Seven UVA Football Opponents Ranked or Received Votes in Preseason Coaches Poll

Matt Newton | Aug 6, 2024

Louisville is one of seven opponents on the 2024 Virginia football schedule who are either ranked or received votes in the USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll / Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

The USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll for the 2024 college football season was released on Tuesday and, to no one's surprise, Virginia was not included in the preseason Top 25 nor did the Cavaliers receive any votes. The same cannot be said, however, for UVA's opponents. Two teams Virginia will face in the 2024 college football regular season were ranked in the preseason Top 25 and five more of UVA's opponents received votes in the poll.

Notre Dame came in at No. 7 and Clemson was ranked No. 14. The Cavaliers will visit the Fighting Irish in South Bend on Saturday, November 16th and will play at the Tigers on Saturday, October 19th in Clemson.

Three other ACC teams were ranked in the top 25: No. 10 Florida State, No. 19 Miami, and No. 22 NC State, but none of those teams are on UVA's regular season schedule this fall.

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It's somewhat controversial that Louisville did not make the preseason Top 25 and the Cardinals didn't miss it by much, receiving 95 total points, which would make them the No. 27-ranked team in the poll if it extended beyond 25 teams. Similarly, Virginia Tech got 64 points and would be ranked No. 28, and brand new ACC member SMU picked up 47 points, which would be ranked No. 29. Essentially, there are five preseason top 30-ranked opponents on Virginia's schedule.

North Carolina received six points and would be ranked No. 40 and Maryland got five points and would be ranked No. 41.

See the full preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll below. As a relevant note, Virginia head coach Tony Elliott is one of the voting members of the poll for the 2024 season, as is Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key, SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry, and former UVA head coach and current New Mexico head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Georgia (46)
2. Ohio State (7)
3. Oregon
4. Texas (1)
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Notre Dame
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Florida State
11. Missouri
12. LSU
13. Utah
14. Clemson
15. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma
17. Kansas State
18. Oklahoma State
19. Miami (FL)
20. Texas A&M
21. Arizona
22. NC State
23. USC
24. Kansas
25. Iowa

Others receiving votes: Washington (123), Louisville (95), Virginia Tech (64), SMU (47), Memphis (44), Boise State (30), Auburn (25), West Virginia (22), Wisconsin (17), Liberty (15), Iowa State (15), Kentucky (12), Florida (11), South Carolina (10), North Carolina (6), UNLV (5), Maryland (5), UCF (4), Texas Tech (4), UTSA (3), Tulane (2), Texas State (2), Nebraska (2), Colorado (2), Appalachian State (2), Troy (1), Syracuse (1), Miami (OH) (1), James Madison (1), Air Force (1)

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