Virginia Football Shifts Focus to “State Championship” Against Virginia Tech

The Hoos look to put their three-game losing streak behind them by beating the Hokies in the Commonwealth Clash

As we enter the final week of the college football regular season, Virginia is no longer in contention for the ACC Coastal title or a trip to the ACC Championship Game, the Cavaliers have lost three straight games, and the Hoos can only finish with a 7-5 regular season record at best. Given where UVA was a month ago, holding a record of 6-2 and riding a four-game winning streak, it’s hard for Virginia fans to see this outcome as anything other than a disappointment.

The UVA defense has continued to hold the team back and a serious injury to Brennan Armstrong ruined Virginia’s chances of coming back and winning in the fourth quarter at BYU and essentially eliminated any possibility of the Cavaliers being competitive against Notre Dame. With Armstrong back in the lineup at Pittsburgh this past Saturday, a few costly mistakes and another subpar defensive performance produced another frustrating loss.

For several weeks this season, Virginia had the No. 1 offensive unit in the country, led by the nation’s top quarterback. In a season in which the ACC was unusually wide open due to Clemson having a down year, it seemed that the Hoos were only a slight defensive improvement away from having a shot at winning the ACC Championship.

The past month has been a rough one for the UVA football program, with those championship hopes entirely dashed by three tough losses in a row, each to opponents ranked in the top 20. However, Virginia still has “championship” football left to be played this season, including opportunities for significant accomplishments in the Commonwealth Clash as well as UVA’s bowl game in the postseason.

In the final week of the regular season, there is also still much to be determined in terms of placement in the ACC standings. Virginia was picked to finish fifth in the ACC Coastal division in the preseason media poll. The Cavaliers could finish as low as fifth in the Coastal with a loss on Saturday, but the Hoos would finish in second place with a win.

All of this takes a backseat to Virginia’s primary goal: beating Virginia Tech and claiming the “state championship”, as Bronco Mendenhall has begun to call it. Whether Virginia comes into the final game of the season 11-0 or 0-11, the Commonwealth Clash against Virginia Tech is always the game which defines the entire season. Brennan Armstrong and company will be eager to put the last three games, as well as last year’s loss at Virginia Tech behind them and take down the Hokies at Scott Stadium for the second time in the past three seasons.

Additionally, if Virginia defeats Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Cavaliers will effectively end the Hokies’ season, as they will finish 5-7 and will not be eligible for a bowl game. It is unlikely that the Hoos needed the extra motivation to win this weekend, but that factor is there to make the victory sweeter if they can get the job done.

It will be hard to forget what could have been accomplished this season had Virginia been able to win at Pittsburgh on Saturday or pull off the victories against BYU or Notre Dame, but beating Virginia Tech and reclaiming the Commonwealth Cup will go a long way towards ending this football season on the right note. 

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