We really want to give Tony Elliott a mulligan for his first year at Virginia. Nothing really went to plan, though it all paled with the nightmare of last November 13 when three Cavaliers players (Lavel Davis, Jr, Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry) were killed and another (Mike Hollins) badly wounded in an on-campus shooting. Such was the pall around campus and so disconcerting were the events that the final two games of Virginia's football season would be cancelled. When the calendar turned to 2023, it provided an opportunity in Charlottesville to move 2022 well back in the rear-view mirror.

For our purposes relating to on-field action, however, we have rarely been less enthused, or more startled, about the immediate direction of a program -- downward, it seems, in this case. In the "startled" category because two well-regarded aides and coordinators from Dabo Swinney's Clemson staff, Elliott and Brent Venables (Oklahoma), would struggle so much in their new assignments (not the first time this has happened to a Dabo disciple; refer to Jeff Scott's recent aborted tenure at South Florida). Our first inkling that things might be amiss with the Hoos came at ACC Media Day at Charlotte last July, when the soft-spoken Elliott announced that he was ditching the Air Raid-style offense of predecessor Bronco Mendenhall, who unexpectedly stepped down after the preceding 2021 campaign.

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Virginia's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the ACC season.

ACC preview: Conference winner | Boston College | Clemson | Duke | Florida State | Georgia Tech | Louisville | Miami | NC State | North Carolina | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | Virginia | Virginia Tech | Wake Forest

2023 Virginia at a glance

• Last Year: 3-7 SU, 4-6 ATS, 2-7-1 O/U
  
• Returning Starters: Offense 3; Defense 8
• Win Total: 3.5 (Over +120, Under -140)
  

What do you need to know about Virginia before locking in your ACC futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see ACC futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!