College Football

2013 Virginia football schedule: Opponents, game dates and more

Mike London could use help from the schedule after last season’s results, but, well ... sorry, Mike.

Aug 28, 2013, 8:00 PM UTC

Geoff Burke

Pressure may be mounting on Mike London a bit after the step back that was last year's 4-8 campaign, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the Cavaliers' non-conference schedule, which includes games against BYU and Oregon. Virginia has new coordinators on both sides of the ball, and as unfortunate circumstances would have it, a new starting quarterback. It's tough to imagine a big bounce-back year for London given all of that turnover.

2013 Virginia schedule


Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking
8/31/2013	BYU	Indep.	33
9/7/2013	Oregon	Pac-12	2
9/14/2013	Open date
9/21/2013	VMI	FCS
9/28/2013	at Pittsburgh	ACC	34
10/5/2013	Ball State	MAC	90
10/12/2013	at Maryland	ACC	82
10/19/2013	Duke	ACC	89
10/26/2013	Georgia Tech	ACC	32
11/2/2013	Clemson	ACC	21
11/9/2013	at North Carolina	ACC	29
11/16/2013	Open date
11/23/2013	at Miami	ACC	25
11/30/2013	Virginia Tech	ACC	24
12/7/2013	ACC Championship (Charlotte)
Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking

Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.

More: Visit Streaking The Lawn for comprehensive UVA football coverage.

Mike Rocco and Phillip Sims, who combined to attempt 469 of the team's 474 passes a season ago, are no longer with the program. Rocco transferred out and Sims was an academic casualty, leaving Virginia with precious little experience at the position. And the Cavaliers are stepping right on into the fire -- the BYU and Oregon games are the first two on the slate.

Virginia also does not have an easy path through ACC play; the Cavaliers' five-game stretch to end the season is about as tough as it gets in this league. It begins with Georgia Tech, followed by games against Clemson, North Carolina, Miami and Virginia Tech. UVA does get three of them at home, but if it needs to pick up several wins during this span in order to get bowl eligible, that will be a lot to ask.

All told, the Cavs have eight opponents projected to be top 35 teams by Football Outsiders' F/+ metric. It makes the stretch in early October -- Ball State, Maryland, Duke -- absolutely critical to the fate of their season. They may need wins in all three to improve on 4-8.