Relax, Virginia fans. The underdog role suits your team

It's appropriate that the highest-profile of Virginia's 31 football transfers this season, Beau Pribula, arrived from Missouri.

If you're unaware, that's the Show-Me State. And that should be the unofficial motto for the Cavaliers in 2026.

A percentage of Virginia fans are probably outraged that the Cavaliers, coming off a historic 11-win season, were excluded from American Football Coaches Association preseason Top 25 poll released Tuesday. This perceived snub comes after media covering the ACC picked Tony Elliott's team to finish sixth after it won last year's regular-season title.

Rather than indignation, the proper reaction from the Cavaliers should be simple — just watch us.

Respect is earned over time. And let's be honest — for most of this millennium, Virginia hasn't been an elite program.

George Welsh retired after the 2000 season following the most successful run in school history: 16 winning records (plus one .500 mark) in 19 seasons, two ACC co-championships and a giddy three-week reign at No. 1 in the 1990 polls.

Since then, the Cavaliers have posted just nine winning seasons, and only once in the past two decades have they finished above .500 twice in a row (2018-19 under Bronco Mendenhall). And it's not as though the ACC features the gauntlet of opponents like the Big Ten or Southeastern Conference.

A year ago, Elliott's seat was among the hottest in the nation, and Virginia was chosen 14th in the ACC. It worked out well for Elliott; he (and his team) responded with arguably the best season in school history.

But many of the on-field authors of that success have moved on. There's talent, depth and experience to replace them (and plenty of internal confidence), plus a nucleus of returning starters.

Still, the college football world is essentially telling the Cavaliers: OK, show us you can do it again. Many observers probably saw Elliott's team squander a rare opportunity to reach the College Football Playoff last season and figured "same old Virginia."

And the Cavaliers should welcome that challenge. If the 2025 season proved anything, it's that being underdogs works well for Elliott and his team. The Cavaliers quieted their perceived critics then; their goal should be to do it again.

Are they angry to be chosen sixth in the ACC? They can make a statement on Aug. 29 on national television by beating NC State, something they haven't done in four tries since 2012.

Miffed at the national attention Virginia Tech — owner of the Commonwealth Cup for 23 of the past 26 years — has gotten after its splash hiring of coach James Franklin? The Cavaliers can state their case by winning in Blacksburg for the first time since 1998, before any of their current players (even seventh-year center Drake Metcalf or punter Daniel Sparks) were born.

It took Welsh — a Hall of Famer — three years to get Virginia to its first bowl. Similarly, Elliott's tenure started slowly (and with tragedy) before he broke through.

It's entirely possible that this is the start of a golden era for Virginia football. Even if the outside world may not acknowledge it, the 2026 Cavaliers have many of the ingredients for repeat success: experience, talent, depth, what former coach Al Groh once called "the confidence of proven accomplishment" — and perhaps most importantly in this new era, financial support.

And now outsiders have handed them motivation. They and their fans should be grateful.

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