Mandy Alonso, Chris Long don’t mind a little trash talking with Tar Heels

By Jerry Ratcliffe

There’s nothing like adding a little fire to the second-oldest rivalry in major college football and that’s exactly what Virginia’s Mandy Alonso and former Wahoo Chris Long did this week.

UVA travels to North Carolina for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Tar Heels in the “South’s Oldest Rivalry.” The two teams will meet for the 126th time, eclipsed only by the Minnesota vs. Wisconsin series, at 130 games.

Bronco Mendehall’s Cavaliers are hoping to continue their recent dominance in the rivalry, having won four straight. Carolina coach Mack Brown is 3-9 vs. UVA over two stints as Tar Heels’ coach. Mendenhall is 3-1 vs. Brown, 2-0 at Virginia and 1-1 when he split a series while at BYU and Brown was at Texas.

The juicy stuff started Monday during Virginia’s weekly media interviews when super senior defensive end Mandy Alonso spoke his mind about the Cavaliers’ streak over the Heels. News trickled down to Chapel Hill as the week advanced.

Alonso was told that Brown said earlier in the day that Virginia had been the most physical team of the two in the last two meetings since Brown had returned to Carolina. A reporter asked Alonso if he expected the Tar Heels to come with more physicality after being challenged by their coach.

“From UNC, they always try and come physical, but what Mendenhall has been saying the past four years, is that it’s our culture [to be physical],” Alonso said. “It’s our culture versus theirs. We’re going to go harder, longer each play in the whole game than they will.

“Even if they come out swinging, we just have to sustain it, and we know they can’t sustain it because the past four years they haven’t been able to.”

BOOM!

A North Carolina radio or podcast this week caught wind of Alonso’s comments and asked guest Chris Long, a former UVA All-American defensive end, what he thought about Alonso’s statement. Alonso, by the way, wears Long’s No. 91.

Long was asked if he would make such a statement the week of the Carolina game, and Long said no, but threw a little more fuel on the fire.

“There’s a lot of things that people do that I don’t have a problem with,” Long said. “There’s nothing wrong with being bold as long as you can back it up. [Alonso] has been a good player for Virginia and I’m actually pretty proud he’s wearing that number.”

Then came the juicy stuff, much to the surprise of the two Tar Heels interviewing the former All-Pro.

“My thing is, [Alonso] is telling the truth,” Long said. “The truth hurts a little bit. It’s a culture war. It’s our culture versus their culture. I like this. Infuse a little excitement and hatred into the oldest rivalry in the South.”

Certainly the Tar Heels will use all this as bulletin board material.

There hasn’t been a lot of war of the words over recent years, but there have been some times in the past that used to drive the late, great George Welsh crazy.

Tiki and Ronde Barber used to talk trash game week, one time in particular against Georgia Tech when Welsh banned media from talking to the twins the following week.

Charles McDaniel had some choice words for Virginia Tech during his playing days, and then there was Antonio Dingle, a UVA defensive lineman whose trash talking about Carolina made headlines on ESPN’s SportsCenter on game week.

Dingle didn’t waste any words for his disdain of the Tar Heels and Ronald Curry. Dingle said something like he would trip Curry’s head off if he got a chance and that he hated Carolina and its baby blue uniforms so much that it made him want to puke.

A lot of what Alonso said was pure pride in how Virginia has handled the Tar Heels during his career with the Cavaliers.

“It’s important,” Alonso said of UVA’s winning streak over UNC. “You see all those streaks we have, however many days we’ve gone without losing to Carolina in basketball or football.

“I want to leave UVA saying that I’ve never lost to UNC no matter who’s back there at quarterback or running back, or who’s on defense.”

Alonso knows one of the keys to the game is putting pressure on Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who has thrown for more than 700 yards on the Cavaliers the past two seasons.

“We have to play within one another,” Alonso said. “For me to get back there, there has to be some coverage. I need time to get back there.”

Virginia sacked Illinois quarterback Art Sitkowski three times last week and pressured him much more, but Sitkowski is a backup quarterback. Howell is a different animal. He’s one of the premiere QBs and passers in college football.

“We know he can get it down with his legs and through the air,” Alonso said. “We’ve seen a lot of dual threat quarterbacks in my time here and we practice against a lot of dual threat quarterbacks here. I think we’ll be able to cage him.”

Virginia Tech sacked Howell six times in the season opener in Blacksburg, a game the Hokies dominated. Alonso has studied those films.

“I honestly thought that [Tech] tried harder and wanted it more on the defensive side,” Alonso said. “It looked like [Tech] was more physical, longer. They wouldn’t quit.”

It all boils down to playing great football in one of the biggest rivalry games in the ACC.

“I think it’s very significant,” Alonso said of the rivalry. “The past four years, [Carolina] has been all the hype, them and Miami, and we continue to beat [UNC]. Just being at the top of the Coastal, we have to go through them. This being the first (conference game for UVA) makes the rivalry even sweeter.

“Once we beat them, we’ll be more respected and talked about on the ACC Network and ESPN.”

Now, it’s time for Alonso and his defensive mates to do what Long said, be bold and back it up.