.

Unlike 2023, when Virginia struggled through a difficult schedule and started out 0-5, there should be some opportunities for UVA to win early in the season, beginning with Richmond coming to Charlottesville for the season opener on August 31st. The Cavaliers then travel to Wake Forest, who went 4-8 last season, before returning home to host Maryland, who is losing quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. In week 4, UVA travels to play at Coastal Carolina, which will be a tough road game but more manageable now that it seems the Chanticleers have taken a step back since head coach Jamey Chadwell left to go to Liberty. 

Virginia better be opportunistic and pick up some wins early in the season because the back half of the schedule is brutal. Stretching the "back half" to include the final seven games of the season, UVA has games against Louisville, at Clemson, North Carolina, at Notre Dame, SMU, and at Virginia Tech. Those six teams had a combined record of 55-25. 

Just in general, this appears to be a very challenging schedule for the Cavaliers. Their 2024 opponents combined to go 94-62 last season, with nine of those teams reaching a bowl game. 

Tony Elliott returns to Clemson.

Of course, the storylines regarding UVA's trip to Clemson in week 8 will be dominated by Tony Elliott's return to the school where he played four seasons as a wide receiver and coached for 11 seasons, serving as the offensive coordinator for seven years and helping the Tigers win six ACC titles and two national championships during that span. Clemson has taken a step back in the last couple of years, but it will still take some kind of inspired effort for Virginia to walk into Death Valley and come out with a win. 

Maryland comes to Charlottesville for the first time in 12 years.

In the return game of the home-and-home series between these old ACC rivals, Maryland will visit Scott Stadium for the first time since the 2012 season on September 14th. Of course, the Terrapins departed the ACC for the Big Ten after the 2023 season and the Hoos and the Terps met on the gridiron for the first time since then last September in College Park, with Maryland prevailing 42-14. 

Only one of the ACC's newest members are on Virginia's 2024 schedule.

2024 will see the addition of Cal, Stanford, and SMU to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The arrival of these new cross-country foes will have a minimal impact on Virginia this season, as the Cavaliers will only face SMU as the Mustangs will come to Charlottesville for UVA's final home game of the season. Virginia and SMU were supposed to meet for the first time back in 2021 at the Fenway Bowl, but that game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues in UVA's program. 

Two bye weeks, every game is on Saturday. 

Starting with the bye weeks, Virginia, and every other team in college football, has two bye weeks this season due to the season getting started slightly earlier than usual. Per NCAA Bylaw 17.11.4, teams cannot play their first game of the season before the Thursday preceding Labor Day. But since Labor Day is so early this year (September 2nd), week 1 of the college football season begins the weekend of Saturday August 31st, leaving 14 Saturdays between then and the week of Thanksgiving when the regular season ends, instead of the usual 13 Saturdays. UVA's pair of open dates are distributed nicely at week 5 and week 10, diving the season into thirds. 

After having two Friday games and a Thursday game last season, Virginia has no such non-Saturday games this season, playing every game on a Saturday in 2024. This is mainly due to a concentrated effort by the ACC to eliminate teams having to play a Thursday game on short rest after playing on the previous Saturday. 

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