Virginia (1-0) hosts Delaware. No market line yet; the model calls it close to even.
What’s at stake
Make the CFP field
Win the conference
Win it all
CFP odds as of September 3, 2026
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Delaware
The chip · vs the national mediaDelaware arrived in the FBS with more championship history than most of the programs it now plays, and outsiders still talk about FCS-to-FBS jumps as programs proving themselves from scratch. The 68 Ventures Bowl win, in year one, against a bid nobody guaranteed them, was the fanbase's answer.
What this game touches
The 2007 national championship game loss to Appalachian State. Joe Flacco's Delaware team reached the FCS national championship game in 2007 and lost 49-21 to Appalachian State -- the program's clearest recent shot at a seventh national title, and the closest the Flacco era came to matching the Tubby Raymond-era championship standard.
Virginia
The chip · vs the national mediaCavalier fans spent years hearing their program treated as an afterthought at the bottom of the ACC. They say 2025 — eleven wins, a bowl scalp of an SEC team — was the answer to everyone who assumed Virginia football would never amount to anything.
Best players
Virginia
- Caleb Hardy (LB) · 1 sacks
- Jaylen Jones (S) · 1 sacks
- Myles Brown (LB) · 8 tackles
Delaware
- Ja'Carree Kelly (WR) · 123 receiving yards
- Kion Wright (DL) · 3 tackles
- A'Khoury Lyde (CB) · 2 tackles
The line, and the room
Delaware fans are feeling better about their season (74th percentile) than Virginia fans are (42nd) — even with Virginia favored here.
Conditions
Virginia is 66% at home, 36% on the road since 2018 (35-18 home, 14-25 away).