Projecting where Virginia Will be Ranked In Today's AP Top 25 Poll

This week's AP Top 25 is going to be interesting. There were a pair of upsets in the top ten yesterday with No. 7 Penn State losing to previously 0-4 UCLA and No. 9 Texas losing to unranked Florida. Given that neither of those teams have beaten a power four opponent yet, it is possible that both teams drop out of the rankings.

The loss to NC State is probably going to hold the Cavaliers back from making a major jump up, but I do think that UVA is going to leap into the top 20. It will be interesting to see how far Vanderbilt falls after losing on the road to Alabama and that could determine where exactly the Cavaliers end up at. I anticipate Virginia getting between 18-20 and the momentum continuing to build with Elliott and the program.

Finding ways to win

It was not pretty all the time, but finding a way to win a game you probably shouldn't is something that Tony Elliott's teams have not done in the past. After the win, Elliott talked about his team's ability to find a way to win:

"I think that managing the success of last week, and we didn't play our best last week, and we founda way to win. And so I think that's what they were leaning on. They leaned on that confidence coming out of that game to just believe all the way until the end... Super proud of our guys and hey man, a win's a win in this conference. You take them. I've been a part of some quote on quote ugly wins. There's truly no ugly wins. We came up here with the objective to win and the young men, super proud of them for their effort to just find a way."

A big reason for the victory yesterday afternoon was the play of Daniel Rickert and Mitchell Melton, who combined for three sacks. The pass rush has not been a huge strength for this team, but those two players came up in a big way yesterday day when UVA needed them:

"Huge. I mean, you see, we had five sacks. Mitchell had two of them, had some other pressures. We probably left a couple out there. Uh, but they just, man, they force some tackles to get out of there early. And then also, what it does too is it allows for now space for the interior guys, right, to have some more one-on-ones, right? Because now you're pulling your slides apart, right? So that's what the guards don't necessarily have help. You can isolate the center. And now Goldie, you see Goldie's been disruptive in there, and Jason Hammond can be disruptive in there, and Hunter got a sack. So not only are they being productive on their own with their numbers, but they're creating more one-on-one opportunities for the guys inside."

Virginia will be off next Saturday and will be back on the field on October 18th at home vs Washington State.