The first-ever Riverside Lunch Pigskin Pick ‘em Contest is headed down the homestretch and our weekly winners have been treated to the best burgers in Charlottesville. Readers have two weeks remaining to qualify for our grand prize.

Virginia defensive lineman Richard Burney and inside linebacker Jordan Mack were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.

Virginia wide receiver and kick return specialist, Joe Reed, has been named one of four finalists for the Paul Hornung Award, announced the Louisville Sports Commission on Thursday (Nov. 14).

So you may be wondering what’s in store for Virginia football if the Cavaliers win out, defeating nonconference Liberty, and state rival Virginia Tech, ending a 15-year losing streak to the Hokies.

When Al Groh resigned as head coach of the NFL’s New York Jets to return home and take over his alma mater’s football program at Virginia, his dreams were to lead the Cavaliers to a national championship.

In football picks, they say “every blind pig finds an acorn every now and then,” which would fully explain how Hootie is in first place heading down the home stretch.

So this is what Novembers are supposed to look like. Hall of Famer George Welsh used to say, “They remember November.” For the longest time around Charlottesville, Cavalier fans just wanted to forget. Bronco Mendenhall is attempting to change all that.

Virginia remained unbeaten at home and took another giant step toward its first ACC Coastal Division championship Saturday, as the Cavaliers defeated Georgia Tech for the 12th time in the last 14 meetings at Scott Stadium, 33-28.

Photos by John Markon from Virginia’s 33-28 win over Georgia Tech.

It’s home, sweet home from here on out, as Virginia returns to Scott Stadium for a crucial three-game stand to wrap up the regular season, beginning with a 12:30 Homecomings matchup against Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Give Virginia’s coaching staff credit for its effort in a must-win game at North Carolina last Saturday night.

A major factor in Virginia’s win over North Carolina last weekend in a huge ACC Coastal Division showdown was a somewhat unheralded receiver in Terrell Jana.

We figured that Hootie was so dizzy from all his recent travels to Louisville, Chapel Hill and South Bend, that it would be impossible for him to have a good week in picking football games.

Virginia’s Bryce Perkins been voted the Davey O’Brien Foundation’s National Quarterback of the Week for week 10 of the college football season, the Davey O’Brien Foundation has announced.

Now that Virginia has broken its road losing streak with an impressive win at North Carolina last Saturday night (38-31), the Cavaliers don’t have to venture outside the city limits for the remainder of the regular season.

After studying Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins all week in preparation for the big ACC Coastal Division showdown Saturday night in Chapel Hill, Tar Heels coach Mack Brown felt like he knew what Carolina would have to do to win.

Bryce Perkins said earlier in the week that maybe he was trying to do too much, that he wasn’t Superman.

Heading into the ninth weekend of the season, pretty much every goal Virginia’s football team set out for is still in front of them as they travel to North Carolina for arguably the BIGGEST game of the Bronco Mendenhall era.

How tough is Scott Ratcliffe? He’s so tough that he can spend a week in the hospital and still kick everyone’s butt in our pigskin picks.

While sitting in the postgame interview room at Notre Dame Stadium a few weeks ago, after Virginia had rushed for a net 4 yards in a loss to the Irish, I asked Bronco Mendenhall if his team could win going forward if it didn’t improve its running game.