West Virginia and Virginia haven't played since 2002, and this time they're doing it on neutral ground in Charlotte — with the Cavaliers a year removed from the best season in program history and the Mountaineers trying to prove 2025 was a false start.
Bush’s Picks
WVUUVA
WVUUVA
OverUnder
Best BetVirginia
Virginia is the more proven program right now — an 11-3 season, an ACC regular-season title and a staff that just landed a productive transfer at quarterback. West Virginia is still sorting out its starter and trotting out a defense with one returning regular, which is a lot to ask in a season-opening-type environment. Back the Cavaliers to win this one outright.
West Virginia
+Two capable QBs in Hawkins and Fox
+Portal haul brought in productive defensive transfers
+Year 2 under Rodriguez, more roster continuity in scheme
−Went 4-8, just 2-7 in Big 12 in 2025
−Only 1 returning regular among top 17 tacklers
−No named starting QB yet entering camp
Virginia
+Best season in program history at 11-3 last year
+Won ACC regular-season title outright
+Landed productive Missouri transfer Pribula at QB
−Losing program-record passer Chandler Morris
−Lost ACC title game in OT, couldn't close it out
−New starting QB unproven in Elliott's system
This one's the Duke's Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium, and it's a genuine reunion — the two programs haven't lined up since a 2002 bowl game, and the series stretches back to 1898. Virginia walks in with a new starting quarterback in Missouri transfer Beau Pribula, tabbed by Tony Elliott back in May after beating out Pitt transfer Eli Holstein in the spring. West Virginia still hasn't settled its own QB race between Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. and sophomore Scotty Fox, who started as a true freshman last year — the first to do that at WVU since 1952.
Virginia's turnover at the position is the bigger name to replace. Chandler Morris threw for 3,000 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, got denied a bonus year of eligibility, and is simply gone — Pribula steps into a program that just won 11 games for the first time ever. He's not without production of his own: 67.4% completions for 1,941 yards and 11 touchdowns at Missouri, plus 297 rushing yards and 6 rushing scores. West Virginia, meanwhile, spent the winter almost entirely remaking its defense — Ben Cutter is the lone returner among last year's top 17 tacklers.
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UVA Virginia
That defensive facelift is worth sitting with. Rich Rodriguez brought in linebackers Isaiah Patterson (UNLV, 46 tackles) and Tyler Stolsky (Florida Atlantic, 90 tackles), edge rusher David Afogho (Bowling Green), lineman Will LeBlanc (UT Permian Basin) and corner Andrew Powdrell (UNLV, 63 tackles) to rebuild a unit that helped sink WVU to 4-8 overall and 2-7 in Big 12 play in year one. Whether that group gels fast enough to slow down a Virginia offense already installing a new quarterback is the whole ballgame in Charlotte.
West Virginia Mountaineers
Sep 12?vs UT Martin—
Sep 5?vs Coastal Carolina—
Virginia Cavaliers
Sep 11?vs Norfolk State—
Aug 29?vs NC State—
Recent form.
Virginia's résumé from a year ago is the real headline here. The Cavaliers opened 8-1, started 5-0 in ACC play for the first time in school history, beat Virginia Tech, won the ACC's regular-season title outright and only lost the championship game to Duke in overtime. That's the standard Elliott's program is now measured against, and it's a jump from where WVU sits — a rebuild that's leaning hard on the transfer portal to erase a rough debut season under Rodriguez.
West Virginia Mountaineers
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Virginia Cavaliers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Neither team has a settled QB1 locked in stone yet as camp approaches, and that alone makes this a tougher read than the record book suggests. Virginia's the program with more continuity and a higher ceiling walking in, but WVU gets a neutral field and a defense full of new faces who still need to prove they belong together before this one kicks off on Saturday, September 19.
