Virginia Football 2022 Season Preview: Schedule

Breaking down each of the 12 games on the 2022 UVA football schedule

Previewing the 2022 Virginia football schedule :: Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The 2022 Virginia football season begins on Saturday as the Cavaliers host Richmond at 12:30pm at Scott Stadium. Continuing our preview series for the 2022 season, in this article, we'll breakdown UVA's schedule of opponents. 

Check out our breakdown of the Virginia offense here: Virginia Football 2022 Season Preview: Offense

Check out our breakdown of the Virginia special teams unit here: Virginia Football 2022 Season Preview: Special Teams

Check out our breakdown of the Virginia defense here: Virginia Football 2022 Season Preview: Defense

As Tony Elliott begins his tenure as the head coach of the Virginia football program, UVA's schedule is set up for some very achievable success in Elliott's first season. According to ESPN's FPI rankings, Virginia has the easiest schedule in the ACC and the second-easiest in all of Power Five college football. UVA has just two opponents ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 on its schedule (No. 16 Miami and No. 17 Pitt) and both of those matchups are home games for the Cavaliers. 

Virginia's first seven games of the season present the Cavaliers with several opportunities to rack up some wins early in the Tony Elliott era. Games at Illinois and Syracuse and at home against Louisville are manageable toss-ups, but UVA should be favored at home against Richmond and Old Dominion and at Duke and Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers could feasibly find themselves anywhere between 5-2 and 7-0 if they take care of business in the first half of the campaign. 

The final five games will really determine how Tony Elliott's first season goes. Virginia faces five tough opponents, four of which are Coastal rivals, in the final five weeks of the season. The good news is that four of those five games are at home, where UVA has boasted an impressive 21-5 record since 2018, the third-best home record in the ACC during that span. 

Virginia's pivotal games against the favorites in the Coastal division take place at home. The three Coastal teams picked to finish above UVA in the ACC preseason poll - Miami, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina - all travel to Charlottesville in consecutive weeks. The Cavaliers then host a very good Coastal Carolina program for their first-ever meeting. As always, Virginia concludes the season with the big one at Virginia Tech and nothing more needs to be said about the implications of that game. 

With that contextual summary in mind, we're going to go week-by-week through Virginia's 2022 slate and provide a few notes on each matchup:

Week 1: Richmond (Saturday, Sept. 3)

There will be distractions aplenty for UVA's season-opener against Richmond. A brand new season of Virginia football begins in front of an orange-out crowd eager to welcome new head coach Tony Elliott. It will be easy to get wrapped up in the excitement and pageantry of Elliott's head coaching debut, but the Cavaliers must ensure that they take care of business against the Spiders. There are plenty of examples of Power Five teams overlooking FCS teams and suffering disastrous upsets, especially early in the season. UVA should know better than most not to underestimate Richmond, as it was the Spiders who spoiled Bronco Mendenhall's debut as Virginia's head coach with a 37-20 victory over the Cavaliers to start the 2016 season. Virginia ought to beat Richmond convincingly, but that's why they play the game. 

Week 2: at Illinois (Saturday, Sept. 10)

The Cavaliers should not expect to find it as easy to bully the Fighting Illini as it was last season when UVA won 42-14 in Charlottesville. Illinois should be much improved in year two under Bret Bielema. The team got off to a great start in week 0, beating Wyoming 38-6. The Illini are far from the class of the Big Ten, but a road game at a Power Five opponent will be a worthy challenge for Tony Elliott in his first big test as a head coach. 

Week 3: Old Dominion (Saturday, Sept. 17)

The Monarchs nearly stunned Virginia back in 2019, racing out to a 17-0 lead. Bryce Perkins led the Cavaliers to the comeback, scoring 28-straight points to avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss to a team that ended up finishing 1-11 that season. After not playing in 2020, Old Dominion started the 2021 season 1-6, but won five straight games to end the regular season and clinch bowl eligibility. The Monarchs fell to Tulsa in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, but the largely positive end to the season should give them some momentum coming into this fall. UVA should have the upper hand, but with several returning starters on the offensive side of the ball, ODU is not an opponent that should be taken lightly. 

Week 4: at Syracuse (Friday, Sept. 23)

The dominant storyline of week 4 will be the reunion of the Cavaliers with former UVA assistants Robert Anae (offensive coordinator) and Jason Beck (quarterbacks coach), who coached at Virginia for six seasons under Bronco Mendenhall. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers is on the hot seat and will be eager for a win, but the Orange will have to stop a Brennan Armstrong-led UVA offense that will be playing in a climate-controlled dome for the first time. 

Week 5: at Duke (Saturday, Oct. 1)

Tony Elliott interviewed for the head coaching jobs at both Virginia and Duke last December, but ultimately opted to go with the Cavaliers. The Blue Devils hired Mike Elko from Texas A&M, where he served as the defensive coordinator for the last four seasons. Both coaches have some work to do, but Elliott is in a much better position for early success. Duke went 3-9 and 0-8 in the ACC last season. Virginia enters this matchup on a seven-game winning streak in the series against Duke and UVA has won 16 of the 22 meetings between the two teams this century. 

Week 6: Louisville (Saturday, Oct. 8)

This will be the third showdown between Malik Cunningham and Brennan Armstrong, who have both improved tremendously as quarterbacks throughout their careers. Expect a lot of offense generated by both of these dynamic signal-callers. Behind a last-minute touchdown from Armstrong to tight end Grant Misch and a missed Louisville field goal as time expired, the Cavaliers came away with a 34-33 victory over the Cards last year in Louisville. 

Week 7: bye week

Virginia will not play a game in week 7, but it feels important to note that the Cavaliers got a very fortunate draw with its bye week. Not only is UVA idle at the exact midway point of the season, providing crucial time for the team to rest and recuperate, but it also allows Virginia to avoid having to endure the challenge of a shortened week for a Thursday game. After UVA hosts Louisville on October 8th, the Hoos have an open date the following weekend before the team heads to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on a Thursday night. 

Week 8: at Georgia Tech (Thursday, Oct. 20)

Virginia and Georgia Tech always seems to play close games no matter the records or the matchups on paper. All but one of the meetings between these two programs since 2015 have been decided by single digits. The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish sixth in the Coastal in the ACC preseason poll, but on a Thursday night in Atlanta, it would not be surprising to see Georgia Tech give Virginia a good fight. 

Week 9: Miami (Saturday, Oct. 29)

Virginia's home game against Miami on October 29th marks the beginning of UVA's five-game gauntlet to end the season. Virginia could very well be 6-1 or even 7-0 at this point if things go well, but the true test of the season begins on Halloween weekend. Led by reigning ACC Rookie of the Year quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, the Hurricanes have been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the ACC Coastal in their first year under head coach Mario Cristobal, who returned to his alma mater from Oregon this offseason. This big-time showdown at Scott Stadium should have major Coastal implications. 

Fun fact: due to the scheduling changes during the 2020 COVID-19 season, Virginia ended up playing at Miami in three-straight seasons from 2019-2021. So, this will be the first time that the Hurricanes will make the trip to Charlottesville since 2018, when the Cavaliers upset then-No. 16 Miami 16-13. 

Week 10: North Carolina (Saturday, Nov. 5)

In the first year post-Sam Howell, UNC was picked to finish third in the Coastal division, just ahead of UVA. Last season, the Tar Heels ended a four-game losing streak against the Cavaliers by putting up 699 yards of total offense to outshine Brennan Armstrong's incredible program-record performance of 554 passing yards. North Carolina lost quarterback Sam Howell and running back Ty Chandler and a few other weapons, but the Heels still have receiver Josh Downs, who had 203 yards and two touchdowns against UVA last year. New quarterback Drake Maye was impressive in week 0, throwing for five touchdowns in UNC's win over Florida A&M. If Tony Elliott wants to begin to take back the state of Virginia from a recruiting standpoint and oust a UNC program that has had tremendous success taking Virginia's top high school talent, a victory in the South's Oldest Rivalry will be a key first step. 

Week 11: Pittsburgh (Saturday, Nov. 12)

Pitt is a difficult team to project this season. The Panther defense should be one of the best in the league with many returning starters, but the offense lost Heisman finalist quarterback Kenny Pickett to the NFL and Biletnikoff-winning wide receiver Jordan Addison to USC via the transfer portal. The Trojans essentially sent back quarterback Kedon Slovis through the portal to Pitt to replace Pickett. Pittsburgh was picked to finish second in the Coastal. If all goes well for these two teams through the first two and a half months of the season, the Cavaliers and Panthers could be playing for the Coastal title on November 12th. 

Week 12: Coastal Carolina (Saturday, Nov. 19)

By far the most challenging non-conference game of Virginia's schedule, Coastal Carolina and UVA meet for the first-time ever in the second to last week of the season. Led by 2020 AP Coach of the Year Jamey Chadwell, the Chanticleers have registered an impressive 22-3 record in the last two seasons. Coastal will probably win a lot of games again this year, but the game at Virginia will be one of the Chants' few opportunities to prove their worth as it is their only game against a Power Five opponent. This will be the first of three meetings between these two teams over the next four seasons and the Hoos will certainly want to kick it off with a win. 

Week 13: at Virginia Tech (Saturday, Nov. 26)

Tony Elliott will face three new head coaches in the Coastal division this season. This matchup against Brent Pry's Virginia Tech squad is by far the most important. Will Elliott be able to usher in a new era of UVA football in which the Cavaliers can consistently compete with and beat the Hokies? Beating them at Lane Stadium in year 1 would certainly set the tone. 

It will have been three years since Virginia broke the streak in 2019 by the time the Hoos get their next shot to pick up another win against the Hokies. Brennan Armstrong returned for another season at UVA because he felt he had more to accomplish from a winning standpoint and you have to think that his 0-2 record against Virginia Tech, and especially the way that last year's game ended, had a lot to do with that. The Hoos have the talent to win a lot of games this season, but they must win this one. 

Stay tuned to CavaliersNow for more Virginia football preseason coverage.

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