Following the Friday night game against Wake Forest, Virginia travels to South Florida again (you'll know what I mean in a second) to take on Miami on a Thursday night. Technically, UVa will have one more day to rest and prepare for this game than Miami, but the advantage is more of an illusion than anything because the Hurricanes' opponent the week before is ... Central Connecticut State. So yeah, Miami will probably be preparing for Virginia before Virginia begins preparing for it. Because of a scheduling quirk, UVa is at Miami for the third consecutive year. The past two trips have ended in disappointment -- and not just because they were losses. Virginia lost two utterly winnable games. Despite the hype, Miami has not been anything special -- against UVa at least -- the past seasons. But expectations are high again for the U. When are they not?
When: Sept. 30 (Thursday), 7:30 p.m. Where: Miami
Series record: Miami leads, 11-7
Last meeting: Oct. 24, 2020; Miami won, 19-14 Streak: Two straight for Miami
Last year's record: 8-3, 7-2 ACC; lost to No. 21 Oklahoma State, 37-34, in the Cheez-It Bowl
Best win: vs. Pittsburgh, 31-19; the Panthers finished 6-5.
Worst loss: vs. No. 17 North Carolina, 62-26
Coach: Manny Diaz (third year, 14-10)
Starters returning: 20 (9 offense, 10 defense, 1 specialist)
Offensive player to watch: QB D'Eriq King. In his first season at Miami, King, a Houston transfer, completed 64.1% of his passes for 2,686 yards, 23 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He also rushed for 548 yards and four TDs. King is entering his final season as a Hurricane.
Special teams player to watch: P Lou Hedley. The Aussie averaged 47.3 yards per punt in 2020, the second-best mark in the ACC. He was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's top punter.
Fun fact: Kicker Jose Borregales made 18 of his 20 field goal attempts last season. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in the NFL by the Buccaneers. But Miami will still have a Borregales on the team: Jose's brother, Andres, is a true freshman and was ranked the No. 2 kicker in his class by 247Sports.
Season prediction: Miami is picked second in the Coastal Division behind North Carolina.
Early game thoughts: Bronco Mendenhall beat Miami in 2018, his first win at UVa over a ranked team. Since then, Miami has won consecutive games in the series, a couple of the Cavaliers' poorest efforts in 2019 and 2020. Though the Hurricanes had eight wins last season, not one came over a ranked team, and they had single-digit victories over Virginia, N.C. State, and Virginia Tech. I am probably always bias against Miami, but I am still skeptical of the U being "back" as the pundits say. Curiously enough, the Hurricanes have had really poor finishes in each of the past four seasons despite a few promising starts: 0-2 last year, 0-3 in 2019, 0-1 in 2018 (but 2-5 if you want to count from the UVa loss on; when Virginia hosted the 'Canes that year, they were 5-1; they finished 7-6), and 0-3 in 2017, the year they started 10-0 and got to No. 2 in the country. So they need to figure out what's going on late in the season if they really want to be "back." With King returning and the entire offensive line back as well, Miami will be a challenge to stop. But Virginia owes the 'Canes, so I hope the Cavaliers come up with a good performance.
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