We’re at Week 11 of a football season, so, everybody is hurt, to some degree.
“One of the differences with this team from years past is, we do have more competitive depth, so that we got guys in position and ready to go, which makes our practices more competitive, which I think prepares us better for competition on Saturday, so it’s critical to our success,” UVA Football coach Tony Elliott said on Tuesday, ahead of his team’s game with Wake Forest on Saturday night.
#12 Virginia (8-1, 5-0 ACC) is a 6.5-point favorite in the matchup with Wake (5-3, 2-3 ACC), which is coming off a 42-7 loss at Florida State last week.
Six and a half? I don’t get that.
Virginia has won seven straight, the most recent one the 31-21 win at Cal over the weekend, which saw the offense get back on track – though it struggled in the red zone – and the defense was solid, holding the Golden Bears to 263 total yards.
The two injuries of note were offensive lineman Ben York (19 snaps) and tailback Noah Vaughn (one snap).
Elliott said he is “hopeful” that York will be back for Saturday night – translation: York probably won’t be back.
Vaughn’s status is critical, given the injuries to the running back room – UVA is already operating without Xavier Brown, leaving Elliott with lead tailback J’Mari Taylor, Harrison Waylee and whatever the situation is with Vaughn.
The update from TE: “Noah is still just struggling with that ankle, so, hopefully this week, but not for certain.”
Translation: we might need to call in a priest.
In case the jab is going over your head: Elliott is nothing if not overly optimistic about his guys.