Virginia had a “good practice” on Tuesday, with coach Tony Elliott noticing a “good pep in their step” that wasn’t necessarily just related to the win over then-#10 North Carolina on Saturday night.
The pep in the step dated back to the bye week, as Virginia prepared as 24-point underdogs to take on the Tar Heels, who were 6-0 on the season and a dark-horse contender for a spot in the College Football Playoff this time last week.
The 31-27 Virginia win, easily the biggest in Elliott’s brief tenure as head coach, might have added a touch of pep to practice this week as UVA preps for Miami, which is coming off an OT win over Clemson and is a 19-point favorite this weekend.
“I think the guys understand now the price you have to pay to be able to experience moments like that,” said Elliott, whose team has now won two straight after an 0-5 start.
The good news from the Tuesday presser: there aren’t any significant injury issues of note.
Tony Muskett, the starting QB, is still dealing with his ailing left shoulder, which will require surgery after the season, but Muskett has been battling through that injury, starting the past three weeks, passing for 200-plus yards in each game, and throwing for six TDs over that stretch – while also showing some grit with his 66 yards on the ground in the win in Chapel Hill.
“I can’t give him enough praise, especially in this day and age. Here’s a guy that had significant injury to his shoulder, but he’s committed to the program, he’s committed to his teammates, he’s a competitor,” Elliott said. “I think you’re able to see what made him successful at Monmouth, and what’s making him successful so far here at UVA, is that he’s extremely competitive, he works extremely hard, he prepares like a pro, and just his leadership as well that he was able to bring in the door, and just the impact it’s had in the locker room, especially from that position.”
The defense, which harassed Heisman Trophy candidate Drake Maye into a 24-for-48 day throwing the ball, and kept a potent Carolina offense off the scoreboard on its final two drives with the game on the line, picking off a Maye pass in the final minute to seal it, should be as close to full strength as possible for the Miami game, which is also good news.
With all the good news that comes after a big win comes a new challenge for Elliott and his staff: having to get their guys to be able to learn to handle success the right way.
This is a great problem to have, of course.
“My message then, and my message now, is, simplify your life,” Elliott said. “The 24-hour rule, you celebrate it, you enjoy it for 24 hours. And my first question to the senior leadership group, when we met on Monday morning was, what now? And I wanted to hear their response, what now, to see where their mindset is. And their response was we’ve got to go back to work. It’s Monday, it’s mindset Monday. We can’t be thinking about what happened on Saturday night.”
That’s life in a Power 5 conference for you. There’s always another game coming up that you need to get your focus on.
“Hopefully these guys will learn and grow in handling success,” Elliott said. “And if you want to continue on this road, man, you’ve got to pay the price. It doesn’t come, there’s nothing easy. And that’s the stretch that we have. And really, it’s ACC football, week in, week out. Man, you’ve got to show up. The only way you can show up is, you consistently have to respect the process and take it one day at a time, one snap at a time, one practice at a time.”
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Chris Graham
