Pribula gets the start against NC State
Virginia hands its opener to transfer Beau Pribula, closes out last season with a bowl win over the team he left, and opens -5.5 at home against NC State in a sold-out Scott Stadium.
Pribula's strange path to QB1
Virginia has settled on Missouri transfer Beau Pribula as its starting quarterback for the August 29 opener against NC State, per PackInsider. It is the first time he has taken the job outright since arriving in Charlottesville, and it comes fast — fall camp only opened a few weeks ago.
The path here is a strange one. Pribula started 2025 at Missouri and went 6-1 before a hip injury at Vanderbilt, then entered the transfer portal and skipped Missouri's bowl trip entirely rather than play it out, according to ESPN. That was the same bowl game Virginia won 13-7 to close out last season. He landed at Virginia this offseason, and now gets the season opener himself — against a team that isn't even the one he left.
How last season ended
Virginia's last game was that 13-7 win over Missouri on December 28, closing out last season with a bowl victory after a mixed final stretch: a loss to Wake Forest, a road win at Duke, a blowout of Virginia Tech, a home loss back to Duke, and then the win over the Tigers to finish.
That finish is also the direct link to today — the Missouri team Virginia beat in that bowl is the one Pribula walked away from before it was played. He gets his first look as Virginia's guy in a building he's never started a game in, against an opponent he's never faced.
Robinson's ACL comeback, and who else is out
Linebacker Kam Robinson tore his ACL in November and has been building back toward this opener all offseason — he told reporters at ACC Kickoff in July he expected to be ready by the NC State game, and head coach Tony Elliott has since called him a game-time decision as the staff evaluates him through the week, as detailed in Kam Robinson's ACL Return Is a Game-Time Call vs. NC State. Robinson has 15 career tackles for loss when healthy, which is why the decision matters.
Covers' aggregated injury table lists seven Cavaliers as Out for Saturday: TE L. Ungar, WR I. Robinson, RB J. Stevens, WR T. Ward, WR D. Newton-Short, K T. Hamann and WR R. Flores Jr. Only Newton-Short's is specified as a hamstring injury; the rest are undisclosed. Elliott confirmed on the receiver front that Newton-Short won't play and that Isaiah Robinson is out recovering from offseason surgery, so Virginia opens thin at wideout even before Robinson's linebacker case is settled.
A sold-out house, and a Heisman hopeful trying to spoil it
Scott Stadium is sold out for kickoff this afternoon vs. NC State, and Virginia's own account announced as much this week. The Wolfpack bring back junior CJ Bailey, who threw for 3,105 yards and 25 touchdowns last season and has Elliott sounding wary — he said this week he expects Dave Doeren to "ride that Heisman hopeful," adding, "I don't know if you can contain him." NC State also enters off a 31-7 win over Memphis last season and has won the last four meetings with Virginia, including its last three trips to Charlottesville, per SI.
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The line opened with Virginia favored by 5.5 and the total set at 53.5, which makes the Cavaliers a modest home favorite in a game where the crowd noise and the new quarterback are as much a story as the number. NC State comes in as the underdog for a reason it hasn't had against Virginia in a while.