Ten important notes to know for Virginia vs Delaware

Saturday, Virginia marches on with a 6 p.m. kickoff on ACC Network. The Cavaliers will host Delaware, and are aiming to rebound after a 38-27 defeat to West Virginia.

Here are 10 important notes to know:

UVA Strong

Saturday’s game is UVA Strong Day, an annual game theme in which the program honors the late Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. The Davis, Chandler and Perry families will be represented — and there will be special acknowledgements as part of gameday.

A massive addition

Right tackle Monroe Mills was the top offensive lineman in the transfer cycle before the 2025 season. He missed the whole campaign with a torn ACL. This year, he has been nothing short of dominant.

Mills has an overall grade of 86.1 from Pro Football Focus, the highest of any ACC offensive lineman and second-highest of any FBS offensive tackle. He is on track to be not only First Team All-ACC, but a genuine contender for All-American honors.

Another All-ACC player, a bit more quietly

Daniel Sparks has been around for a long time. He was already an upperclassman when he transferred to Virginia ahead of the 2022 season. He is still here. With dozens of starts, Sparks has amassed 11,095 career punting yards, the most among active NCAA punters.

Sparks was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week Tuesday for his performance against West Virginia.

A dip on third down, but success on fourth

Earlier this season, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said that while he applauds his team’s 2025 performance on third downs, he wants to be in those situations less often. That has not happened. Virginia has put itself in more high-pressure situations, going for it on fourth down often.

Virginia has seven fourth-down conversions this year, tied for third nationally.

One of the best defensive playmakers in college football

Across all of college football, safety Brandyn Hillman is the nation's only player with at least three interceptions and one forced fumble. He is also tied for second among FBS players in interceptions.

Hillman has been a major impact player, particularly in his first two games. And even though his turnover streak was broken against the Mountaineers, he still made an impact — playing through a tooth injury after missing parts of practice that week.

Great efficiency

Virginia’s gameplan is clear — overpower opponents in the run game, then take deep shots, play action or trick plays for explosive gains through the air. The result is a very efficient start to the season for quarterback Beau Pribula.

The Cavaliers rank 11th nationally in pass efficiency (187.95), and Pribula has completed 21 of his first 25 passes of the 2026 season.

Spreading the ball

Speaking of this offense, 16 Cavaliers have caught a pass this season, second only to Miami (18) for the most in the ACC. Pribula has found different targets, as Virginia has had at least 10 pass catchers in its past two games. The Cavaliers have generally made things work despite missing receiver Rico Flores Jr. during the first two games.

Flores returned to limited action against West Virginia. As he continues to get healthy, perhaps he emerges with the lion’s share of targets as the season progresses.

Limiting the turnovers

Ball security has been a great strength of Elliott’s team dating back to last year. Virginia is one of 15 teams in the country with no more than one turnover after its first three games.

In particular, the Cavaliers have yet to lose a fumble. They are one of 27 FBS teams to fit that description (along with Delaware). Elliott constantly preaches the importance of winning the turnover margin.

Not ranked

Virginia was ranked earlier this season, but tumbled out of the rankings after losing to the Mountaineers. At this moment, the Cavaliers only face one ranked opponent for the rest of the regular season. If Virginia is to return to the rankings, it will do so by strength of record as opposed to strength of schedule.

That means that the Cavaliers cannot afford to lose, even to a non-conference opponent.

The path forward

Saturday’s clash is Virginia’s final non-conference game of the regular season. After facing the Blue Hens, the Cavaliers have eight consecutive ACC games — starting with an Oct. 3 road date at Florida State and ending with the Commonwealth Clash in Blacksburg, Va.

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