The biggest football game in Charlottesville since 2019 is nigh – with Virginia (3-1, 1-0 ACC) facing #8 Florida State (3-0) in primetime.
The game kicks off in the 7 p.m. ET quarter hour.
We’re happy to be able to tell you, since Disney and ABC came to their senses on the Jimmy Kimmel thing, that the game is being broadcast on ESPN.
For additional perspective, follow me here – I’ll be updating this Live Coverage blog with score updates, stats and analysis, and video highlights, as they are made available.
Details
Series: Florida State leads series, 14-4-0
Last meeting: Virginia, 31-24 (2019)
TV: ESPN
SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 84 | SiriusXM 85 | SiriusXM 193
SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 84 | SiriusXM 955
Line: FSU -7.5
Over/under: 51.5
Projected final score: FSU 28, Virginia 23
Pregame coverage
- UVA Football | First look: ‘Hoos face #8 Florida State on Friday night
- UVA Football | Three things to fix in the short week ahead of #8 Florida State
- UVA vs. Florida State | Injury, availability updates heading into Friday night
- UVA vs. Florida State | News and notes on the ‘Noles heading into primetime matchup
- UVA vs. Florida State | This game is low-key huge for the UVA Football program
- Getting to know: #8 FSU | What to expect from the ‘Noles on Friday night
Podcast
First quarter
Pregame note: Carla Williams should be utterly embarrassed at this turnout. Still selling tickets on the website at jacked-up prices, and the stadium is half-empty at kickoff.
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First possession: UVA picked up a couple of quick first downs, but the drive stalled at midfield. FSU defended a play-action well, then forced an incomplete pass on third-and-long.
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First FSU possession: A offensive PI put the ‘Noles into a third-and-20, and took away a first down in plus territory.
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Three and out for ‘Hoos: Three complete passes result in a fourth-and-3. Squirrel White (All Name Team) made the first line of punt coverage miss, and gained 23 yards on the return, flipping the field.
FSU starts at its 43.
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First turnover: FSU got a block in the back call on a first-down pass. On first-and-20, Gavin Sawchuk fumbled, forced by Anthony Britton, recovered by Camac Fisher at the FSU 38.
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Touchdown ‘Hoos! Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on FSU helped us out there. Sage Ennis 6-yard TD pass from Chandler Morris gets us on the scoreboard.
UVA 7, FSU 0, 5:05/1st
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He’s a TD machine 🎰
Tallahassee native @Sage_Ennis has three TD receptions in his last three appearances 💯
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/ec5tjBGslq
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) September 26, 2025
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Another FSU turnover: Micahi Danzy fumbled after a quick hitch 18-yard gain. Recovered by Devin Neal at the FSU 43.
Then overturned on review. Looks like he was struggling to get control.
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Now we get the TO: First-and-goal FSU at the 5. Ja’Son Prevard, on a safety blitz, batted the pass into the air, then picked it off.
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🚫 BLOCK PARTY, swatted by @PrevardJa 🚫
🤝 That’s his first INT as a Cavalier!
📺 ESPN | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/h7kbzj8a8G
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) September 26, 2025
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Quick recap: Man, FSU can’t stop stepping on its own dicks.
Three penalties for 40 yards – taking away a first down in plus territory, a big gainer on a first down ahead of a turnover, and giving UVA a first down in the red zone.
Then, the two turnovers – giving the UVA offense a short field, and keeping points off the board in the red zone.
Second quarter
Chandler Morris scrambles for a TD: Morris, on third-and-goal from the 11, noticed FSU in man coverage, slipped through the pocket, and outraced everybody to the goal line.
UVA 14, FSU 0, 9:43/2nd
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🚫 BLOCK PARTY, swatted by @PrevardJa 🚫
🤝 That’s his first INT as a Cavalier!
📺 ESPN | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/h7kbzj8a8G
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) September 26, 2025
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FSU answers: Seven-play, 75-yard drive, pretty quick – 2:51.
Third-and-goal at the 2, Gavin Sawchuk, who fumbled earlier, took the direct snap in wildcat, faked the handoff to the wideout in motion, then ran in through the B gap basically untouched.
Good play call.
UVA 14, FSU 7, 6:52/2nd
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Bad, bad, bad. Morris, flushed out of the pocket, badly underthrew a pass into the flat, picked off by FSU’s Edwin Joseph and returned to the UVA 27.
That is not what you’d expect out of a sixth-year QB. Awful decision.
Gotta throw that into the stands and get set for second down.
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Another wildcat TD. This one: tight end Randy Pittman on the direct snap, from two yards out.
Just like that, we’re knotted up.
UVA 14, FSU 14 ,5:29/2nd
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Morris INT’d again. After picking up a first down, Morris forced a ball into coverage downfield, when he had Cam Ross on a deep cross.
INT by FSU’s Elijah Herring. FSU first-and-10 at the UVA 45.
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FSU converts again. ‘Noles had to pick up a fourth-and-5 at the UVA 40. Another rushing TD: Tommy Castellanos from four yards.
FSU 21, UVA 14, 2:32/2nd
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Two-minute timeout: Virginia has a first down at its own 36. Need a score here. FSU gets the ball to start the second half.
No need to push the panic button just yet.
Can still run the ball.
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Good answer: Seven plays, 75 yards, 26-yard TD run by J’Mari Taylor, who had been pretty much bottled up to this point.
The other key play: a 28-yard catch-and-run from Morris to Trell Harris.
UVA 21, FSU 21, 0:48/2nd
First half recap
Lots of stepping on own dicks here, by both sides.
FSU flitted its way to a 14-0 deficit with two turnovers and three ill-timed penalties.
Virginia got the ‘Noles back into it with two bad-idea INTs from Chandler Morris, who was otherwise pretty good – 19-of-25, 148 yards, a TD pass and a TD run.
We’re 21-21 at the break.
Total offense: FSU 262, UVA 229
Third quarter
UVA D holds: FSU drove inside the UVA 30, but the D got stops on second and third down, and then the kicker, Jake Weinberg, missed from 45.
If you read my preview of the FSU side, you would have known that Weinberg is untested.
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Virginia eats clock, grinds out TD: 12 plays, 74 yards, 6:13 off the clock – one of the plays was a pass: a third-down conversion to Trell Harris that went for eight yards.
Morris kept and scored on third-and-goal from the FSU 7.
UVA 28, FSU 21, 3:45/3rd
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FSU answers: seven plays, 75 yards. Another TD out of the wildcat, this one a 4-yard TD pass by the tight end, Randy Pittman Jr., to Duce Robinson.
Almost through three here.
UVA 28, FSU 28, 0:18/3rd
Fourth quarter
That was a march: 16 plays, 75 yards, 7:58 off the clock.
A Morris TD run was called back on a chintzy holding call. Next play: Morris to Xavier Brown on a wheel route for a 15-yard TD pass.
UVA 35, FSU 28, 7:20/4th
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Chandler ➡️ X 🙌
HOOS LEAD IT 35-28 IN THE FOURTH!@XavierBrown22 | @Chandleram4
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/LD9dXTevJM
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) September 27, 2025
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UVA D holds on fourth-and-1 at the 22: For some reason, FSU called a play-action. Absolute brain-dead play call there.
UVA D holds.
UVA 35, FSU 28, 2:43/4th
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Need two first downs to clinch this one.
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Here we go: FSU has a first down at its own 49 at the two-minute timeout.
They’re out of timeouts, so if they turn the ball over, it’s game over.
Everything is available to them in the playbook at this field position.
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FSU gets the equalizer on fourth-and-goal: Fourth-and-goal from the 11, Castellanos escaped the pocket, and found Pittman in the left near corner of the end zone.
UVA 35, FSU 35, 0:36/4th
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Morris INT’d at the FSU 30, ‘Noles down the ball, we’re headed to OT.
OT
The all-important coin toss – won by UVA.
FSU gets the ball first.
Jake Weinberg good from 36, Will Bettridge good from 39.
FSU caught a break: there should have been a defensive PI on the third-down pass to Dakota Twitty.
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Second OT: Morris scored on a keeper, and the rule in OT is, you have to go for two beginning in the second OT.
Morris connected with Trell Harris for the two.
FSU got to fourth-and-12 at its 27. Rudzinski blitzed, forced the ball out of Castellanos’s hands, INT’d by Ja’Son Prevard.
Ballgame!!!!!!
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Chris Graham
