UVA Athletics and JMU Athletics announced today that their respective football programs will meet in a non-conference matchup in Scott Stadium in the 2028 season.
A date for the game has not been set.
You’ll want to pay attention to the date – and the weather forecast.
“This game is good for both programs, both of our respective fan bases, and the Commonwealth at large,” JMU AD Matt Roan said in a press release from his department. “We look forward to playing in Charlottesville in 2028 in front of a great crowd.”
The press release from UVA Athletics didn’t include any comment from AD Carla Williams.
Guess we’re not looking forward to this one as much as they are.
The two schools last played each other in 2023, back when Curt Cignetti was still a coach known for his success at the FCS level – he had led Elon to two FCS playoff appearances, then after getting the job at JMU in 2019, took the Dukes to the FCS title game and then back-to-back national semifinals.
He’s gone on to bigger and better.
Wonder where he’d be now if there hadn’t been a thunderstorm early in the fourth quarter of the UVA-JMU game in their Week 2 game, played on Sept. 9, 2023?
ICYMI
Before the hour-and-ten-minute weather delay, Virginia had an 11-point lead, and momentum.
After a big first quarter, in which the Dukes had put up 130 yards of total offense, on its way to a 17-7 lead, the offense sputtered, gaining a total of 124 yards in the second and third quarters combined, as UVA outscored the Dukes 28-7 to go up 35-24 at the end of three.
The weather delay gave Cignetti and his staff a chance to regroup, and they took advantage.
“I thought the break had the potential to help us being down, we could make a few adjustments, but also kind of fix what was going on between their ears,” Cignetti said.
ICYMI
The final play before the stadium was cleared due to lightning in the area was a 69-yard Daniel Sparks punt.
The first JMU drive after play resumed saw the Dukes go 80 yards on eight plays, culminating in a 27-yard TD run by Ty Son Lawton.
Virginia, then, when it got the ball back, needed to eat some clock, but, didn’t, and after the JMU D got the stop, the offense got the ball back at its 20, and went 80 yards on eight plays again, getting the go-ahead score with 55 seconds left on a 10-yard TD pass from Jordan McCloud to Kaelon Black.
“I saw them sort of taking it to us, and some frustration on our guys,” Cignetti said. “Our guys were at one point a little tired, and you have to learn how to play well when you’re tired. You can’t have undisciplined penalties and make mistakes and miss assignments. So, this game, was a chance to sort of regroup a little bit, and I think was beneficial for us.”
This was the game where UVA Football alum Ahmad Hawkins, now the analyst on the radio broadcasts, gave me hell for quoting accurately what Virginia coach Tony Elliott said after the game about what was going on in his locker room during the delay.
ICYMI
Remember that?
I know I won’t forget.
“That’s a challenging situation to manage, because you don’t know how long it is. You’re trying to get the guys refueled and rested. You want them to stay locked in, so you’re trying to keep them off their phones and keep them focused,” Elliott said.
What got me in trouble was this observation at the end of the column on the whole episode:
The JMU side took the weather delay as an opportunity to dig down deep; the UVA side was worried about their damn phones.
Cignetti’s 2023 team went on to finish 11-2; he personally went on to take the job at Indiana, which he took to an 11-2 finish and CFP appearance in Year 1, in 2024, and then a 16-0 record and national title in 2025.
If there’s no lightning to give Cignetti a chance to regroup, does his 2023 team win 11 games – the Dukes needed divine intervention to beat a Virginia team that went on to finish 3-9, and had one-score wins over two other teams (Utah State, ODU) that finished with losing records?
An early loss to a bad UVA team maybe sets a different tone going forward.
Bigger question, then: is Cignetti the coach at IU without the weather delay?
I guess what I’m getting at here is, 2028 will be Year 3 for Billy Napier, who took the job at JMU after flailing at Florida.
Whatever the date is for the UVA-JMU game in 2028, circle it on the calendar, and pay attention to the weather forecast.
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Chris Graham
