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2011 Virginia Football Schedule Announced
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Atlantic Coast Conference released the 2011 football schedules for the league’s 12 schools today. Virginia’s slate features 12 regular season games, including seven home contests and a Thursday night appearance on ESPN. Starting times for all contests and the home game designated for Homecomings will be announced at a later date.
The Cavaliers will face four teams that finished in the final Associated Press and USA Today football polls last season, a total of nine squads that played in postseason bowl games or the FCS Playoffs and one first-time opponent.
Virginia kicks off its campaign at home for the fourth-consecutive season when it plays host to William & Mary on Sept. 3. The game will mark the 34th meeting between the Tribe and Cavaliers. William & Mary returns 13 starters from an 8-4 team that finished 10th in the final Football Championship Subdivision poll in 2010.
The Cavaliers travel to Indiana on Sept. 10. It will be Virginia’s second-ever game in the state of Indiana (Purdue 1968) and its first against a Big Ten member since topping the Hoosiers 47-7 at Scott Stadium in 2009. UVa is 5-11 all-time against the Big Ten and is making its first trip to one of its league members since playing at Penn State in 2002. The contest will give UVa tight end Colter Phillips a chance to face his younger brother Paul, a freshman tight end who redshirted for the Hoosiers in 2010.
UVa opens ACC play on Sept. 17 when the Cavaliers travel to North Carolina for the 116th renewal of the South’s oldest rivalry. The Tar Heels are coming off an 8-5 season in 2010 and a 30-27 triumph in overtime against Tennessee in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.
Southern Miss comes to Scott Stadium on Sept. 24, returning UVa’s 2009 trip to Hattiesburg. Virginia fell in that contest, 37-34. Southern Miss is coming off an 8-5 campaign and an appearance in the 2010 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. The 2011 contest with UVa will be the Golden Eagles’ first in the state of Virginia since losing at Virginia Tech in 2006. The Golden Eagles are 18-23-1 all-time against the ACC.
Virginia’s lone first-time opponent of 2011 comes to Charlottesville on Oct. 1 when the Idaho Vandals visit Scott Stadium. Idaho returns 13 starters off its 6-7 squad in 2010. Virginia is 2-1 all-time against members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and 1-1 against current members. UVa defeated BYU in the 1987 All-American Bowl before the Cougars left the league. Virginia’s last WAC opponent was Fresno State in the 2004 MPC Computers Bowl game, coincidently the only time Virginia has played a contest in the state of Idaho. Idaho’s 2011 date in Charlottesville is the Vandals’ first-ever in the state of Virginia and the first against an active member of the ACC.
Georgia Tech, which completed a 6-7 campaign in 2010 and made an appearance against the Air Force Academy in the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, will travel to Scott Stadium on Oct. 15 after UVa’s bye week on Oct. 8. Georgia Tech led the nation with 323.3 rushing yards per game in 2010.
Virginia hosts NC State on Oct. 22 for the first meeting in the series since 2007. The Wolfpack’s last trip to Scott Stadium was in 2006 when the Cavaliers were victorious, 14-7. NC State finished 2010 with a 9-4 record and a victory over West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Wolfpack finished 2010 at No. 25 in the final AP rankings.
Virginia heads to Miami on Oct. 27 to face the Miami Hurricanes in a Thursday night ESPN game. Former UVa assistant coach Al Golden takes over a Hurricanes program that finished 7-6 with a season-ending setback to Notre Dame in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.
The Cavaliers head to College Park on Nov. 5 to face Maryland. The Terrapins enjoyed one of the better turnarounds in the nation in 2010 finishing 9-4 with a victory over Eastern Carolina in the Military Bowl. New head coach Randy Edsall takes over a program that finished No. 23 in the final AP rankings.
Duke, coming off a 3-9 finish in 2010, comes to Charlottesville on Nov. 12.
The battle for the Jefferson-Eppes Trophy will take place on Nov. 19 when UVa travels to Florida State. The contest marks the 17th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and Seminoles and the first in Tallahassee since 2006. Led by Jimbo Fisher, Florida State is coming off a 10-4 campaign in 2010 and a 26-17 victory over No. 20 South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Seminoles finished 2010 ranked No. 17 in the final AP rankings.
The Cavaliers wrap up the 2011 regular season in Charlottesville on Nov. 26 when Virginia Tech comes to town to clash in the annual Commonwealth Cup contest. The Hokies went 11-3 and won the ACC championship in 2010. Virginia Tech finished No. 16 in the AP poll after losing to Stanford in the Orange Bowl.
UVa does not face ACC opponents Boston College, Clemson or Wake Forest in 2011.
Football season ticket holders from 2010 will receive renewal application information in mid-March. The season ticket order and seating priority deadline will be April 30. New buyers may also order starting mid-March and should order by the April 30 deadline to maximize seating priority.