The Virginia football team faces William & Mary on Saturday at noon in what is its last non-conference matchup of the regular season. The game coincides with Homecomings weekend at the University where activities such as Young Alumni Reunions (YAR), More Than The Score, UVA Chamber Music Series, and more are on the calendar.
For the Hoos, however, the focus is on breaking a losing string. The program has lost 8 straight games dating back to last October with an 0-5 start in 2023. Virginia dropped 3 games this season by a total of 7 points. That included the last two times opponents came to Scott Stadium as JMU won 36-35 and NC State escaped 24-21.
With the disappointing results on the field, fans sometimes turn even more focus to other aspects of the program. One of the most discussed is always the game day experience. Some recurring themes appeared in this EDGE column earlier in the week, but things like waiting times, food, sound, etc. are what the experience around the game feels like.
There were also these thread starters during the week discussing the stadium audio, other in-state game day experiences, and ideas for toddlers at a game.
- For all our gameday experience and audiophiles … ~ hoosno1
- Went to a Liberty game tonight, their game day experience blows ours away ~ hoolu
- Bringing my toddler to the game … Anybody have tips on how to manage this? ~ rdy7p
A new HooVision and sound upgrade is in the works so some pieces of the atmosphere should improve starting next season. Virginia debuted a new lighting system at the Friday night game with NCSU too. Given those changes, if you could prioritize just one thing to improve (other than team performance of course) next and you were in charge for a day to make it happen, would you go for …
Loading ...In the meantime, get to the stadium, cheer on the Hoos, and check out the weekly fan picks below.
Fan (s) Of The Week
Long-time fans cheering on the Hoos!
Student Fan (s) Of The Week
Smiles from Scott Stadium.
Feature Photo Of The Week
Go Hoos!
When it comes to Power 5 football, UVA is not even in the marketplace.
There is the need for an apocalyptically transformative investment in NIL and all football related resources IF UVA is serious about having a competitive Power 5 program.
This is the only way to attract talent from the portal and out of high school.
There ain’t no other way!
A UVA degree and “Charlottesville is pretty in the fall” does nothing for football success.
The game day experience at Scott Stadium — I hate to write it — is simply awful.
** the traffic to get near the stadium is terrible (even when the stadium is only 30% full!)
** the University will not accommodate gameday parking (all the lots around Grounds are restricted/permit parking only) and, thus, the University does not support the football program and, thus, discourages attendance
** the concessions are terrible: slow, crowded (again, even with no crowd present!), poor service, poor choice, poor quality
** the bathrooms and the causeways are too small, too crowded even with low fan turnout
** and gameday attendance — as is correctly noted — is low and getting worse
Having been to ACC stadiums and Power 5 schools all over the country, I would candidly say that UVA just isn’t competitive on gameday. And that’s not just the team on the field. The whole experience.
If a recruit stands on the sideline in Scott Stadium one week and then the next couple of weeks is at Carter-Finley and then Lane and then — oh gawd — Happy Valley … well, we just lost that kid. The energy in those places is … different.
UVA needs to decide if it wants to be in the game.
If not, just go Patriot League for football and play Colgate, Fordham, American, Lafayette, Holy Cross, etc.