Miami’s defense can keep its Turnover Chain, a gawdy piece of neck jewelry that is an instant award for any Hurricane defender who comes up with a fumble or interception.

When Zane Zandier made his initial recruiting visits to Charlottesville deciding where he’d want to spend his college years, he admits he always felt a special connection.

A portion of Virginia’s bye week was devoted to tossing out unproductive plays from its offense in order to be more effective during the final seven games of the season.

The stage is set for arguably the biggest game of Bryce Perkins’ football career Saturday night against No. 16 Miami, and the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Virginia junior “Thorterback” can’t wait.

If you follow this site, then you’re aware of my column from last week that reported Virginia will have an important meeting this Friday to kick off fundraising for a new football building along with an athletic complex to house the program’s Olympic sports teams.

Changing the culture of Virginia football took some time, but there’s a sure sign of how things have transformed in Year 3 of the Bronco Mendenhall regime. When the former BYU coach took over the Cavaliers’ program for the 2016 season, one of the first things he noticed was how beaten down mentally and emotionally his team was. If anything went wrong, the team was automatically dejected. Kind of a “here we go again” attitude. No longer.

It’s made of 10-Karat gold. It’s a 36-inch Cuban-link necklace that weighs almost seven pounds. Miami’s newest version of its “turnover chain” It’s got over 4,000 orange, green and silver stones that make up the centerpiece — a replica of University of Miami mascot “Sebastian the Ibis” strutting his feathers.

One of the most important gatherings in Virginia football history will take place a week from tonight at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville. Charles McDaniel, one of the greatest linebackers in Cavalier history, is sponsoring a very exclusive event of heavy hitters, the types of UVa boosters that can help change the course of Wahoo football. The event’s focus is to start the financial support for Virginia’s new football support building and an overall athletic complex that will shape the future.

Brenton Nelson’s journey to his Virginia football home reads like a Hollywood script. The story is something one might expect coming out of the 1960s, the kind of tale that just doesn’t occur these days. Walk-on shows up, earns a scholarship, becomes a starter and is awarded ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Kelly Poppinga likes what he sees in new starting inside linebacker Rob Snyder, who replaced the injured Jordan Mack in the late stages of the Louisville game a couple of weeks ago.