When future non-conference games were announced recently with Notre Dame and Liberty, it sparked quite a bit of conversation about the Virginia football program’s scheduling. The Cavaliers will face the Irish in 2019, 2021, 2024, 2026, 2031, 2034, and 2035. They play the Flames in 2018, 2019, and 2027.

This Sabre article talks about the scheduling philosophy a little bit as it appears there is an designed effort to get the program on stable footing again. UVA has posted eight losing records in the last 10 seasons. Message board threads here, here, and here provide some insight into what fans think about the scheduling.

Something not mentioned in The Sabre article I wrote, but that I did mention in this interview with the Best Seat in the House is sort of a “yeah but” reality check: ACC success. It’s definitely important to position the program properly with non-conference scheduling and to discuss – debate? – whether it would be better to play Oregon or Ohio, in Champaign or College Park, between the hedges or between the Rockies. Ultimately, non-conference opponents are the hors d’oeuvres, though.

The entree is the ACC. If any program wants consistency and to make it to bowl eligibility, it must be able to compete within its own conference and win games regularly in that setting. Simply put, UVA has not accomplished that over the last 10 to 15 years. The program’s slide followed.

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