Postseason Projections For Virginia Football After Blowout Win Over Duke

Where are the Virginia Cavaliers projected to play this postseason?

Nov 15, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarter back Chandler Morris (4) looks for an opening against Duke Blue Devils defensive tackle Aaron Hall (99) during the first quarter at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zachary Taft-Imagn Images | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

The Virginia Cavaliers were slight underdogs on Saturday vs Duke, but they left no doubt about who the best team was. The Cavaliers obliterated the Blue Devils and now they face a favorable path to get to the ACC Championship, though they are not win and in if they beat rival Virginia Tech. Per CBS Sports, for the Cavaliers to get to Charlotte, they need to beat the Hokies, SMU loses to either Louisville or Cal, and Pitt lose to Georgia Tech or Miami.

Getting to Charlotte would give Virginia a chance to get to the College Football Playoff and that is where some of the latest bowl projections have the Cavaliers playing.

Latest Projections

Nov 15, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarter back Chandler Morris (4) hands the ball to Virginia Cavaliers running back J'Mari Taylor (3) during the first quarter against the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zachary Taft-Imagn Images | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

ESPN:

There was one matchup that popular amongst the ESPN roundtable this week.

Andrea Adelson: (6) Oregon vs (11) Virginia

Kyle Bonagura: (6) Oregon vs (11) Virginia

Adam Rittenberg: (6) Oregon vs (11) Virginia

Mark Schlabach: (6) Oregon vs (11) Virginia

Paolo Uggetti: (6) Oregon vs (11) Virginia

Other Expert Projections

Brad Crawford at CBS Sports has UVA going to the Holiday Bowl and facing Arizona State, last year's Big 12 Champion. Scott Dochterman at The Athletic also has Virginia going to the College Football Playoff to face Oregon.

The biggest reason that Virginia won on Saturday was the play of the defensive unit, which held an explosive Duke offense to fewer than 20 points. After the game, head coach Tony Elliott talked about how well they played and what it was like seeing that:

"Extremely important. But I think you've seen over the last several weeks that that group has been coming into form and really starting to gel on all three levels. And so super proud of those guys and just play complementary football, which, you know, helped the offense to be able to go out and know that they don't have to be perfect,right? They got their brothers on the other side of the ball who are going to be there with them and play complimentary football. We knew coming in that we hadn't seen really anybody get to the quarterback, right? Their offensive line and their scheme had done a really good job, but we felt like we had to stop the run first and foremost. I think everybody knows how great 10 the quarterback and very experienced offensive line, but I thought what really made them go was their ability to stay ahead of the chains and run the football, which allowed them to be, you know, allowed them to have the playaction stuff and, so I thought they did a really good job from from a staff standpoint putting together a good plan and then the guys, man, they owned itand they went out and they executed. So, I think when we talk about the middle eight, that's what we talk about. So, those three points right there at the end of the half are huge. We were hoping that it was seven, but we said we have to come away with points, right? So, that put us up, I think that put us up 10 right there. And then we talked about when we came in at halftime, I said, "Hey, we're not talking about going out and playing the next 30 minutes. I'm focusing on the next four minutes, right? Winning that second half of the middle eight, starting with a defensive stop, special teams maintaining field position, and then the offense going and scoring. And I think right there that kind of let them know that we're, man, we're not letting up and that that it was going to be a fourth quarter game and then we were able to kind off from there progress and there was a little bit of a low right there in the fourth quarter but I thought that they turned it back on and finished the right way."

Virginia is off this weekend and then wraps up the regular season next Saturday vs Virginia Tech.