From Yahoo Sports Pat Forde:
8 Teams You Don't Want To Play Right Now
Virginia (14). Started: 3-2, with wins over Richmond, Ohio and Louisville, and losses to Indiana and North Carolina State. Now: 5-2, with wins over Miami and Duke. What changed: third-year coach Bronco Mendenhall is a defensive guy, and his defense has been very good lately. The Cavaliers limited Miami to 13 points and Duke to 14, the first time Virginia has held consecutive ACC opponents to fewer than 15 points since October 2006. Both the Hurricanes and Blue Devils registered season-low pass efficiency numbers against the Cavs. Virginia now has three straight home games against 1-5 North Carolina, 3-4 Pittsburgh and 4-3 Liberty. It’s possible that the rivalry game against Virginia Tech to end the regular season will decide who wins the ACC Coastal.
https://sports.yahoo.com/8-college-football-teams-not-want-play-right-now-173427207.html
From Athlon:
6. Bronco Mendenhall’s turnaround ahead of progress
Operation ACC Coastal Chaos is in full swing this season and nobody has been more responsible for things getting out hand quite like Virginia has. The Cavaliers are suddenly pushing rival Virginia Tech as co-favorites in the woebegone division and knocked off their second straight ranked team (following Miami) on Saturday afternoon in dominating Duke in Durham.
The impressive road outing underscored that UVA is not a team that you can overlook anymore and, while there is a slight smoke-and-mirrors element to the 2018 edition of this squad, there’s some encouraging signs of progress under Bronco Mendenhall in a top-to-bottom renovation of the program.
Bryce Perkins and Olamide Zaccheaus are both electric on the field yet are far from household names even in their own league. The team’s defense is making you earn every yard while also closing quickly out in space. There have always been a good number of athletes on Virginia’s roster over the years but this group is playing much smarter between the lines and seems to read and react better than we’ve seen in Charlottesville in, well, a while.
All of which underscores that the massive rebuilding job Mendenhall has undertaken is ahead of schedule following his surprise move east from BYU. Remember, after roughly a decade of malaise within the program, their head coach — improbably in his 14th season leading a team — suddenly has his players starring at eight wins and could actually entertain thoughts of a double-digit win campaign.
On Thursday we learned that badly-needed facility upgrades in Charlottesville were receiving a boost thanks to none other than their head coach, who donated half a million dollars to the cause. Given the way things are trending, that might be the first of many steps forward for the Cavaliers over the coming weeks.
https://athlonsports.com/college-fo...dlines-2018-all-underachiever-team-ed-orgeron
8 Teams You Don't Want To Play Right Now
Virginia (14). Started: 3-2, with wins over Richmond, Ohio and Louisville, and losses to Indiana and North Carolina State. Now: 5-2, with wins over Miami and Duke. What changed: third-year coach Bronco Mendenhall is a defensive guy, and his defense has been very good lately. The Cavaliers limited Miami to 13 points and Duke to 14, the first time Virginia has held consecutive ACC opponents to fewer than 15 points since October 2006. Both the Hurricanes and Blue Devils registered season-low pass efficiency numbers against the Cavs. Virginia now has three straight home games against 1-5 North Carolina, 3-4 Pittsburgh and 4-3 Liberty. It’s possible that the rivalry game against Virginia Tech to end the regular season will decide who wins the ACC Coastal.
https://sports.yahoo.com/8-college-football-teams-not-want-play-right-now-173427207.html
From Athlon:
6. Bronco Mendenhall’s turnaround ahead of progress
Operation ACC Coastal Chaos is in full swing this season and nobody has been more responsible for things getting out hand quite like Virginia has. The Cavaliers are suddenly pushing rival Virginia Tech as co-favorites in the woebegone division and knocked off their second straight ranked team (following Miami) on Saturday afternoon in dominating Duke in Durham.
The impressive road outing underscored that UVA is not a team that you can overlook anymore and, while there is a slight smoke-and-mirrors element to the 2018 edition of this squad, there’s some encouraging signs of progress under Bronco Mendenhall in a top-to-bottom renovation of the program.
Bryce Perkins and Olamide Zaccheaus are both electric on the field yet are far from household names even in their own league. The team’s defense is making you earn every yard while also closing quickly out in space. There have always been a good number of athletes on Virginia’s roster over the years but this group is playing much smarter between the lines and seems to read and react better than we’ve seen in Charlottesville in, well, a while.
All of which underscores that the massive rebuilding job Mendenhall has undertaken is ahead of schedule following his surprise move east from BYU. Remember, after roughly a decade of malaise within the program, their head coach — improbably in his 14th season leading a team — suddenly has his players starring at eight wins and could actually entertain thoughts of a double-digit win campaign.
On Thursday we learned that badly-needed facility upgrades in Charlottesville were receiving a boost thanks to none other than their head coach, who donated half a million dollars to the cause. Given the way things are trending, that might be the first of many steps forward for the Cavaliers over the coming weeks.
https://athlonsports.com/college-fo...dlines-2018-all-underachiever-team-ed-orgeron
