There’s No Guarantee, But There Is A Recipe Brewing For A UVA Upset

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if Virginia fans might be treated to an upset for homecoming weekend …

Wahoo fans are hoping that 16th-ranked Miami is walking into an ambush Saturday night at Scott Stadium. The stage is set for an upset: national TV, a somewhat rare night game in Charlottesville, chilly temps down into possibly the 40s (not exactly Miami weather), and a UVa team desperately wanting to make a statement.

Certainly that’s a recipe, but no guarantee the Cavaliers can pull it off. We do remember that UVa dominated the then-No. 2 Hurricanes the first half at Miami last November before a series of miscues rapidly turned the game into a “U” runaway.

Still, Miami coach Mark Richt, who is good friends with Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall, knows that his team cannot take the Cavaliers lightly.

In fact, Richt has held practices indoors this week, out of the Florida sunshine, in order to get his players acclimated to cooler weather.

Sometimes that’s a factor, sometimes not. Usually it’s more about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s, AND the X’s and the O’s.

Virginia has several skilled players on the offensive side of the ball, but the question lingers in the fans of many Cavalier critics, can offensive coordinator Robert Anae be creative enough to negate a nasty, physical Miami defense?

Even Anae was somewhat critical of his offensive line earlier this week, pointing the finger on the Big Uglies for the offense’s inability to run the ball effectively. If the Cavaliers can’t run the ball on the Hurricanes, that’s going to make them somewhat one dimensional, and will allow Miami’s beast of a defensive tackle Gerald Willis III and the rest of the front seven, to pin their collective ears back and come after UVa QB Bryce Perkins.

While Perkins is a very mobile guy and dangerous, perhaps even lethal when things break down in terms of protection, we don’t think Mendenhall wants to leave his biggest weapon exposed against a physical defense.

Miami is ranked second nationally in total defense (237.3 ypg). The ‘Canes are also sixth in pass effeciency defense and seventh in rushing defense. Miami is also tied for the national lead in QB sacks with an average of 3.3 per game.

Willis has been so powerful this season that he has single-handedly pushed the pocket back into the quarterback’s face, which can cause a strip sack or force a bad throw that could lead to an interception.

On the other side of the ball, Virginia’s defense, which has suffered when it has stepped up a level in competition, by having its defensive line blocked out of gaps, can’t afford to allow that to happen consistently against Miami. The Hurricanes have a good running game led by Travis Homer, and a mobile QB themselves in N’Kosi Perry, a redshirt freshman who tore up FSU’s defense in last week’s comeback.

UVa defensive back Juan Thornhill said he believes the Cavaliers secondary can confuse the young Perry by camoflaging its coverages. If Virginia can do that, it’s half the battle in its favor.

The rest is up to Anae’s offense. If Perkins can keep the Hurricanes off balance and UVa can establish enough of a running game to keep Miami’s defense honest, then the Wahoos have a chance to pull off the upset.

This is an opportunity for Bronco’s program to get the type of signature win that can accelerate the growth of the program. However, the Cavaliers also can’t afford to lay another egg before a national television audience and a hopeful homecoming crowd.

Johnson’s Revenge

Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has carried a grudge for a long, long time, and finally got it off his chest last weekend when his Yellow Jackets annihilated Louisville, 66-31.

While Johnson would probably deny he purposely ran up the score on the Cardinals, there’s a backstory to this whole deal. When Johnson left Georgia Southern in 2001 to take the Navy job, Southern continued to run Johnson’s triple option offense under successor Mike Sewak.

However, when Brian VanGorder took over the Southern program in 2006, he made some rather disparaging remarks about Johnson’s option, which VanGorder shelved in favor of a more conventional style of play. Now, that happens all the time. A new coach comes in and goes with the type of offense and defense they are most comfortable operating. Still, they usually don’t rip the previous coach’s style.

VanGorder said that the triple option was outdated, and said something to the effect of “let’s bring Paul Johnson’s offense to the 21st Century.” Reportedly there was even a video made at Southern of VanGorder denouncing the triple option.

Well, Johnson caught wind of all this and immediately called Southern athletic director Sam Baker and asked to get Southern on Johnson’s schedule.

When Baker asked, ‘Why do you want to play us?’ Johnson responded: “Because I want to beat the hell out of Brian VanGorder.”

Johnson never got his chance because VanGorder only lasted one year at Southern.

So, all these years, Johnson has been carrying around that pent up wrath, waiting for a chance to show VanGorder just how good the triple option offense really was.

That opportunity came last weekend when Johnson finally got his matchup: Johnson’s triple option offense vs. VanGorder’s Louisville defense. VanGorder, fired by Notre Dame a couple of years ago as its defensive coordinator, is Louisville’s third DC in the last three years.

Not only did Johnson’s Jackets run up 66 points, they also rushed for 542 yards. Tech attempted only two passes in the game and didn’t punt a single time.

It was Louisville’s worst home loss in 21 years.

Afterward, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino offered this:

“We didn’t have any answers for their offense,” Petrino said.

Johnson summed it up this way:

“That’s probably the best string [of scoring] I’ve seen in 40 years of coaching.”

Wonder what VanGorder thinks about Johnson’s option now?

Petrino on Hot Seat?

Things in Louisville have been somewhat of a hot mess since the school fired basketball coach Rick Pitino and AD Tom Jurich over the recruiting scandal uncovered by an FBI investigation last year.

The school made some amends to its fans after last basketball season by hiring Xavier coach Chris Mack, but had to spend a ton of money to pay off his buyout in order to get him to Louisville.

Now, a growing number of Cardinals fans are in an uproar over football coach Bobby Petrino, who always seems to wear out his welcome no matter where he goes.

Louisville is off to a 2-4 start and many of its fans are concerned. Some are in revolt.

They cite last year’s 8-5 record with a defending Heisman Trophy quarterback, Lamar Jackson, at the trigger.

They also cite a lopsided loss to No. 1 Alabama in the opener, which is understandable. But then critics point to a 27-3 loss at Virginia, where Louisville’s offense looked terrible, and the defense looked even worse.

If that wasn’t bad enough, then last weekend’s putrid showing against Georgia Tech indicated to many that the wheels are coming off the Petrino machine. If there was one thing Louisville fans could count on in the past, it was that Petrino, credited as a brilliant offensive coach, could put points on the board.

Those who are really picky are somewhat bothered that Petrino’s son, Nick, is the QBs coach, and that two of Petrino’s sons-in-law are also on the staff. When a program is losing, fans tend to pick apart every morsel in search of why.

Petrino has said that he believes he can coach his way out of the situation, but it doesn’t appear that it’s going to happen in the second half of this season.

Louisville’s remaining schedule: at Boston College (Saturday), bye, Wake Forest, at Clemson, at Syracuse, N.C. State, and rival Kentucky, which is enjoying a good season.

For those who want Petrino gone, there’s this little number: $12 to $14 million.

That’s the buyout.

Earlier this week, Tom Meeker, a member of the school’s athletic association, publicly came out and said this:

“Louisville is not in a position” to pay Petrino’s buyout.

And get this, Petrino’s buyout increases next year.

ACC Stat of the Week

When Paul Johnson’s triple option offense gets going, it’s almost impossible to stop. Just ask Bowling Green and Louisville.

The Yellow Jackets became only the fourth team in ACC history to score 60 or more points in back-to-back games last Saturday when they romped Louisville by a 66-31 count. Only the week before, Tech hammered Bowling Green 63-17.

Short yardage

• Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said that this week’s opponent, Notre Dame, might be the most talented team in the country (Alabama just might dispute that). He also said playing the Irish is scary “because on film you can’t tell the difference between a wide receiver and a tight end.”
• The ACC’s two unbeaten teams, Clemson and N.C. State, are both in bye weeks, but something’s gotta give in the annual “Textile Bowl” next week when the two collide.
• Louisville ranks 118th in the nation in defense against the run (231 ypg).
• Georgia Tech QB Taquan Marshall has now guided the Jackets to 14 consecutive scores over the past two games.
• Wake coach Dave Clawson said his team has “gotten away from the solid defensive play” he expected. His expectation is for them to play hard regardless of the score and that didn’t happen in a route vs Clemson last week. He said he was ashamed of his team’s fourth quarter performance. This coming after Clawson fired his defensive coordinator Tom Gilmore, after the defense was also routed by Notre Dame a couple weeks ago.

ACC Quote of the Week

For the basketball junkies, this quote from this week’s Roy Williams preseason press conference at North Carolina, in reference to the current trial being conducted on college basketball corruption via last year’s FBI investigation:

“That is a world I’m not familiar with,” Williams said. “In 30 years as a head coach, I’ve never had anyone ask me for money. Not one person, not one. I’ve never asked any shoe company to recruit for me.”

Williams said that those with a perception that all of college basketball is corrupt is dead wrong and that most people do things the right way.

ACC Injury Report

Two players on rosters of future UVa opponents have suffered season-ending injuries.

Pitt linebacker Quintin Wirginis, arguably the Panthers’ best player on the entire team, is out for the rest of the season after a knee injury in last weekend’s upset win over Syracuse.

Apparently Pitt starting tight end Tyler Sear is gone as well, but by choice. According to our pal, Paul Zeise, columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sear up and quit the team this week. Zeise, who joined me on the Ourlads’ ACC podcast via Prime Sports Network this week, said that apparently Sear and the tight ends coach didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on how many times he was targeted with passes by QB Kenny Pickett and decided to seek greener pastures.

Meanwhile, North Carolina QB Chazz Surratt, who missed part of the season due to suspension over the “shoe incident,” and came back to backup Nathan Elliott, is also out for the rest of the season.

Surratt suffered torn ligaments in his right wrist during the Tar Heels’ 47-10 loss to Miami on Sept. 27, and will undergo surgery. Surratt was injured after throwing an interception and dove at the Miami linebacker in an attempt to make a tackle.

In other ACC injuries, Boston College running back A.J. Dillon, one of the nation’s most dangerous rushers, will be a game-time decision against Louisville this weekend. Also, wide receivers Jeff Smith and Kobay White are questionable.

Miami defensive tackle Gerald Willis III is listed as probable with a finger issue, while wide receiver Jeff Thomas (knee) is also listed as probable.