Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Photo: Jamie Holt | UVA Athletics

Virginia’s next home game against Syracuse – also its annual Homecomings game – on Saturday, Oct. 10 will kick off at 7:30 p.m., the Atlantic Coast Conference announced Monday. The seventh all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and Orange and the first in Charlottesville since 2015 will be carried live on ACC Network and the Virginia Sports Radio Network.

Syracuse (1-2, 0-2 ACC) has dropped its last two games to ACC foes Cal (Sept. 12), 21-18, and Pittsburgh (Sept. 19), 27-13. The Orange’s lone win came in their season opener, a 66-3 rout of New Hampshire in the JMA Wireless Dome on Sept. 5. This Saturday (Oct. 3), Syracuse travels to UConn for a noon kickoff on CBS Sports Network.

Both Virginia and Syracuse have three wins each in the all-time series, which began in 1975. The two teams have met only twice as ACC members, in 2015 and 2022. The 2015 meeting stands as the second-longest game in UVA history, a 44-38 triple-overtime thriller that ended with Jordan Ellis’ 3-yard touchdown run in a Homecomings showdown at Scott Stadium.


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In 2022, UVA nearly overcame a 16-point halftime deficit, but Syracuse kicker Andre Szmyt tallied five field goals, including the 31-yard game-winner with just over a minute remaining, as the Orange held on for a 22-20 victory on a Friday night.

Up next, Virginia (3-1, 1-0) travels to Florida State (2-2, 0-1), which snapped a two-game losing skid with a 34-7 victory over Central Arkansas last Saturday (Sept. 26). The Seminoles had previously fallen to then-No. 19 SMU (Sept. 7), 27-24, and then-No. 8 Alabama (Sept. 19), 50-36.

The Seminoles lead the all-time series with the Cavaliers, 15-5, including a 9-1 mark in Tallahassee, but Virginia has won three of the last four meetings. In last year’s double-overtime thriller at Scott Stadium, UVA defeated then-No. 8 FSU, 46-38, as a record 6.9 million viewers watched the Friday night prime-time broadcast on ESPN. The victory came nearly 30 years after the Cavaliers handed the second-ranked Seminoles their first-ever ACC loss in 1995. In UVA’s first and only victory at Doak Campbell Stadium, in 2011, the Cavaliers’ defense held FSU to 34 yards on its final drive, and Seminole placekicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 43-yard, potential game-winning field goal with three seconds remaining as UVA held on for a 14-13 victory.

Game Times & TV Networks for ACC Football Week 5 (Oct. 9-10)
Florida State at Louisville, Friday, October 9, 7pm ET on ESPN – as previously announced
North Carolina at Pitt, noon ET on ESPN or ESPN2 – network designation after the games of 10/3
Wake Forest at NC State, noon ET on The CW
Virginia Tech at Cal, 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT on ESPN2 or ACC Network – network designation after the games of 10/3
Duke at Georgia Tech, 3:30pm ET on ESPN2 or ACC Network – network designation after the games of 10/3
Stanford at Notre Dame, 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT on NBC – as previously announced
Syracuse at Virginia, 7:30pm ET on ACC Network

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!