Virginia Cavaliers

The Virginia football team dropped its first game of the season last week when Maryland came to Scott Stadium and won 27-13. That outcome and a poor second half offensively shifted the mood after a 2-0 start to the season. With a trip to Coastal Carolina up next, that's left fans trying to figure out the chances with this week's challenge.

The two programs have never met, but Coastal Carolina has put together four straight bowl qualifying seasons with a 2-2 record in those bowl games the last four years. UVA, meanwhile, has not qualified for a bowl since 2021 and hasn't actually played in a bowl game since the 2019 Orange Bowl. In other words, the Chanticleers have some recent history to put confidence behind and that's helped them to a 3-0 start this season.

Plus, Virginia coach Tony Elliott pointed out the Hoos' recent trend in these types of games. The Cavaliers are 4-6 in their last 10 non-conference road games against teams outside of the Power 5. Obviously those don't occur too frequently and Notre Dame fits in as part of the count, but it's still a stark reminder of the challenge. It's something that Elliott brought to th team's attention before the week's preparation began.

"Really the challenge was let’s be different. If we just look at us, let’s focus on us and the last 10 road games versus non-Power Five, we’re 4-6, so we want to be different, and we want to change things," Elliott said. "It starts with us taking care of what we need to take care of from a preparation standpoint to go 1-0 this week ... but don’t think we’re just going to roll the ball out there and this team is going to lay down and not show up. Man, they’re playing at home. They’ve got a sold-out crowd. Homecoming, I believe. They’ve got parents’ weekend. ... Those guys are going to come out of that locker room believing that they’re going to win the game. So we have to have a greater level of belief, but we’ve also got to go out and bring that belief into action and do what we need to do, play in and play out, to put ourselves in position to win."

Virginia fans discussing the game this week seem to be split about the matchup, but everyone seems to paint it as a big game in the big picture. That and some other hot topics among fans from this week:

Fan(s) Of The Week

Tailgating fun for Virginia football.

Student Fan(s) Of The Week

Let's Go Hoos!

Feature Photo Of The Week

Chico Bennett Jr. helps make a play for the Virginia defense.