Mike London has been on both sides of the Virginia-William & Mary football series, going 2-0 as the head coach at Virginia in games with W&M, and 0-2 as the coach at William & Mary in games with UVA.
So, he’s .500 in these games, but the results in the previous four were what you’d expect in FBS vs. FCS games.
London, heading into Saturday, has a chance to pull what would be a modest upset in a game with the winless Cavaliers, in what is sorta, kinda, a must-win game for both teams.
“The schedule is the way it is, and we got to adapt and adjust to it now,” said London, whose Tribe is at 4-1 this season after a 14-6 upset loss at Elon last weekend. “There’s a bye that we have following this, this particular game. So, you know, it lines up, you know, for us to take advantage of the opportunity that we have in front of us.”
I’m referring to this one as a sorta, kinda must-win for the W&M side because the loss to Elon last week came out of the blue, and a second straight loss, heading into the team’s bye week, could put the program in a tough spot in terms of its FCS playoff chances.
Another loss, and William & Mary might need to run the table to get back to the playoffs for a second straight season.
I suggest that a W&M win would be a modest upset in this one just because of how much Virginia has struggled this season.
The 0-5 start includes three narrow losses – a one-point loss to JMU in Week 2, in a game that Virginia led 35-24 in the fourth quarter; and back-to-back three-point losses to NC State and Boston College, the latter of which saw the ‘Hoos blow a 14-point halftime lead.
“Obviously, they’re looking for a win, looking for opportunities to play four quarters and impact,” said London, who is in his fifth year at William & Mary, where he has a 27-16 record to this point, after going 27-46 in six seasons at Virginia, from 2010-2015.
“You know, the kind of guys that they have on their team that, you know, they look to be, you know, athletic, tall, can run and all those things,” London said. “Our goal is to, you know, again, put that game plan together, to allow, you know, the things that we have, we can accentuate to be competitive, and then go up and play in what I expect to be a great venue.”
London has been on both sides of this one. He’s also been on both sides of other FBS vs. FCS matchups.
“Last year we played Charlotte, we were able to beat them, and when I was at Howard, we played UNLV, you know, had a win there. When I was at Richmond, we beat, you know, Duke,” London said.
“It’s always, you know, for an FCS team to beat an FBS team, you know, you take a great deal of pride about that, because of the disparities and scholarships and the depth and things like that.”
There is, you can bet, a chip on the shoulder of everybody on the sidelines of the FCS team in these kinds of matchups.
“Obviously, you know, the opportunity to be competitive, play, you know, in that venue up there, for players perhaps that weren’t recruited by them, or you know, maybe wish that they had an opportunity there,” London said. “You just, you put a game plan together, and you try to create a mindset that, you know, you want to get, you know, go play an away game at a venue that, you know, that’s loud, I believe a television game. That’s why you do it, you know.
“It’s our job as coaches to try to get these guys ready to go, to go do the impossible, you know, the whole David and Goliath type thing, you know. And so, we’re going to enjoy this week of preparing and getting ready to go play, you know, our, our next opponent, you know, and then go from there.”
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Chris Graham
