Back to Work for Bronco, ‘Hoos, Looking Ahead to Belk Bowl

belk bowlBy Jerry Ratcliffe

More than two weeks had passed since Virginia’s regular season ending overtime loss to rival Virginia Tech when Bronco Mendenhall met with media Tuesday morning.

The Cavaliers coach covered myriad of topics during his 10-minute chat, but the losing streak to the Hokies and last year’s bowl disaster kept popping up in the line of questioning.

To Mendenhall’s credit, he was doing his best to make lemonade.

He has been on the recruiting road from the moment that Virginia lost its 15th consecutive game to Tech, a 34-31 overtime decision, until the last couple of days (early signing period is Dec. 19). Still, the sting of letting that win slipping through the Cavaliers’ collective fingers remained. UVa held a 31-24 lead with only 2:41 to play.

“It always helps to clear your head and get back to work,” Mendenhall said in referencing Virginia’s Dec. 29 Belk Bowl matchup with South Carolina in Charlotte. “We had about a two-week break in terms of coaches and players getting back together, and I think it took all of that for all of us to then be ready to move forward.

“With that said, there are lessons that can be learned, and should be learned and applied to move forward as our program continues to learn how to finish late season games as a conference contender in that kind of new stage that we’re in,” Mendenhall said.

UVa lost its last two games of the regular season, both in overtime, both on the road to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers lost three of their four games in November. Still, they were in contention for the ACC’s Coastal Division title until the final day of the season and finished 7-5 overall.

Last year, Virginia started the season 5-1, but finished 6-7, including a 49-7 humiliation to Navy in the Military Bowl, the Wahoos’ first bowl appearance since 2011.

While that lopsided loss to the Midshipmen was difficult to swallow for the program and its fans, Mendenhall managed to discover a silver lining. The coach said that his team was exposed to postseason and learned a valuable lesson.

“If you’re going to go [to a bowl], you better prepare well so that you can play well,” Mendenhall said. “Those lessons might have accelerated us faster to have the outcome we did because it certainly can taint your experience of the bowl based on how you play.”

Perhaps that was part of the growth process of Virginia football from 2-10 in Mendenhall’s first year to 6-7 last season, to 7-5 and a chance to win eight games for the first time since 2011.

Currently the Cavaliers have been working out younger players that didn’t get a lot of action during the season, but will begin a full two weeks of all out preparation for the Gamecocks next Wednesday. While the younger, less experienced guys have been gaining practice time, the key players have been recovering and training and lifting, and running.

Fresh off recruiting, Mendenhall said he has noted progress in that area, particularly in the state of Virginia, where his program must gain ground in corralling talent.

“I think there’s a trend positively that some of the back story and the history is being overcome by progress that’s being made,” the coach said. “Doesn’t mean we’re finished yet, but I see movement not only from the instate players but from the interest, and I would say the attitude of our instate coaches, and how they view our program and the progress we’re making. I think the needle is moving.”

While things are improving on the recruiting front and the Cavaliers are learning how to live with partial success, Mendenhall is not about to blow everything up in terms of bowl prep for South Carolina. Even though UVa was soundly beaten at Navy last December, the coach doesn’t believe there was anything wrong with how his team prepared.

“A year ago, and looking at our postseason model, it was similar to what we had done for a long time and had success with [at BYU],” Mendenhall said. “I underestimated the newness and novelty of going to postseason for this team.

“This [currently] feels a lot more like business as usual,” he said. “There’s more maturity (on this team), a higher level of expectation. They already have some point of reference to what postseason looks like. I sense just a different maturity.”

Mendenhall said that South Carolina, which also enters the bowl game with a 7-5 record, doesn’t remind him of any team the Cavaliers played this season other than that the Gamecocks are talented.

“There are some similarities in that almost every game they’ve played has been close,” he said. “They’ve had a chance to compete well and win. I see similarities, not necessarily in relation to who we’ve played. The opponent would be similar to the ACC stretch run to games that have been in overtime for us, that kind of matchup.”

There are no common opponents between the two bowl competitors, and the only ACC team that South Carolina faced was instate rival, Clemson, the No. 2 team in the nation. Still, the Gamecocks held their own for a half, trailing only 28-21 at the break before succumbing by a 56-35 score.

Still, South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley put up 510 yards passing and five touchdowns on Clemson’s defense, completing 32 of 50 pass attempts.

“They have a few unique formations and they have some really innovative schemes, especially offensively, and they go at NASCAR tempo … they go fast,” Mendenhall said. “If you don’t adjust well, they’re talented and the ball can get behind you or around you really fast. That’s what happened to Clemson. [Clemson] struggled with a few adjustments and as a result gave up a lot of points.”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was beside himself over the way his team performed on defense, stating it was the worst his squad had played defense in a long time. The 36 points by the Gamecocks was the most against the Tigers in 28 games, dating back to a 42-35 win over Virginia Tech in the 2016 ACC Championship game.

On the other hand, South Carolina’s defense wasn’t anything to write home about either. Clemson put up 744 yards of total offense on the Gamecocks.

Mendenhall said he believes his team will be healthy by the time the bowl game comes and he’s not planning on holding any players out.

(WEDNESDAY: Quarterback Bryce Perkins was the saviour of Virginia’s season).