There’s something going on at Virginia, that’s caught a lot us of by surprise. Virginia Cavalier football is legitimately pretty good. After a 28-14 win at Duke, you need to start paying attention to what Bronco Mendenhall is doing.
Last week Virginia upset Miami. It was a big win for the Hoos, but upsets happen. It was at home too. Could Virginia validate that win with a 2nd one at 5-1 Duke?
The answer was YES, and now Virginia can say – at 5-2 (3-1) we are ready contend in the Coastal during the 2nd half of the season. The Hoos are doing it with defense, physical play, and a QB in Bryce Perkins that seems to growing more comfortable with passing week.
The defense is currently ranked a solid 25th in the country, and 25th in scoring defense. They held Duke to 300 total yards and just 58 rushing yards. Bryce Perkins was an efficient 20/32 for 189 yards and TD. The offense ran for 178 yards. Virginia just wore the Blue Devils down. That’s what they did to Miami last week. That’s what Bronco Mendenhall’s better BYU teams did. They just wore teams down. This Virginia team has Bronco Mendenhall’s stamp all over it.
Look at Virginia’s next 3 games, and tell me they don’t have an opportunity of being 8-2 before a road trip to struggling Georgia Tech. There are home games with UNC, Pitt, and Liberty. UNC is just inventing ways to lose. Pittsburgh has yet to win a road game, and Virginia has more talent than Liberty.
There’s a good chance they’ll be favored against Georgia Tech too – even on the road. The Hoos finish the season at Virginia Tech, where they will be looking to beat the Hokies for the first time since 2003.
I’m not quite sure Virginia is equipped to go 10-2, but 9-3 is a good possibility, and 8-4 is almost assured. In 2018 the ACC has been a huge mess of mediocrity, but Virginia is one of the few definitively improved and trending in the right direction ACC teams.
It could be a year to remember for Virginia football.
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