Virginia Falls Eight Spots In The Latest AP Poll Rankings

Virginia suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday night against Wake Forest in a 16-9 defeat. Heading into the game last week, Virginia was ranked as the No.12 team in the country. They have now slid eight spots to the No. 20 team in the country. They are now behind Georgia Tech, Miami, and Louisville in the ACC in the poll.

It was a tough day on offense for the Cavaliers despite outgaining Wake Forest 327-203. They simply couldn’t put the ball into the end zone. The defense played superb and only allowed 64 passing yards the entire game. The stout defense also only allowed six points on three total turnovers on Saturday. They were led by Kam Robinson, who finished with 10 tackles and Ja’Son Prevard, who led the team with two pass breakups. With the defense Virginia has, they are in any game.

Everything Is Still Ahead Of The Cavaliers

Latest — Oct 1, 2022; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliot reacts during the second half against the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images | Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

Despite the loss, Virginia has two games left in the season with everything ahead of them. It won’t be easy facing Duke this upcoming week with a really good offense led by Darrian Mensah. It will be the toughest test all season.

“So I talked to them in the locker room, and I told them that all of our goals that we started the season with are still out there, right? We never had a goal that said we wanted to go undefeated in the ACC, right? Our goal is to win the conference championship and the state championship, and we still have an opportunity ahead of us with the next two ball games. So let's not let this beat us twice. Yeah, we got humble pie. I mean, coaches, players, all of us. We got to own it. We got to, you know, go back to work, figure out where we can get better and stay together, because we still got everything ahead of us.”

“I know we're talking about a loss right now, but where we're at is because we stayed inside out, we stayed together, and we've responded. And that's really what to me, the heart of a champion is, you know, when you have defeat, you can, you can respond quickly. And the biggest challenge for me and the staff is to make sure that we don't allow this to beat us twice, right? Because, you know, we start to now fracture and listen to outside voices and do all that kind of stuff.”

An important month of November

The Cavaliers are bowl eligible this year and is having one of the better years in recent memory with coach Elliot. To put it frankly, their playoff hopes are on the line on Saturday against Duke. They can’t suffer a second loss in conference play with four teams with one loss in the ACC. They have to stay in the thick of it and in the race. It starts by winning the rest of their games and finishing strong.

“We're kind of in a little bit of a new frontier. I've been talking a lot about the importance of games in the month of November and how close they are, and how the margin for error is very, very small. So obviously I got to do a better job of making sure that they truly understand that, so that they're prepared to go out and perform, so they don't, you know, put themselves in jeopardy anymore,” said Elliot.

The Cavaliers will head to Durham, North Carolina on Saturday to face the Duke Blue Devils.

For More Virginia Football News:

Virginia Football Makes History In First College Football Playoff Rankings Release

Where Would Virginia Play If The College Football Playoff Started Today?

What do the Advanced Analytics Say About Virginia's Matchup vs Wake Forest?