Roundtable: Will Virginia football win a game this season?

The Virginia Cavaliers are still without a win after five weeks of football. William & Mary comes to town this weekend, but the ‘Hoos still have four games against ranked opponents remaining this fall. The question has to be asked: Will UVA win a game this season? If so, how many games? What do we think team?

Pierce

I think they’ll win at least two. They should probably handle W&M this weekend, regardless of how lackluster they’ve appeared in the second half of games all season. I’m not really a believer in any of their ACC competition... Louisville, UNC, and maybe Duke with or without their quarterback are all decent, sure. But none of these teams are “absolutely won’t win” and half of the remaining teams are bad.

They could easily beat W&M, GT, or even VT... and you can always steal a win against any of the others in this meh-level conference. UVA’s football program is in shambles, but betting on them to only win one (or even zero) remaining games would be a bad bet, in my opinion.

Ryan

As weird as this sounds, I say yes. I had Virginia over 3.5 wins for the season accounting for them starting the year 0-4. I did expect them to beat Boston College, but didn’t think they’d be as competitive in their losses to JMU and NC State in particular.

Given that, two wins is within reach and I think they do pick up a third in a spot I wasn’t accounting for. There’s so much pressure to get that first W they’ve tightened up late. Get a W over William and Mary and they can play a little looser leading to at least one, maybe two more victories.

Dan

I still find it hard to believe that UVA goes 0-12. Their problem is not lack of competitiveness; it’s the inability to play a complete four quarters and finish games.

William and Mary should be a win. I was actually more worried earlier in the season but they seem to be a step or two below an FCS power.

Otherwise, I think they squeak out a conference win, ideally against Virginia Tech but even the Hokies may have finally found their footing. 2-10 doesn’t move the needle but it avoids historic levels of embarrassment… that’s where we are at this point.

Zach

While I agree that what’s doomed this team from putting a game in the W column has most notably been the inability to execute in close games, I’m gonna need to see it before I believe it. Even when the ‘Hoos were up 21-7 over BC at half, things felt shaky. That played out in the second half.

Yeah, W&M should be a win. I think the ‘Hoos will win, and I suspect that will get the monkey off their backs to some degree. That said I think 3-9 is the best case scenario with Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech the only serious chances at wins with the odds of an upset factored in considering that neither of those two games are close to being guaranteed.

Paul

Almost no one in FBS is “better” at losing games they should win than UVA: according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, only three teams (and only one in the Power Five) have a worse Wins Below Expectation. Which doesn’t instill confidence for the rest of the schedule, even if there are games that on paper look winnable for the Hoos (of which there are … 3? Including William & Mary?). If the run game continues to be as unproductive as it has been, while ALSO being such a central feature of the offense as it has been, it’s hard to see this Virginia team putting anyone away.

Here’s my fool’s hope that will also suffice as a prediction: the bye week comes at just the right time. Whatever happens against William & Mary, the staff will have an extra week to shake up the offensive line to elevate the run game from “nauseating” to “merely abysmal.” And some self-scouting—or maybe soul-searching?—will lead to the coaches leaning into what works (read: Muskett to Malik and Malachi) instead of insisting on doing what doesn’t.