Virginia Football opens as big favorite over Delaware in week four matchup

Saturday night did not go as planned for the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA entered the game as a near double-digit favorite against West Virginia, but it was the Mountaineers that walked out of Charlotte with an important win.

The Cavaliers defense could not find a way to defend the West Virginia rushing attack, particulalry quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. For a defense that looked like one of the ACC's best coming into the game, they leave the night with a lot to figure out over the next nine games and that stars this Saturday with a home game against Delaware.

Speaking of Delaware, the Cavaliers are going to be large favorites over the Blue Hens on Saturday. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, UVA is opening as a 20.5-point favorite, and the total has opened at 55.5

Will UVA bounce back?

Beau Pribula Virginia Cavalier — Sep 19, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Beau Pribula (7) throws the ball under pressure against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the second half at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It was a disappointing night for UVA, but like last season, they can use an early season loss to learn about themselves and get their mistakes corrected before they get back into ACC play.

Delaware is not just going to roll over for the Cavaliers though.

Delaware comes into this game with a 2-1 record and are coming off a nice win over Coastal Carolina. The Blue Hens took Vanderbilt to the wire just a couple of weeks ago and when you are facing a team coming off a loss, they will try to capitalize on the issues that WVU exposed and despite being a C-USA opponent, Virginia is going to need to give them the respect they have earned and take them seriously.

After an early non-conference loss vs NC State last season, UVA was able to rebound and get to 10-2 and make the ACC Championship game. Can they do something similar this season?

After the game, UVA head coach Tony Elliott talked about his team getting to face adversity and seeing what they can learn from it:

"I told the team prior to that in the first two games, you really hadn't faced adversity... I knew going into this game with that bunch on the other sideline and their ability to score quickly and be explosive, that we were going to have some adversity, and I thought that there were there were times when we responded the right way in all three phases, and then I thought like there were times where we could have responded better in all three phases, and then that's my job as a coach to identify exactly what was off in those moments and do a better job of of helping the guys to to be better in those in those tight moments."

Virginia will be back at next Saturday against Delaware and the game will kickoff at 6:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on the ACC Network.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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