When It Comes To Rivalry With VT, Focus Now Crystal Clear

CHARLOTTE, NC.- When Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall decided to leave Brigham Young University for Charlottesville prior to the 2016 campaign, he admits that he really didn’t know all that much about UVa’s football history, nor the importance of the Virginia Tech rivalry.

Mendenhall jested that things have cleared up quite a bit in that regard since his tenure began.

“[I knew] some about the history, some about the expectations and some about the rivalry,” Mendenhall explained during his press conference at the ACC Kickoff on Wednesday, “but now that I’ve been at UVa for two years it’s becoming clearer what has to happen for the program to advance. There will be benchmarks along the way that if certain benchmarks are met, momentum will be added, which means the acceleration of the program will happen at a faster rate, and maybe at a more meaningful level.”

One of those benchmarks would be a win against the Hokies. November will mark the 100th meeting of the longtime Commonwealth Cup series, which dates back to 1895 (Tech leads 57-37-5), and Mendenhall wants his team to be fired up when the time comes. As the coach pointed out, when being on the wrong side of a 14-year drought against the biggest rival, the focus increasingly shifts to getting over that hurdle. Simply put, his Cavaliers must defeat the Hokies in order for the program to take the next step.

“That’s one of the things that has to happen regardless of where you are, and so we’re open about [trying to beat VT] more so now than I’ve ever been just because it’s clear that has to happen for the University of Virginia’s football program,” he said, “and I want that to happen for the players. It’s not a secret. We are open about it. We are focusing on that, as we need to, as well as the expectation of we expect to [play in the postseason] every year — not just occasionally — and we expect to win.”

Mendenhall went on to clarify that he wants this program to be a consistent winner year in and year out similar to his time at BYU, where he won 99 total games and appeared in a bowl game all 11 years during his successful stint with the Cougars.

He understands that there’s still a long way to go for the Cavaliers to get to that point, but that things are moving in the right direction to achieve such success again in Hooville. And part of that now includes signage around the locker room and other frequented areas that he hopes will help motivate and inspire his players to get the job done in late November.

“It’s just signage that would say, ‘Beat Tech’ or ‘Own the State,’ something like that,” said the coach, “so probably not much different than what you would have at Army or Navy, or any rivalry game. Ohio State-Michigan. I don’t want to make a comparison because I don’t know what other programs do, all I’m trying to do is add emphasis.”

Why the signage, one might ask?

“Part of cultural change is visual management,” Mendenhall said, “and things are real when not only they’re said, but they’re posted — and there’s action. And so, there’s a genesis for all of that, and I’m not saying other coaches haven’t tried. But the reality is, our program needs to play well in that game, and that will generate significant momentum.

“Bowl games will generate significant momentum, and winning bowl games will generate. So if I’m looking at what are the impetuses for momentum for our program — the University of Virginia specifically, at this time — those things that I just mentioned, if we’re talking about check marks that have to happen to advance, I think those are check marks that have to happen. I’m trying to give our players the best chance to know what they have to do to reach their goals and help the program move forward, and those are some of the things that we think have to happen.”

His sentiments were echoed by UVa seniors Olamide Zaccheaus and Chris Peace.

“Our goal is to beat Virginia Tech, and not only to go to a bowl game this year but win one as well,” said Zaccheaus, who was named to the preseason Biletnikoff Award Watch List Thursday. Peace added that a win against Tech “would change the culture that much more” and will help the Cavaliers narrow the gap in the recruiting battle as well. Peace said he can’t go five feet without being reminded of it.

“They say you speak things into existence, that [beating Tech] is something that we’ve been really focusing on,” he said.

When asked how to manage having that final game of the schedule in the back of their minds all season long, Peace said the approach won’t change much week-to-week.

“We’re still taking it one game at a time,” he quipped, “but we know when it comes down to that game, that’s one game that we have to win this year — no if’s and’s or but’s about it.”

Peace said he even hears about the streak from friends and Tech fans from the 757 whenever he visits home in Newport News, but that all of the talk only helps add fuel to the desire to end it, adding that he’s not sure how much respect the Hokies are giving the Cavs on the other end.

Tech quarterback Josh Jackson and defensive tackle Ricky Walker chimed in during Wednesday’s media sessions.

“That’s a great rivalry, it’s fun,” said Walker, a senior who hails from Hampton. “That’s probably one of the funnest games for me — talk a little trash to the guys, you know. It’s 14 years in a row and they still think they’re better than us and I think it’s funny. Those guys are definitely on the come-up, but I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon.”

The Hokies have earned the right to be a little cocky with the 14 consecutive wins, as well as 18 of the last 20, so it’s pretty easy for them to brush off the talk of the streak finally coming to an end.

“We’ve heard a lot about it,” Jackson said of the focus ramping up in Charlottesville. “It’s just kind of what happens, I guess. They always say that, and the past 14 years it hasn’t worked out for them. It’s a big rivalry for us and we’re going to go into the game how we always do.”

Other than a 52-10 drubbing by the Hokies in the last meeting in Blacksburg in 2016, Virginia managed to keep the deficit at 10 points or fewer in the other last five matchups in the series. When the sides do square off, it will be nearly 20 years to the day since the last UVa victory in Blacksburg, way back on November 28, 1998.

Will this be the year the Cavaliers break through and end the dreaded streak?

All eyes will be on Lane Stadium on November 23 to find out.