Virginia is 0-2 in the ACC, and both losses were by 20 points. And reporters are still asking Bronco Mendenhall and UVA players about winning the Coastal Division.
As if.
How about making an opponent punt before the fourth quarter, before we go about winning the division?
“It’s definitely frustrating, but, you know, you’ve just got to put it behind you,” linebacker Noah Taylor said after the 37-17 loss to Wake Forest Friday night. “We’ve got a great opportunity. We have only lost two games. We have a big season ahead of us. We’ve got to get up on Miami this week, so the best thing we could do is just put that behind us and just focus on this Thursday night game we got coming up.”
OK, so, yes, can’t do anything about the blowout losses to Wake and UNC, but what was frustrating for observers was, it didn’t look that Virginia was able to clean anything up on the defensive end from last week, when the Tar Heels piled up 699 yards and put up 59 points on the D.
Wake scored on its first seven possessions before calling the dogs off late.
It was clear from the outset that Mendenhall had a handle on how his defense would fare against the Wake Forest offense. After the Demon Deacons scored on their first possession, UVA drove inside the Wake 5 before stalling to a fourth-and-goal.
Mendenhall decided to go for it, signaling that he thought his team couldn’t afford to answer TDs with field goals.
When the fourth-down try failed, then, that set the team behind the chains the rest of the night.
“We have lots and lots of work to do in terms of execution, in terms of discipline, in terms of making the right plays at the right times and having that sustained consistently from beginning to end,” Mendenhall said. “Again, that’s a direct reflection of my leadership, and the coaches are now an extension of that, and how the players play reflects preparation. I’ve always believed teams play as they’re prepared. I’m not happy with the result. I thought our team was willing, and I thought they wanted to try, and I thought they did try, and I thought they did battle, and I loved a lot of the efforts for my younger players at the end. But effort alone is not going to do it. You have to execute, you have to be clean, you have to play with great poise, and not any of those things are in place right now that I am proud of, or think that is good enough to win the Coastal Division. We have lots and lots of work to do another short week, it’s right back to work.”
Short week, yes, we know that part. Virginia plays at Miami next Thursday in what is now a must-win game, if the ‘Hoos are going to salvage anything out of the 2021 season.
“Right now, no hope is lost. It’s early, only a third of the way through the season,” tailback Mike Hollins said. “We’re still figuring each other out and figuring our team out. Once we get there, I don’t see anyone stopping us. Like I said, once we begin to play complementary football on all sides of the ball, we’re going to be good. So, the Coastal championship is still our end goal, no doubt about that.”
With two losses, one to preseason Coastal favorite North Carolina, it may be time to slow the roll there. UVA would have to win out and get some help to win the division, and it’s hard to see anything like that happening when the defense can’t get stops until garbage time.
And then there’s what we saw out of the offense Friday night. The Cavaliers gained 503 yards, but only netted three points on two trips inside the Wake Forest 5 in the first half, and had two fourth-quarter turnovers.
Brennan Armstrong, who threw for 407 yards and two TDs, was under pressure all night, with Wake registering 23 pressures all told, including six sacks.
“What I didn’t see coming was our inability to protect Brennan. I didn’t expect six sacks. I didn’t expect only 17 points. I expected more big plays, so the picture of our team is continuing to become clear,” Mendenhall said. “Right now, it’s a reflection. Now on the other side, where we’ve been moving the ball at will and scoring lots and lots of points and protecting our quarterback, and we didn’t do either of those this evening, that’s another piece now to consider, but that reflects the consistency and preparation and execution and poise.”
All the team can do now is look forward.
“I feel like as a team we are going to bounce back,” said tight end Jelani Woods, who had four catches on seven targets for 73 yards and a TD in the loss. “We’ll get down to the details of what is going on and what we need to do. We need to hammer that out and just start fresh and put it behind us a little bit.”
Mendenhall left his first-team offense out there in the latter stages to test the fight left in his team at the end of the tough two-week stretch.
“I love the opportunity to develop, grow, and battle and strain and become,” Mendenhall said. “I loved seeing Malachi Fields tonight battling at the end. I love seeing Keytaon Thompson dragging bodies at the very end. I love seeing people that will fight, scratch and claw for a cause right to the very end and so now the execution and the planning that all has to come together with eight games remaining. Plenty of opportunities to learn, grow and become. I’m not ruling this out, but it’s really clear that we have lots of work to do.”
Story by Chris Graham
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