Not sure why, but the ESPN College GameDay crew, right around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, talked about the UVA-Central Michigan game.
They’ve got three hours to fill, I guess.
The question was raised: who ya got?
Desmond Howard jumped in immediately, saying he had UVA.
Kirk Herbstreit almost fell out of his chair, saying the Cavs wouldn’t win, and with as much authority as he could muster declared that they would go 0-12, which meant they wouldn’t win today.
He then posed a question to the rest of the panel: over-under on UVA wins in 2016, with zero-point-five as the starting point.
Only Howard took the over.
Virginia tailback Albert Reid was among those tuning in. Reid, a senior, tweeted at GameDay.
" UVA probably won't win a game this year. This should be a look ahead game for Centra Michigan" – ESPN College Gameday ?
— Albert Reid (@_reidboy2) September 24, 2016
Then the ‘Hoos went out and took care of business, getting their first win of the year over the previously unbeaten Chippewas, 49-35.
Ahem, on my podcast on Friday, I had Virginia. So it was me, Desmond Howard, and the UVA locker room.
Back to our story. Reid after the game acknowledged that the disrespect from GameDay was fuel for the Cavs’ fire.
“I just want to thank College GameDay for not believing in us,” said Reid, who had 47 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns, one on the ground and one on a five-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter as UVA pulled away. “They disrespected us and made us the laughing stock of TV today just because they said this game for Central Michigan was going to be a lookover game.”
So, yeah, the guys pay attention. Almost makes you want to tweet negative stuff at them more often, if that’s the impact it will have.
But that said, what Herbstreit said, and how he said, was inappropriate. As bad as Virginia was in its opening three games, things were getting better. The lines on both sides of the ball were improving, and it was to the point where you had to see a win coming soon, if not this week, then not far down the road.
Hey, we ought to be thanking Herbie for his nonsense.
“We let the guys know in the locker room, so it was great motivation right there. I don’t care who said it, I was happy to hear it. It’s been a rough start to the season, but you can never count us out. It is football,” said tailback Taquan Mizzell, who had 89 yards receiving, 77 rushing and scored touchdowns on the ground and through the air.
Linebacker Micah Kiser tried to shrug off the disrespect himself, or so he claimed after the game.
“Coach Ruffin [McNeill] always talks about the nonbelievers, so we fight against that,” said Kiser, who had six tackles in the win. “It doesn’t matter. We stay together and all we need is our team. We know what we’re capable of and we know what we can do. I think, especially since the Richmond game, you’ve seen a pretty resilient group out there.”
Resilient, and also on Saturday, absolutely pissed off.
“I want to thank everybody for not believing in us because we proved you wrong. Everybody else who doubted us, thank you. Don’t come back when we continue to win,” Reid said.
Story by Chris Graham
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