Key to turning UVA football around is winning at Scott Stadium

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Game week is here and Virginia has begun preparation for Saturday’s home opener against Coastal Carolina (6 p.m., ACC Network). Coastal is the first of four home games (out of five) in the month of September.

Tony Elliott has stressed defending Scott Stadium to his first three UVA squads, but hasn’t been successful. In fact, the Cavaliers are 6-12 at home in three seasons under Elliott, even worse at home against ACC competition, with a 2-10 record.

Certainly, that must change this season with seven home games on the schedule: Coastal (Aug. 30), William & Mary (Sept. 13), Stanford (Sept. 20), Florida State (Sept. 26, Friday), Washington State (Oct. 10), Wake Forest (Nov. 8), Virginia Tech (Nov. 29).

Five of UVA’s first seven games are at Scott, meaning only two of the last five are at home.

If the Cavaliers are to reverse their football fortunes and return to postseason play, then they must restore their ability to win at home, something that Elliott’s predecessor, Bronco Mendenhall, mastered during a four-year run from 2018 to 2021.

During that stretch, minus the final two home games of 2021 against No. 7 Notre Dame and against rival Virginia Tech, Mendenhall’s Cavaliers were almost unbeatable at Scott Stadium.

From 2018 until those two season-ending home games in ‘21, Virginia won 21 of 24 home games. If you want to throw in the Ohio U. game, which was switched from Charlottesville to Nashville due to hurricane threats, the Cavaliers were 22-3 for home games during that span.

Unbelievable, you say? Virginia was even 7-0 at home in 2019 when Bryce Perkins led the Cavaliers to their only Coastal Division championship, an appearance against powerhouse Clemson in the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, and a trip to the Orange Bowl against Florida.

Elliott discussed defending Scott last week, the final week of training camp.

“So this is a whole different team because there’s 54 new ones that have never been in Scott Stadium, other than the (two preseason) scrimmages,” Elliott said. “I haven’t talked about it as much yet, other than the days we were over there, and just really trying to create the mindset that the grass is sacred, that there’s blood, sweat and tears equity from a lot of guys that came before us that have created a standard that we have to uphold.”

The coach said that as camp ends and game week begins and the focus shifts to Coastal Carolina, he plans to talk more about the necessity to win home games, to defend Scott Stadium.

Elliott believes one of the reasons UVA has been unsuccessful at home the past three seasons has been a lack of depth and a lack of discipline, things he thinks the program has corrected heading into this season.

“I think the difference in defending Scott Stadium is in the fourth quarter, finding ways to win and not beat yourself, so we’ve got to be a more disciplined football team,” the coach said. “I think depth will help us be a football team that can finish better in the fourth quarter.

“We have guys that haven’t played 100 snaps, right? As much as we’re talking about building competitive stamina, the body is going to slow down after about 100 snaps. So I think depth will help us, we’ll be a little fresher. You notice that the teams that are really good in the fourth quarter a lot of times, is because they have a lot of depth and can play guys, and they’re the fresher team in the fourth quarter. They can lean on people.”

Elliott believes his team is going to take pride in winning at home and will be a better disciplined team — particularly in the fourth quarter — and will be fresh, which should lead to fewer mistakes during critical late-game stretches.