In another world, Virginia football kicks off its 2026 season with a feat of logistical incomprehensibility. Fifth-year quarterback Beau Pribula makes his Cavalier debut after travelling almost 5,000 miles south to an unfamiliar stadium. Dedicated Virginia fans pack their passports to see their beloved program — fresh off of a historic 11-3 season — play a non-conference game.
In another world, Virginia cheerleading, the Cavalier Marching Band and Director of Equipment Operations Matthew Althoff’s team built a mind-boggling travel plan to prepare for game one of the 2026 football campaign. Third-year tight end John Rogers is playing in front of Brazilian extended family. In another world, Saturday’s matinee between the Cavaliers and NC State is played in Rio de Janeiro.
But that is another world — not this one.
Instead, Pribula and his teammates will take the field following a five-minute bus ride from the Molly and Robert Hardie Football Operations Center. Orange attire will fill the seats of Scott Stadium, as the program has achieved its first sellout since 2008. Virginia cheerleading, the Cavalier Marching Band and Althoff and co. are doing what they have done dozens of times before. Rogers will have to wait a little longer for his Rio de Janeiro debut. Instead, the Cavaliers will welcome the Wolfpack to Charlottesville.
On one hand, Virginia will not become the guinea pig for college football’s first ever South American soirée. This comes following the announcement and subsequent cancellation of a great experiment in college athletics — the latter occurring after event organizer Athlete Advantage announced that the contest could not move forward in Brazil. On the other hand, the program now has the opportunity to play its most anticipated season-opener of the Tony Elliott era in front of the raucous Virginia faithful.
“I just know I’m happy we’re playing at home,” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “In front of our fans. An orange out. An ACC opponent that’s three-and-a-half hours away from us, and we get to do it here in Scott Stadium. Can’t ask for a better opportunity than that for this University, for this program and for this community.”
This is a team coming off its first 11-win season in program history. International or not, the opener will look different than it did in years past. As will the expectations. As will the media coverage. But in the face of such unprecedented complexity, the Cavaliers are keeping it simple.
That adjective — simple — is a descriptor one may hear all throughout the Virginia facility. In fact, the program’s motto for the upcoming year is “A, B, C, one, two, three.”
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Elliott said. “Let’s get better at the little things.”
Aside from its ode to elementary education, the Virginia mantra carries an additional meaning. Per Elliott, the letters “A, B, C” stand for “attitude, belief and connection.” The “1, 2, 3” signifies that only two Cavalier football teams have taken home conference titles — in 1989 and 1995. Should the 2026 squad live up to its mantra-driven aspirations, this iteration could be the third.
The program’s path toward ACC Championship victory number three begins this weekend. Elliott will debut an arsenal of newcomers for the eyes of ESPN’s Saturday afternoon viewers. With more than two dozen incoming transfers, that arsenal is deep. Few members, however, will draw more attention than Pribula and fourth-year running back Jekail Middlebrook.
As the starting members of the Cavalier backfield, Pribula and Middlebrook are the keys to simplicity for a Virginia team seeking exactly that. No pair of Elliott’s players will possess the ball more. No one is likely to see more opportunities, nor will they see more camera time.
Without former sixth-year wide receiver Jahmal Edrine and third-year running back Solomon Beebe — who is suspended during the Cavalier opener — even more will fall on the skill position leaders of the Virginia offense.
Pribula and Middlebrook, however, may be just the players to do it. The former threw for almost 2,000 yards for Missouri last season. Three of his last six games came against then-No. 10 Vanderbilt, then-No. 8 Oklahoma and then-No. 3 Texas A&M. Middlebrook, on the other hand, gained over 1,100 all-purpose yards for Middle Tennessee State in 2025 en route to an Honorable Mention All-CUSA honor.
If Pribula and Middlebrook play true to form — and play simply — the rest of the orange and blue will have no problem following suit.
NC State will demand much of the pair. In the Cavaliers’ 2025 matchup with the Wolfpack, then-graduate quarterback Chandler Morris logged 30 completions — his highest mark all season and the fifth-most of his career. Additionally, then-graduate running back J’Mari Taylor rushed for 150 yards, also the most in his First-Team All-ACC campaign. Despite such performances, Virginia fell 31-35.
Pribula and Middlebrook playing simply — and true to form — is thus not all of the battle. Just as important for the Cavaliers is stifling an explosive NC State offense.
The offense in need of stifling might as well have a first and last name. That offense stands at 6-foot-6, hails from Miami and wears number 11. That offense is junior quarterback CJ Bailey. Bailey is a three-year starter for the Wolfpack who can make plays both through the air and with his legs.
He proved it last year against Virginia. In that Sept. 6 affair, Bailey threw for 200 yards and a touchdown — a solid, not earth-shattering, performance for a quarterback. But Bailey did that while rushing for 44 yards on the ground, finding the end zone on two of six rushing attempts. Few quarterbacks can hurt a defense so much.
“It just reminds me of playing [Green Bay Packers quarterback] Jordan Love,” Virginia defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said of Bailey. “He can make all the throws. Super strong arm. Can throw off the platform. Can extend plays with his feet. Like he did last year, he can take a draw and make it a 30-yard play.”
Luckily for the Cavaliers, Elliott likes where his pass rush stands. And it may feature Kam Robinson, fourth-year linebacker and Preseason All-ACC honoree, back for the first time since suffering a torn ACL against Duke last November. Whether a true game-time decision or just smoke and mirrors from Elliott, it is likely that no announcement will be made on Robinson’s status until he walks on to the field — in a uniform or in street clothes — today. But if active, Robinson makes the defensive gameplan a fair bit simpler.
So as Virginia prepares for its location-shifting opener, as the program puts on what Elliott deemed the “biggest” recruiting weekend since he’s been here, and as a flurry of new Cavaliers walk on to David A. Harrison III Field for the first time, the story is all about keeping it simple.
“A, B, C, one, two, three.”
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