One of the challenges Coach Tony Elliott and Virginia faced before the season was adjusting to success and everything that comes with it.
“The hardest part is handling success,” Elliott said prior to this offseason’s spring game. “We have to go create this team's identity … We got to start over, we got to double down on our core values and we got to create an identity for this team based off of the foundation that's been laid from a program standpoint.”
The Cavaliers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) have handled success by getting more of it thus far — they achieved a plus-82 scoring differential through their first two games. Failure and the need to adjust to failure, however, has come knocking early in the season with a multi-score loss to West Virginia.
“I didn’t eat after the game,” Elliott said in Sept. 22 availability. “I didn’t sleep much. I probably lost about six pounds, and I can see that agony in the folks around the building. There’s an expectation — we created that. Now the problem is, we got to feed that monster.”
The monster’s first meal is a deceptively challenging matchup against Delaware in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Blue Hens (2-1, 0-0 CUSA) are not merely an appetizer — they possess an impressive plus-34 scoring differential, and their only defeat came with a narrow 35-26 defeat courtesy of a respectable opponent in Vanderbilt.
Part of what makes Delaware dangerous is something it shares in common with the Cavaliers — how much the ball is spread around in their offense. Four different players have reached the end zone on the ground and they already have three players with over 100 receiving yards.
One to watch is senior receiver Da’Wain Lofton, who has averaged 19.8 — within the top 40 in FBS — yards per reception on only 13 catches. Lofton had his best game of the season thus far against Vanderbilt, where he snagged the ball four times for 142 yards and a touchdown. He possesses a similar build to senior West Virginia receiver DJ Epps, who burned Virginia’s secondary for 92 yards and two touchdowns with only three receptions last weekend.
“You cut on the tape and you watch Delaware … versus Vanderbilt,” Elliott said. “You see how competitive that game is, how physical these guys play … You better buckle your chinstrap watching the film. Defensively, they are going to come after you. Offensively, they got the skill.”
The Cavaliers’ own offense will likely aim for a more efficient day than they had in the loss, especially from fifth-year quarterback Beau Pribula, who completed less than 65 percent of his passes for the first time this season and averaged only six yards per attempt. Pribula struggled with efficiency across the closing stretch of his Missouri tenure as he battled injury, completing less than 60-percent of his passes in all but one of his final five starts.
The defense has room to bounce back as well. Just as 2025 NC State, led by a pair of then-sophomores in quarterback CJ Bailey and running back Hollywood Smothers, dominated on the ground, the Mountaineers mercilessly pounded the Virginia defensive front en route to victory last weekend. Sophomore quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. and senior running back Cam Cook ran for 123 yards apiece, with the former waltzing into the endzone three times throughout the night.
In their first game away from Scott Stadium, Virginia suffered their first loss of the season ahead of their next matchup, the U.Va. Strong Game, with a string of conference showdowns laying ahead. When the 2025 Cavaliers faced this scenario, they trounced William & Mary 55-16 to kick off a 9-1 run to end the regular season, only allowing two additional opponents to gain more than 150 yards and holding five opponents to under 100 yards on the ground.
The 2026 Cavaliers have a chance to rebound similarly.
Virginia faces Delaware Saturday — the kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. at Scott Stadium. It will be their final non-conference matchup of the season, with a road trip against Florida State looming.
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