Virginia was hoping that today would be the day where they found out where they would be heading for the College Football Playoff, but after being upset last night by Duke, the Cavaliers are not going to be going to CFP. They should get one of the ACC’s better bowl games, but considering the stakes of yesterday’s game, today might feel a little disappointing.

For Virginia and the rest of the ACC teams, it could be chaotic in terms of where they end up this postseason.

There is a chance the ACC gets zero, one, or two teams in the playoff. After the results of yesterday, will Miami get in as an at-large? Will Duke get in over James Madison as the last conference champion in the field? Is there a world in which they both get in? Not only that, but what about Notre Dame? The Fighting Irish are eligible for ACC bowl spots, and if they are left out in favor of Miami and Alabama, that would also complicate the picture.

Given all of that, here are the final bowl projections for UVA heading into selection Sunday.

Projections

Athlon Sports

Athlon Sports is projecting for Virginia to play in the Pop Tarts Bowl and face Big 12 runner up BYU. In their projection, neither Miami or Duke get into the CFP.

The Athletic

Scott Dochterman at The Athletic has Virginia going to San Diego to play in the Holiday Bowl against Arizona. The Wildcats went 9-3 in a big bounce back year and have a potent offense.

CBS Sports

Brad Crawford at CBS Sports also has Virginia going to the Pop Tarts Bowl to face BYU.

ESPN

The two analysts at ESPN are split on where Virginia is going to be playing this postseason. Kyle Bonagura projects that UVA is going to the Pop-Tarts Bowl to face TCU, while Mark Schlabach is projecting Virginia to go to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to face Georgia Tech. That would be a unique scenario and an intriguing matchup.

Final Word

The playoff field is going to determine everything. If either Miami or Duke gets in, or neither of them does, it is going to make for a chaotic bowl picture. Lots of destinations are seemingly on the table for Virginia. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl, the Gator Bowl, the Pop Tarts Bowl, the Holiday Bowl, the Sun Bowl, and even the Pinstripe Bowl could be possibilities for the Yellow Cavaliers. It seems impossible to project right now, and that will be the case right up until the announcement. Another thing to watch is if the SEC can’t fill up their bowl slots, and then look to some ACC teams.

More Virginia Football News:

A Power Four conference champion will be determined tonight — though depending on the result, the winner of the game may not come with a College Football Playoff berth.

The 2025 ACC football season will wrap up on Saturday, Dec. 6 with the league’s championship game between No. 16 Virginia (No. 17 CFP) and Duke taking place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Watch the ACC championship game on Fubo (free trial)

The Cavaliers have been one of the best stories in college football this season, with a 10-2 record after going just 11-23 in their previous three seasons under coach Tony Elliott. It’s Virginia’s first 10-win season since 1989. One of those victories came against its Saturday opponent: a 34-17 win against the Blue Devils on Nov. 15.

Duke is in the ACC championship game despite finishing just 7-5 in the regular season. A 6-2 record in conference play, however, sent it to Charlotte after a convoluted series of tiebreakers notably left out No. 13 Miami (No. 12 CFP).

CFP predictions: Llive bracket projections for 12-team field

If the Blue Devils manage to get a different result in the second matchup between the teams, it’s quite possible that the ACC will get left out of the 12-team playoff, which gives berths to the five highest-ranked conference champions. Duke wasn’t ranked in the latest top 25 from the playoff selection committee, putting it behind No. 25 James Madison, the Sun Belt champion.

USA TODAY is bringing you live updates, scores and highlights from the game. Follow along:

This section will be updated throughout the game.

Given its proximity to Washington, D.C., Virginia has long had a reputation for its off-year elections swinging to whatever political party does not control the White House. After four years of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin—whose victory came on the back of Joe Biden’s first year as president—the commonwealth went strongly Democratic this year, electing incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger amid President Donald Trump’s second term.

Virginia Democrats now have a trifecta in Richmond, and political winds suggest that this could finally spell the end of right-to-work in the state, after nearly 80 years of the law being on the books. 

Spanberger’s term doesn’t start until January, but state Democratic lawmakers have already introduced right-to-work repeal legislation that they hope to send to her desk. So far, Spanberger claims to oppose right-to-work’s repeal, but the coming weeks will show if she reverts to her career-long pro-union track record.

In late November, State Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D–Woodbridge) introduced Senate Bill 32, which would repeal Virginia’s right-to-work law that prevents private sector workers from being forced to join a union or pay union agency fees as a condition of employment. During her gubernatorial campaign, Spanberger reiterated numerous times that she did not support repealing Virginia’s right-to-work law, saying that supporting repeal was a false litmus test for being pro-worker.

“I know there are those who think you can be pro-business or pro-union….I reject that idea,” said Spanberger in a campaign trail speech to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. After the introduction of Foy’s repeal bill, a Spanberger spokesperson told the media the incoming governor “does not support repealing the current statute.”

But it’s unclear exactly what Spanberger does support, and a more granular reading of her campaign trail pledge leaves notable wiggle room. In her statements during the election, she claimed she did not support “full repeal,” while leaving the door open by saying “reforms may be necessary.”

Although it’s unclear what “partial” right-to-work repeal might look like, one potential clue may come from Virginia’s not-too-distant past. In 2020, then-Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D–Springfield) introduced legislation that was billed as a “partial repeal” of Virginia’s right-to-work law in that it did not force workers to join a union but could require the compulsory collection of so-called “agency fees” from non-union members.

Agency fees function as a union workaround for workers who refuse to join a union by still putting them on the hook to financially contribute to the union. In the 2018 case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this practice for public sector employees as a violation of First Amendment rights, but agency fees can still be collected in the private sector if permitted under state law. A similar approach to Saslaw’s prior effort could perhaps be used by Virginia Democrats to effectively gut right-to-work, while simultaneously claiming it does not technically constitute Spanberger reneging on her campaign promise.

Past right-to-work repeal bills in Virginia have had a poor track record, even among state Democrats. A 2021 repeal bill was voted down in resounding—and bipartisan—fashion by a tally of 88–13 in the House of Delegates. But since that time, numerous moderate Democrats have retired from the state legislature, making it far from certain what a vote might look like now.

For her part, Spanberger’s past record includes cosponsoring the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act while serving in the House of Representatives. The PRO Act, which included a laundry list of pro-union desires, was notable for containing provisions that would have effectively overridden state-level right-to-work laws. The incoming governor also received substantial support from labor unions, including AFSCME, during her campaign.

Spanberger is right that the choice between being pro-business and pro-worker is often a false dichotomy. But there are better ways to strike this balance than “partial” repeals of right-to-work. For instance, Virginia could look to its neighbor, Maryland, where Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has initiated a portable benefits pilot program for gig economy workers. Portable benefit models allow gig workers to use Simplified Employee Pension-style funds to purchase benefits on exchanges, which they can then take with them from job to job.

As workers increasingly show a preference for flexible work and scheduling autonomy—which often means more gig and freelancing work—this is the type of pro-worker reform that moves labor policy into the 21st century, instead of staying stuck in the labor battles of yesteryear. In addition to Maryland, deep red states like Tennessee and Utah have also implemented portable benefit models, suggesting the bipartisan appeal of such an approach.

We’ll soon see if Virginia holds the line or becomes the second state since Michigan in 2023 to repeal right-to-work. Whatever happens, Virginia’s—and America’s—labor policy debate is badly in need of an update.