CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Around the ACC, from Durham to Dallas, through Atlanta and Louisville and Pittsburgh, they’re doing the calculations, dissecting the machinations, determining their teams’ paths to a spot in the conference championship game.

In Charlottesville, no higher math is needed. Things are simple.

Sweep Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia Tech, and Virginia is the ACC regular-season champion and will play in the league title game for the first time since 2019.

Unlike the rest of the ACC, UVA doesn’t need a map to Charlotte.

“This is go time,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “This is where we have to be trying to prime up and get rolling on all cylinders.”

A seventh straight victory – Saturday afternoon’s 31-21 road win at Cal – kept UVA in control of its own destiny in the conference race. Saturday night’s North Carolina State upset of previously undefeated Georgia Tech put the Cavaliers (8-1, 5-0 ACC) alone atop the league standings.

UVA is 8-1 for the first time since 1990, equaled its longest winning streak since 2007 and is 5-0 in the ACC for the first time ever. Its lone loss came by six points at State in a non-league game the schools agreed to play to have another power conference game on their schedules.

Elliott had won six conference games through his first three seasons leading UVA. His team is one win league win away from equaling that this year going into Saturday night’s home game against Wake Forest.

The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season will be released Tuesday and the Cavaliers – for the first time ever – figure to be included. Georgia Tech and Louisville, the ACC’s next two candidates, are likely to be on the outside looking in, at least for these initial rankings.

Those teams, along with Duke, Pittsburgh and SMU, all have one league loss and are still very much alive in what figures to be a compelling race for the ACC title game. Even two-loss Miami could still be a factor.

But no one has the prime position Virginia enjoys. Two of its final three regular season games will be at home at Scott Stadium, where its 5-0 so far this year. Two of its final three foes (Wake Forest and Virginia Tech) have losing records in league play at the moment.

The Nov. 15 game at Duke looks like the toughest remaining hurdle to clear, and UVA has beaten the Blue Devils in eight of the teams’ last nine meetings.

These are the kind of details that have Cavalier fans salivating heading toward Thanksgiving … and exactly the type of information Elliott wants his players to ignore.

“Just keep the main thing the main thing,” Elliott said after linebacker Kam Robinson’s interception and touchdown return sealed a fifth-straight tight affair for UVA. “At the end of the day, all that stuff down the road don’t matter if you don’t take care of the business in front of you.”

Elliott, who became a first-time head coach when he took the UVA post before the 2022 season, said he reflects on the lessons he learned as an assistant at Clemson, his alma mater, as he’s guiding the Cavaliers on their title drive.

He worked there, under Dabo Swinney, from 2011-2021, helping the Tigers win six ACC titles and two national championships.

“I’ve leaned a lot on the many things that I observed, and watched and listened and heard Coach Swinney do with the teams that I was a part of,” Elliott said.

He’s told his players to “simplify their life” and “cut off social media.” He’s warned them that outside noise – from family, friends and media – will only intensify over the final month as chatter about championships and playoff bids get louder and louder.

Now, he needs them to do the two things he said they’ve done all year – listen and believe.

After that, the path is simple.