College Football Rankings 2020: Projected preseason Top 25 sans Pac-12, Big Ten
By Zach Bigalke
24. Virginia Cavaliers
- Where they were ranked in the 2019 preseason: 32nd (44 points)
- Where they were ranked at the end of 2019: 29th (28 points)
- Where they were in our way-too-early Top 25: unranked
- Where they ranked in the preseason Coaches Poll: 37th (13 points)
Under normal circumstances, defending ACC Coastal champion Virginia wouldn’t come within sniffing distance of the preseason AP Top 25. The 2019 Cavaliers depended heavily on quarterback Bryce Perkins to drive their offense, as the veteran accounted for 79 percent of the team’s total yardage. Perkins threw for 3530 yards and led the team in rushing with another 769 yards on the ground.
Perkins is no longer in Charlottesville, though, and Virginia’s offense will have to make that up somehow. Either redshirt sophomore Brennan Armstrong, who went 15-of-20 for 196 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in limited play last season, or Mississippi State transfer Keytaon Thompson will likely get take over the starting role vacated by Perkins.
The Cavaliers do boast one of the most experienced returning defenses in all of college football. That unit will hope to make strides after holding teams to a respectable but hardly dominant 372 yards and 27 points per game. It was enough to win the Coastal last season, but with the ACC going to a no-division format for 2020 the Cavaliers can’t hide in the weaker division.
Still, with 26 Power Five teams off the table, there should be room for Bronco Mendenhall’s squad to jump up into one of the last few spots in the preseason poll.