Cavaliers Now

Virginia Football Bowl Projections Heading Into Week 7

Matt Newton

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Virginia is off to a 4-1 start, by far the team's best start under Tony Elliott and the best start for the UVA football program since the 2019 season that ended with the Cavaliers winning the ACC Coastal title and making appearances in the ACC Championship Game and the Orange Bowl.

The road ahead is tough, with Virginia having the 21st most difficult remaining schedule in college football, according to ESPN's FPI metric, and four of UVA's final seven games are against ranked opponents. But the Cavaliers need only two more wins in their final seven games to reach bowl eligibility for the first time since 2021 and play in their first bowl game since 2019.

Let's see which bowl games the Virginia Cavaliers are projected to play in heading into week 7 according to various college football media outlets.

Patrick Andres of Sports Illustrated is predicting UVA to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which will be played on Saturday, December 28th at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Andres has the Cavaliers taking on Kansas State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

ESPN's Kyla Bonagura has Virginia playing on the first day of bowl season and taking on Louisiana in the Camellia Bowl on Saturday, December 14th at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. Mark Schlabach of ESPN has Virginia projected to play Rutgers in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Friday, January 3rd at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Erick Smith of USA TODAY is projecting Virginia to play South Carolina in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl on Friday, December 20th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network predicts Virginia to take on Illinois in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Friday, January 3rd at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bleacher Report's David Kenyon projects Virginia to face Georgia State in the Boca Raton Bowl on Wednesday, December 18th at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida.

Of the six college football bowl projections we surveyed, only CBS Sports did not have UVA projected to make a bowl game.

According to everyone's favorite UVA sports stats expert Danny Neckel, Virginia has a 54% chance to make a bowl game.

ESPN's matchup predictor is giving Virginia a:
- 23.6% chance to beat Louisville
- 13.7% chance to beat Clemson
- 53.7% chance to beat North Carolina
- 30.2% chance to beat Pittsburgh
- 9.3% chance to beat Notre Dame
- 27.6% chance to beat SMU
- 26.0% chance to beat Virginia Tech

Virginia will look to win its third straight game and move to just one victory away from the magic number six for bowl eligibility when UVA hosts Louisville in week 7. The Cavaliers will take on the Cardinals on Saturday at 3:30pm at Scott Stadium and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.