It was not pretty by any means, but Virginia got a win over Syracuse on Saturday night and moved their overall record to 4-2 and 2-1 in the ACC. The conference race to get to Charlotte and likely face Miami is wide open and with only on conference loss and no matchup against the Hurricanes, there is still a path for UVA to get there, despite how shaky they have looked over the past three games against FBS opponents.
But a big opportunity/test awaits Tony Elliott's team next weekend. Virginia is going to go on the road and face SMU, who is one of the teams in the running to get to the ACC Championship. SMU's only loss this season was to Louisville in a big matchup, but with the Cardinals having lost two ACC games since, the Mustangs have everything in front of them when it comes to the conference race.
When the Cavaliers go to Dallas next weekend, they are going to do so as underdogs. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, UVA is going to be a 7.5 point underdog against the Mustangs and the over/under is at 52.5.
Can UVA get the win?
If Virginia is going to get the win on Saturday, they are going to have to play more consistently. The offense took too long to get going on Saturday and the defense had its struggles against a Syracuse team that was on their third and fourth quarterback. SMU has one of the most prolific passing attacks in the ACC and they are going to test a UVA secondary that has been suspect over the past couple of games.
Despite not playing their best football, Virginia head coach Tony Elliott still loved his team's ability to fight their way back and get the win:
"At halftime, I saw a group that still wanted to win a football game," Elliott said. "You know, we had some uncharacteristic discipline [issues]. There were three big penalties that allowed that drive to continue to go when we [were going to get] off the field. Pretty much in all three of those situations, we're getting ready to be off the field, and so that could easily turn into momentum in our direction because we're off the field, [offense has a] short field, ability to go score score points."
It won't be easy, but if UVA has any dreams of getting back to Charlotte, they have to win on Saturday.
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