Virginia Football announces 2027 opening opponent

The nonconference game was originally scheduled to be played on Sept. 18, 2027 at Scott Stadium, but the two schools announced on Tuesday that they had signed a new contract to move the game up three weeks. It will mark the second straight year that Virginia plays on Week 0 of the season: the Cavaliers will host N.C. State on Aug. 29 of this season.

Arkansas State, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, is coming off a 7-6 season that included a 34-28 victory over Missouri State in the XBox Bowl.

Coached by Butch Jones, the Red Wolves were picked to finish third in the Sun Belt West Division this fall in the conference's preseason media vote last week, and they had a league-high seven players selected to the preseason all-Sun Belt team: senior running back Kenyon Clay, senior offensive lineman Tristan Smith, junior wide receiver Chauncey Cobb, senior safety AG McGhee and senior kicker Clune Van Andel. Cobb was a first-team selection at wide receiver, return specialist and all-purpose back.

Coincidentally, the 2026 Cavaliers have a transfer from Arkansas State in offensive lineman Makilan Thomas, who started 34 games for the Red Wolves over the past three seasons. Thomas is a graduate student and will have exhausted his eligibility before the Cavaliers and Red Wolves meet on the field in 2027.

Virginia also has a nonconference home game scheduled against William & Mary on Sept. 25, 2027. The Cavaliers' third nonconference opponent for next season is still up in the air.

Virginia's 2027 Atlantic Coast Conference football opponents will be N.C. State, Pittsburgh, SMU, Virginia Tech (all at home), Boston College Georgia Tech, Miami and North Carolina (all on the road). The only scheduled date for any of those conference games will be the annual regular-season finale against Virginia Tech on Nov. 27, 2027.

The Cavaliers also opened against a Sun Belt Conference opponent in 2025, routing Coastal Carolina 48-7. They also beat the Chanticleers 43-24 on the road in 2024. Before that, Virginia's previous game against a Sun Belt opponent resulted in a 36-35 loss to James Madison in Scott Stadium in 2023.