They let media members into Scott Stadium three hours before kickoff, so you can guess where I’ll be at 4:30 this afternoon: in the stadium, ready to report whatever there is to report on Brennan Armstrong.
My best guess: he’s not going to play tonight.
And let’s all be real here: all we’re doing is guessing. Nobody knows, outside of those who need to know, a list that doesn’t include randos with 10 Twitter followers who have “sources” telling them one way or the other.
ABC doesn’t know; Vegas, out of the loop.
I’m gleaning what I can from reading tea leaves.
It benefits Bronco Mendenhall and Robert Anae to leave uncertainty as to Armstrong’s status, though they took a bite out of that uncertainty when they told reporters this week that they were going to prepare a game plan that either BA or his backup, true freshman Jay Woolfolk, could run.
The signal to Notre Dame: prepare for Armstrong, and if you’re lucky, you get a freshman at the controls.
Armstrong, if he were to be QB1 tonight, would be severely limited – defensive ends and weakside linebackers wouldn’t have to stay home on read options, because basically, let BA run, that means we get to him.
You’re not going to see him a threat to take off and run if the pocket breaks down, or there’s good coverage downfield.
The limits for Woolfolk are obvious: he’s a true freshman, only significant game action came on one drive at the end of the BYU game, down 17, not quite garbage time, but close.
He’s the future QB1; the future ain’t now.
The only swerve potential here is if Mendenhall and Anae signaled that Armstrong was a game-time decision, that they were preparing a game plan based on that, with Woolfolk as the backup, and in reality Anae was going back to what he did when Armstrong had to miss the Wake Forest game last year, with a game plan that was heavy with wildcat looks featuring Keytaon Thompson and Ira Armstead.
Virginia lost that game, 40-23, but the offense moved the ball.
I don’t see a revisit of the Wake 2020 game plan.
I think it’s obvious that Mendenhall, when he talked to the media earlier in the week, was hopeful that Armstrong would be physically ready and able to play tonight, which is why he left it open that he would.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense for him to play Armstrong.
A win over Notre Dame, ranked seventh nationally, on national TV – ABC! – would be the biggest in the Mendenhall era.
If Armstrong conjures up the Willis Reed in him, gets out there, gets the adrenaline flowing, and throws for 400 yards and five TDs in an upset, he’s the Heisman frontrunner.
If pigs had wings, they might be able to fly.
More likely is that Notre Dame loads up the pass rush, blitzes the hell out of him, and he’s a sitting duck.
You don’t want to hear this, but the best chance for Virginia to win tonight is Woolfolk out there.
And the best chance to win the next two weeks, at Pitt, at home against Virginia Tech, is for Woolfolk to be out there tonight.
I don’t have any “sources” telling me that. I don’t even like that I think that.
I want to see Armstrong throw for 400 and five, beat Notre Dame, become the Heisman frontrunner.
I just don’t think it’s in anybody’s best interests for that to be the case.
Story by Chris Graham
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