Bronco would like out of BYU series; future UVA football schedules

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia football is scheduled to play a game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2021, but Cavalier coach Bronco Mendenhall is totally against playing his old school.

In fact, UVA and BYU are also scheduled to play in Charlottesville in 2023 and then back to Provo in 2025. Bronco would like to have the entire series scrapped for what he describes as a lot of simple reasons.

“BYU has a very special place in my heart,” Mendenhall said during an interview with The Deseret News. “I’ll always have a hard time not pulling for them because of my faith. It’s a cleaner break and it’s cleaner for me to support, obviously, rather than be a competitor.

“The next part is, I’ve learned here at UVA that there are so many good teams that are really (geographically) close. We’ve traveled to Oregon and we’ve traveled to Boise, and it really made no sense to me. They had scheduled UCLA and USC before as well. I was opposed to that scheduling philosophy and I am now.”

Mendenhall said he inherited the three-game BYU series.

“I’ve asked for BYU to work and not play the game, but I think they would like to. It really makes very little sense from a football perspective for us. We could easily play anyone that’s one state away and have a very similar strength of schedule than traveling a couple of time zones away and what that looks like on the season.

“There’s the personal part of wanting to support and always wanting success for BYU and the reality that it’s a long ways away for the kids out here and for our program. Much different than playing in a bowl game.”

Mendenhall said that he doesn’t think BYU has any desire to not play the game.

Virginia has a 3-2 advantage in games played against Brigham Young starting in the 1987 All-American Bowl in Birmingham. The Cavaliers defeated the Cougars 45-40 in Provo in 1999, due in part to a spectacular performance by UVA running back Thomas Jones.

Edwards’ BYU team used a strong second half comeback the following year (2000) to beat Virginia 38-35 in overtime and spoiled the dedication to the newly expanded and renovated Scott Stadium.

UVA won in Charlottesville by a 19-16 count in 2013 after the game was interrupted my a major thunderstorm. BYU took a 41-33 decision over UVA in 2014 in Provo.

UVA Future Schedules

2021

William & Mary (Home)

Illinois (Home)

BYU (Away)

Notre Dame (Home)

Wake Forest (Home)

Duke (Home)

Georgia Tech (Home)

Louisville (Away)

Miami (Away)

North Carolina (Away)

Pittsburgh (Away)

Virginia Tech (Home)

2022

Richmond (Home)

Illinois (Away)

Old Dominion (Home)

Syracuse (Away)

Duke (Away)

Georgia Tech (Away)

Louisville (Home)

Miami (Home)

North Carolina (Home)

Pittsburgh (Home)

Virginia Tech (Away)

2023

William & Mary (Home)

BYU (Home)

Maryland (Away)

Liberty (Home)

NC State (Home)

Duke (Home)

Georgia Tech (Home)

Louisville (Away)

Miami (Away)

North Carolina (Away)

Pittsburgh (Away)

Virginia Tech (Home)

2024

Richmond (Home)

Maryland (Home)

Notre Dame (Away)

Boston College(Away)

Duke (Away)

Georgia Tech (Away)

Louisville (Home)

Miami (Home)

North Carolina (Home)

Pittsburgh (Home)

Virginia Tech (Away)

2025

BYU (Away)

2026

Notre Dame (Away)

2027

Liberty (Away)

2029

Liberty (Away)

2030

Liberty (Home)

2031

Notre Dame (Home)

2034

Notre Dame (Away)

2035

Notre Dame (Home)