Five things we will learn about Virginia football in its first month of the season

On paper, it is clear what Coach Tony Elliott wants to do — run the ball with an elite stable of running backs and an experienced offensive line, and therefore control the pace of a game, plus win the turnover battle.

In order to do so, though, a few questions have to be answered. Some of them are big picture storylines, while others are more schematic. Many of those questions will be answered early.

Are College Football Playoff hopes realistic?

Just to be clear — no team can secure a Playoff spot after four or five games. However, it is entirely possible to lose a spot that early. Virginia’s first five games are against NC State, Norfolk State, West Virginia, Delaware and Florida State. Barring some incredible season by any of those opponents, a Cavaliers loss hurts far more than a win helps. Virginia will need to go 5-0 or 4-1 to keep pace with SMU and Miami in the ACC title race. If the Cavaliers suffer multiple losses early on, the outlook of the season changes significantly.

How do the Cavaliers handle success (relative to their 2025 performance)?

One of Elliott’s favorite themes is “handling success.” In his mind, that was always a major goal for his program. Having one great season is something most teams can do — but becoming a consistent CFP contender requires constant reloading and buy-in from new players. Handling success comes with major subquestions — does Virginia’s defense pick up where it left off? Can the offense get back to its 2025 midseason prime? These questions will be answered after the first few games.

What will happen with the redzone offense?

When Grady Brosterhous was healthy, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings was an avid user of the quarterback sneak, dubbed the “Grady Bunch.” But when Brosterhous got hurt, he turned to the J’Mari Taylor inside run game — which was highly effective. Both players are now gone, so what becomes the go-to short-yardage play? In particular, what happens in the redzone? Sage Ennis was also a key character near touchdown land. He too is gone.

Who will fill the Sage Ennis role as a strong blocking tight end?

Speaking of Ennis, his importance cannot be understated. Yes, he was a strong leader and team captain — but he was also the core of a 12 personnel look (a play with one RB, two TE, two WR) alongside Dakota Twitty. Virginia scored at least 30 points in every game when they had both Twitty and Ennis on the field. But when the Cavaliers lost Twitty to a season-ending injury at Louisville and could no longer run effective 12 personnel, Virginia scored 30-plus just twice in its final eight games.

It is no coincidence that the offense started going adrift once it could no longer win through 12 personnel. Twitty is back for the 2026 campaign, but someone else is going to have to step up next to him as a tight end who can block and also be a genuine redzone weapon.

What are the RB splits for carries?

Having too many high-quality running backs is a good problem to have. Virginia has that problem. The question is, how do they divide snaps or carries between a group of six starting-caliber backs? Even if one or two are sidelined because of an injury, the Cavaliers still have an overflowing abundance of runners in Peyton Lewis, Jekail Middlebrook, Xavier Brown, Solomon Beebe, Noah Vaughn and Xay Davis. Perhaps the RB splits will work itself out after a few games.

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