Virginia's Big Upset Win Over Florida State Draws Huge TV Audience

Virginia scored one of the biggest upsets of the season and had a large TV audience watching them do it

Sep 26, 2025; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Cavaliers fans and players celebrate on the field after their game against the Florida State Seminoles at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Virginia got their biggest win of the Tony Elliott era last Friday night when the Cavaliers took down No. 8 Florida State. The win announced UVA as a potential contender to make the ACC Championship game and it got them their first AP poll ranking since 2019.

It was also one of the most watched games of the entire weekend.

According to ESPN PR, UVA-FSU was the third most watched game of the entire weekend on their network, averaging 4.4 million viewers and peaking at 6.9 million. Georgia-Alabama and LSU-Ole MIss were the two most watched games on the ESPN networks this past weekend.

ABC is off to its best start EVER & @ESPNCFB closed out September with a strong Week 5 💪

🏈 @AlabamaFTBL-@GeorgiaFootball: 10.4M viewers
🏈 @LSUfootball-@OleMissFB: 6.7M
🏈 @FSUFootball-@UVAFootball: 4.4M
🏈 @NDFootball-@RazorbackFB: 4.3M
🏈 @BYUfootball-@CUBuffsFootball: 2.5M pic.twitter.com/bnJPn7Ohjm

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 30, 2025

Looking to Louisville now

Sep 13, 2025; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott looks on from the field prior to the game against the William & Mary Tribe at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

While the win over Florida State might represent a turning point for the program, the Cavaliers could really vault themselves into ACC contention if they can pick up a win against Louisville, That is not going to be easy though and this Cardinals team has the full respect of UVA head coach Tony Elliott:

"Well, they're undefeated. They came from behind. They were down 17 points on the road. So they got a lot of belief as well. They're a confident bunch defensively. They got a really good rotation on their D-line, which allows them to stay fresh. Linebackers are very athletic. They run well on the back end. They're very well coached and coordinated, don't see them out of position much. It's a really good football team that is also two years removed from being in the ACC championship, right? So there are guys on that team that have been there, that have done that. And they're playing at home, and they got a quote-unquote ranked team coming in. They feel like they should be ranked. So I mean, there are a lot of things that are going to make this a challenging opportunity for us, but our guys will be ready."

The offense is always sound for Louisville and this year has been no different. With a defense that has not always been consistent this season, Elliott knows they will face a big challenge on Saturday:

"Coach Brohm does a great job of adjusting his system to his personnel. One thing they're going to have is an elite quarterback who can distribute the ball can make all of the throws. They got their one-two punch at running back is probably as good as anybody in the league or the country. And those guys are fast, and they can go and coach. Coach Brohm does a good job of challenging you in the run game because he does a lot of different things. It's hard to get a bead on what he's doing. It's been effective. Zero is a big physical receiver, and then five is shifty and fast, so he's got a lot of weapons. And then their offensive line is retooled, and they're athletic, they're long. So they pose some problems. But it's a fun challenge because Coach Brohm does a really good job of being very multiple and never really giving you two plays of the same type. And his guys are able to execute it, and they execute at a high level. So a great challenge for our guys on defense. They need to have a great week of preparation to be able to communicate, to make the adjustments that we need to make with the motions and the shifts and all the different personnel groupings that they're going to face on Saturday."