After having time to mull over UVA Football’s 41-14 loss to North Carolina, I questioned, was the game really that ugly, and was the Cavaliers’ 4-1 start to the season fool’s gold?
The answer to both, yes.
First, as painful as it may be let’s review Saturday’s contest.
Virginia handed the Tar Heels their first conference win of the season, in nothing but an unacceptable way.
Question: which aspect of the Virginia game was most embarrassing, A-offense, B-defense, C-Coaching, D-All aspects.
Answer: D, all aspects.
And if you didn’t get this question right, then you obviously had something better to do yesterday, a root canal, or you finally got around to cleaning the garage, and missed the game.
How ugly was the Virginia loss?
Ugly enough for Tony Elliott to speak plainly of the beatdown.
“I did not do a good job of having them prepared to play.”
Give coach credit for owning it.
Problem is, he’s been owning it far too often in his tenure at UVA.
There comes a point that you simply can’t keep owing it.
The UNC game was over by halftime, but the remaining two quarters had to be played. (TV said so.)
The fans that did bother to stay in Scott Stadium were subjected to nothing short of a slap in the face by the entire UVA Football program.
I’m still having flashbacks of the 290-pound UNC lineman Jahvaree Ritzie rumbling down the sidelines for an 84-yard pick-six.
That play unfolded like it was in slow motion.
Giving everyone ample time to link that play to a type of microcosm to the Virgina season.
North Carolina came to Charlottesville riding a four-game losing streak. The skid began with a 70-50 loss at home to JMU, after which head coach Mack Brown said this: “It was an embarrassing day, shocking day, I did a lousy job of coaching.”
For the last couple of seasons, Brown, like Elliott, has “owned it” after a head-scratching embarrassing performance.
Brown is all but finished at UNC after the season, according to most sources.
Just saying.
Now, how about the Virginia 4-1 record to begin the season?
It wasn’t surprising.
Most of what remains of the media covering UVA Football all but predicted at least a 4-1 mark.
Richmond, Wake Forest, Maryland, Coastal Carolina, Boston College wasn’t exactly a tough slate to open with.
Virginia did as expected, and the record looked shiny, 2-0 in ACC play and 4-1 overall.
But as the saying goes, “all that glitters is not gold.”
The Louisville loss came down to some puzzling sideline coaching decisions, the loss at Clemson was because it was Clemson, an NFL minor league team, and yesterday’s performance against Carolina was simply a comedy of errors.
So, yes Virginia’s 4-1 start to the 2024 season was nothing more than fool’s gold.
The November task for UVA is to say the least, daunting.
Three ranked teams, and at Virginia Tech, where the Cavaliers have not won since 1998.
UVA will be decided underdogs in each contest.
Doing some quick math: the current losing streak of three, plus likely four more losses on the way, means finishing the season at 4-8 with a seven-game losing streak.
Here’s another dose of reality.
This isn’t a young, rebuilding Virginia squad.
From a quick glance at the UVA roster card, the Cavaliers have 40 seniors or graduate students.
Next year will be a challenge for Elliott, who again will have to take a deep dive into the transfer portal for reinforcements, and that’s not a good place to be.
A former Virginia coach told me that for UVA to continually rely on the transfer portal for players was like walking through quicksand.
You might think you’re making progress, but then you realize you’re simply getting in deeper.
That’s where UVA Football is now.
Right in the middle of quicksand.