The University of Virginia football season came to an ignominious end November 30, when the team lost 17-37 in the Commonwealth Cup game against Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium. UVA has now ceded the cup to Virginia Tech in 19 of the last 20 matchups (UVA’s victory came in 2019 at home in Scott Stadium).
But the bigger storyline is that both teams entered the night in line to become bowl eligible. Over the last few years the NCAA has become more lax with bowl eligibility requirements in reaction to the growth and popularity of college football, meaning far more “bowl” games have come into existence. Still, the achievement of bowl eligibility is seen as a milestone.
Bowl eligibility not only means the obvious—a potential invitation to a postseason matchup—but also brings a higher expected standard of play and a new level of respect to a program as a whole. Recruits who may have previously been out of reach may now be a possibility, and a team also has a chance to show its stuff (so to speak) to the nation, helping to draw additional recruiting interest. Despite the disappointing end to their season, the Hoos have made strides from the previous two seasons under Head Coach Tony Elliott. However, without maintaining a winning (or at least even) record, and eventually achieving bowl eligibility, any progress the program has begun to enjoy may stagnate.
Speaking of stagnation (and not to be totally doom and gloom here), some important things are happening this off-season for the Hoos. First, second-year quarterback Anthony Colandrea has officially announced that he will enter the transfer portal on December 9, as many had already suspected. Additionally, Tony Muskett, who started at QB in 2023 before being replaced by Colandrea for much of the 2024 season, will become ineligible to play for the team after finishing the season as a fifth-year senior. His absence leaves UVA with no quarterback on the roster with many college snaps under his belt (backup QB Gavin Frakes started five games for New Mexico State in 2022 before transferring to UVA). That’s a big problem, one that will likely need to be addressed via the transfer portal in the offseason.
Another issue: A large number of current UVA football players are either seniors or grad students. This includes standouts like wide receiver Malachi Fields, who led the team in receptions and receiving yards, the excellent safety duo of Jonas Sanker (whose praises I’ve been singing all season long) and Corey Thomas Jr., as well as much of the current offensive and defensive lines. In addition to the losses from graduation, I also expect a handful of underclassmen to opt into the transfer portal in the coming week. This leaves Elliott with a potential turnover of 40 to 50 players going into the 2025-2026 season.
On the bright side, Fields, Sanker, Thomas Jr., and others made their way to UVA and improved it over the past few years. And they did it in a program that was in far worse shape than it is now. Who’s to say that there aren’t a few new gems coming the Hoos’ way this offseason? No matter what happens, Elliott, Offensive Coordinator Des Kitchings, and Defensive Coordinator John Rudzinski will need to put the new pieces together and keep things moving in the right direction.