Bronco Says Virginia Must Match Pitt’s Physicality In Opener

By Jerry Ratcliffe

CHARLOTTE — The ACC didn’t do Virginia any favors by assigning the Cavaliers an opening-season game at Pittsburgh to enhance the league’s new TV network’s array of appeal on the first weekend.

This game is HUGE on so many levels, not to mention that UVA has lost four consecutive games to the Panthers and has never won in the Steel City.

For Bronco Mendenhall, it’s not only that his teams have failed to beat Pitt, but more about how they’ve lost. There are some disturbing trends in the string of defeats that the UVA coach will address when training camp opens with a sense of urgency.

“Pitt is physical,” Mendenhall said Thursday afternoon during the ACC Football Kickoff event in Charlotte. “They’re tough and they’re not afraid to tell you in the warmups, in between plays, and that requires a different level of maturity, physicality, and discipline.”

Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi brought that nasty, physical nature with him from the Big Ten, where that style is a mainstay. The former defensive coordinator at Michigan State not only prefers that rugged style of play, but also believes it fits in a city known for its toughness.

“When you play Pitt, you have to be ready to match the physical nature that they play, the mindset that they have, but you also have to be ready to play within yourself and control what you can control, and not allow yourself to be influenced by maybe a confrontational nature by how they play the game,” Mendenhall said. “That’s not an insult. They play in a confrontational, combatitive manner and our team is yet to grasp where we fit in relation to that type of approach.”

Grasping that concept will be a point of emphasis when training camp opens shortly.

“We need to target those things, especially if they’re slightly different and [the Panthers] certainly are,” Mendenhall said.

Pitt won last year’s game, 23-13 on a rainy night in Charlottesville. The Panthers rushed for 254 yards, including a 229-yard rushing performance by Darrin Hall on 19 carries.

Yes, Pitt was physical. Virginia? The Cavaliers didn’t quite answer the bell, something that Mendenhall doesn’t want to repeat when UVA travels to Heinz Field on Aug. 31.

It’s difficult to put so much weight on the opening game of the season, but for two teams vying for the ACC’s Coastal Division title, this game is crucial. Pitt is the division’s reigning champion even though the Panthers had a late-season meltdown and started last year’s campaign in a less-than-impressive manner.

“People wrote us off, said we were finished,” Narduzzi said of the Panthers’ sluggish start a year ago.

However, Pitt got its act together, relied heavily on a strong rushing attack and a physical offensive line (much of which has departed).

Like Mendenhall, Narduzzi knows how important the opening game will be for both programs.

“The difference this year is that we open up with an ACC team, and it’s more about our players’ attitude,” Narduzzi said. “I think there’s an urgency from kids knowing that, ‘Hey, we don’t have time to mess around, and maybe be ready,’ or that ‘We’ve got to clean this up.’ No time for that.

“The biggest change we’re going to see (with conference openers) is not with coaches and their preparation, but players and their attitude. They know this is a huge game.”

Last year’s game was also huge for both teams. The Cavaliers were coming off three consecutive wins over Miami, Duke, and North Carolina before the showdown with Pitt. A win would have been a huge momentum boost.

Pitt, however, manhandled the Cavaliers for the fourth consecutive time.

“I’d rather be lucky than good,” Narduzzi said, playing down the dominance in the series. “How do you explain it? Well, there’s that series and then it’s our series with North Carolina. I don’t worry about the ones we’ve won, but the ones we’ve lost. We’ve been unable to beat North Carolina. I don’t know what it is.”

Still, Narduzzi recognizes what Mendenhall has accomplished in Charlottesville over the past three seasons.

“Bronco has done a heck of a job bringing the Cavaliers back to being very competitive and know they’ll give us their best game,” the Pitt coach said.

Meanwhile, Mendenhall realizes just what’s at stake by opening up with a game that could greatly influence the season, particularly with Florida State looming ahead two weeks later in Charlottesville. That one can wait, though. Pitt is constantly on Mendenhall’s mind.

Most coaches would rather ease their way into the season with a cupcake nonconference game. Not this year, thanks to the ACC Network’s desire to make a big splash on opening weekend.

“I have to like it because that’s what our schedule is, and so we will make that our ideal whether it is or whether it isn’t,” Mendenhall said.

This game is big for so many reasons.

“Urgency, conference race implications, playing on the road against a team we haven’t beaten, and playing at a higher level earlier than most teams are expected to do in their opening game,” Mendenhall summed it up.

Huge indeed. In a season when UVA is expected to make a run for the division title, it could be the deciding factor.

That should get his players’ immediate attention when camp opens.