Way-Too-Early 2026 Virginia Tech Football Preview and Prediction: Week 13, vs. Virginia

After a trip to Miami Gardens to face ACC favorites Miami, Virginia Tech football wraps up its regular season with a homestand against Virginia that may carry ACC title implications if the Hokies are contenders in year one under new head coach James Franklin and the Cavaliers can replicate their surprising 11-win campaign from a season ago.

Like Virginia Tech, Virginia opted for a quarterback from the James Franklin pipeline, going with Beau Pribula since existing starter Chandler Morris had exhausted his eligibility. Last season, Pribula played for Missouri, where he compiled 1,941 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was hampered late on due to injury, however, throwing for no touchdowns and four interceptions in his final four games.

Pribula can be a rushing option when called upon; the 6-foot-2, 209-pound graduate student compiled 297 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 95 carries for the Tigers last season. His strongest contest as a passer came against Kansas on Sept. 6, where in a 42-31 win, he went 30-for-39 and rolled up 334 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. Pribula won his first five games as a starter; the Tigers ultimately went 8-5 (4-4 SEC) and lost the Gator Bowl — interestingly enough, to then-No. 19 Virginia (13-7). Pribula didn't play in that game, however, a byproduct of opting out as he entered the transfer portal.

Before his lone season at Missouri, however, Pribula played for three years as the backup for Penn State behind incumbent Drew Alar. In those three years, Pribula tallied 424 passing yards, nine touchdowns and one interception, adding 571 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground (94 carries). In his lone year with Mizzou, Pribula produced a quarterback rating of 66.7, a tally that ranked No. 46 in the nation.

If Pribula isn't the starter, it'll be Pitt starter-turned-backup Eli Holstein. Holstein went 257-for-416 for 3,306 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 13 interceptions over his time with Pittsburgh, but midway through the 2025 season, he was benched for true freshman Mason Heintschel. Holstein spent a year at Alabama prior to Pitt.

"Eli Holstein has more pedigree to be a starting quarterback than just about any other quarterback than just about any other backup quarterback in the entire country, let alone the Power Four," said Xander Tilock, a staff writer for Virginia On SI and a former sports editor/senior staff writer for The Cavalier Daily, UVa.'s student-managed newspaper. "... Strictly talking his own statistical performance, Eli Holstein was electric, and it seems right now, Virginia can be absolutely confident with Holstein as one of the best backups in the country. But he should have one more year of eligibility, so Eli Holstein could very well be the starting quarterback in 2027, and the whole program could feel fantastic about that."

Still, Tilock believes that Pribula is the better fit for the Cavaliers' offense because of his rushing capabilities.

"Beau Pribula, I think, is the best fit at quarterback that Virginia has had in the Tony Elliott era," Tilock said. "Chandler Morris... Brennan Armstrong, Anthony Colandrea, these are all gunslingers. I don't think that that's the best fit for this offense. Des Kitchings wants to run the ball and a quarterback who's going to see the field well, which Chandler Morris did do, be able to run the ball himself consistently, which Chandler Morris did at times, and really anchor that ground attack. Yes, they need the deep passing game to really have this offense be explosive. But the ideal version of the Des Kitchings offense is where it's a heavy, heavy, heavy emphasis on the run game, especially those inside zones, especially those inside zones when they can run inside the tackles."

"I think the ideal version for [Pribula] is the type of player that Jalen Hurts is — but more accurate up the middle."

At running back, Jekail Middlebrook steps in as the one of the factors for the No. 1 back now that J'Mari Taylor has exhausted his eligibility. Middlebrook produced 752 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on 140 totes last season for Middle Tennessee. Solomon Beebe (UAB) should also be an immediate-impact option; last year, the 5-foot-10, 205-pound back rolled up 338 yards and six scores on the ground for the Blazers. Peyton Lewis comes in from Tennessee, where he accrued 290 rushing yards and seven scores last year for the Vols.

"I think they want to rotate guys a little bit more," Tilock said. "You look at Peyton Lewis and Jekail Middlebrook, and I see a team that is more well-equipped to do what it wants to do. With Lewis, you have your north-south runner, he's the guy who's going to break off those 60 yard runs, and then you look at Jakil Middlebrook, and now you have a receiving back to a true, genuine elite receiving back who had over 500 yards receiving and was one of the best receiving backs in the country last year."

Virginia's answers at wide receiver appear intriguing, though sample size appears relatively limited. Rico Flores Jr. could be a point of emphasis in the pass-catching corps; the wideout logged 392 receiving yards with Notre Dame in 2023 and 274 at UCLA last season. Virginia will be forced to replace the output of now-Oklahoma wideout Trell Harris (847 receiving yards, five TDs).

"He's a speed demon," Tilock said of Flores.

There's also Kent State-turned-'Hoo Dashawn Martin, who produced 507 yards and four scores as a sophomore. Martin was also named Third-Team All-MAC as a kick returner in 2024, potentially adding a level of juice to the Cavaliers' return game if he can replicate that performance at the Power Four level.

"If you had to nitpick one part of this offense, I believe it would be in that area, not because of a lack of talent, but just because of an abundance of question marks," Tilock said. "They are doing a big reset here, I think, because they're committing to the run."

Virginia also returns 2025 All-ACC Third Team nominees Noah Josey and McKale Boley, contributing to a front five that could be stout if it can create enough time for Pribula to scramble if needed.

On the defensive end, tackle Zion Wilson should make an immediate impact in Charlottesville after a 9.5-TFL, seven-sack season last year for East Carolina. Defensive end Fisher Camac also returns after logging 91 tackles, 12 sacks and nine deflections over the past two years with UVa.

Cornerback Jam Jackson also returns after a spring injury in 2025 that cost him the entire season. Jackson was named the Big South-OVC Co-Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2023 at Robert Morris, and when he moved to UVa. in 2024, he logged 58 tackles and six pass breakups for the Cavaliers.

"If the defense plays like it did towards the tail end of last season, where this was the second-best scoring defense in the ACC, they very well could run the ball 50 times a game," Tilock noted.

Tilock went on to say that Virginia's defense "should be one of the ACC's top defenses", remarking that the Cavaliers have sometimes gone under-the-radar nationally. Kam Robinson is back, however, after missing six games — including the ACC title game against Duke and the regular-season finale against Tech.

"He was the runner up for ACC Defensive Player of the Year, despite missing basically half the season, and he will be a major, major addition back to this defense when he's healthy," Tilock said.

If this matchup is to carry any real stakes, Virginia must replicate its 2025 season, and the Hokies must do the exact opposite. Per ESPN's Bill Connelly, the Cavaliers don't have any opponents that are projected on SP+'s top 30 on their regular-season schedule, and while that's yet to be set in stone, Virginia draws one of the easier roads to a potential back-to-back ACC title game appearance. If Virginia Tech were to make it to the Dec. 5 title showdown, it would be their first appearance since the 2016 season.

Virginia Tech historically has the edge in the rivalry, holding a 62-39-5 all-time mark. Before the 2025 season, the Hokies had won 19 of their last 20 matchups against the Cavaliers, with the lone defeat in that stretch being a 39-30 UVa. win in 2019.

However, in the 2025 campaign, a then-No. 17 UVa. squad torched Virginia Tech, 27-7, holding the Hokies scoreless until the fourth quarter. Virginia Tech starter Kyron Drones, donning a Hokies uniform for the final time, went 4-for-16 for 78 yards. One of those four completions was a 57-yard house call to wide receiver Shamarius "Snook" Peterkin.

As for my score prediction, I could see this one leaning either way, though I'll go Virginia Tech due to historical precedent and Virginia's uncertainty with its pass-catchers. I can see a world where the Cavaliers emerge victorious, though.

Virginia Tech's contest against Virginia is set for Saturday, Nov. 28, with no time or TV channel set for the game as of now. If the Hokies are one of the top two teams in the ACC standings at the conclusion of the regular season, they'll advance to the title game — that showdown is set for Saturday, Dec. 5, at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN, and it will take place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

Final score prediction: Virginia Tech 35, Virginia 31

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