The first half of the season has come to an end for the Virginia football team. Heading into the bye week, coach Tony Elliott and his team carried a record of 1-5, the team’s worst start since 1982. Games have been close, but Virginia has struggled in end of game situations and hasn’t been able to pull out those tough wins. Fans didn’t exactly have high hopes, but this season has surely been disappointing in the sense that it seems like this team has taken a step backwards from last year.

Saturday’s matchup won’t be an easy one as Virginia travels to Chapel Hill to take on the 6-0 and No. 10 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. It’ll be the 128th meeting between these two schools in what is known as the South’s Oldest Rivalry. UNC is led by Drake Maye, a redshirt sophomore quarterback who is one of the best in the country. Maye and the offense tear apart opposing defenses. UVA’s defense will have to play its best game of the season just to have a shot at winning.

As Virginia prepares for the second half of the season, the focus has to be on development and getting better. It would be great to win a couple of these last games, but the schedule is not very easy with tough road games at UNC and Miami up next. Coach Elliott needs to focus on developing his younger players. This will help show recruits that Virginia is a place they want to come.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, let’s learn more about the seventh game of the 2023 season in the game preview.

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