Will Fans Come Out To Watch Virginia Contend For Coastal Title?

With three straight winnable home games on the horizon, the Virginia football team has put itself in position to contend for the program’s first ACC Coastal Division title.

Georgia Tech went into Lane Stadium in front of a nationally televised Thursday-night audience and ran all over Virginia Tech, putting the Cavaliers in a tie with the Hokies at 3-1 atop the division standings.

A win against North Carolina at Scott Stadium tomorrow would give the ‘Hoos (5-2 overall) sole possession of first place with a month of football to play, and a chance to control their own destiny.

But what happens if nobody’s there to witness it, a la a tree falling in the woods? Will it actually happen?

“Hopefully [the fans] show up,” said junior wideout Joe Reed. “If they do, that’s great, but we know that most of the energy has to come from within ourselves.”

If everyone involved with the football program is doing just about everything possible to give the fan base a reason to show up and cheer, but the gameday support remains embarrassingly low, it can put a decent-sized dent in a team’s confidence and morale.

The momentum within the program continues to build, and former players are doing their part in rekindling the passion.

Virginia football legends are calling out the Cavalier faithful via social media this week to come out of hiding and make some noise this weekend as UVa fights to punch its ticket to a second straight bowl appearance, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 2004-05.

Heath Miller, Elton Brown, Herman Moore, Aaron Brooks and Micah Kiser each shared a video on Twitter this week, urging Virginia fans to pack the stadium and reward Coach Mendenhall, his staff, and most importantly the student-athletes, who have given their all to change the culture and get things back to the way they were not long ago on Saturdays in Charlottesville.

The players will tell you, it makes a huge difference to have a loud stadium packed to the gills, making things hectic and rough for the opposition as opposed to a half-full, mediocre environment where half the ones that showed up head for the exits before the game is over.

“I know we have a strong fan base and I love the atmosphere,” said Rutgers transfer offensive tackle Marcus Applefield. “I think the fans help a lot more in the game than they think they do, especially when we’re on defense and the [opposing team’s] offensive line can’t hear each other and it can mess up their communication.”

Senior tight end Evan Butts said the upset win over Miami was easily the most memorable game of his career, and said the crowd had a lot to do with it.

“The Hill was packed for the entirety of the game,” Butts noticed. “Usually, in years past, whether its a good team or not-so-good team, it gets crowded but after halftime, third quarter usually, some people leave.

“The support was there all throughout, and the players, we feed off of that and we appreciate that, and it means a lot to us that people show up. They’re loud, they’re cheering, those pom-poms they had just in unison going back and forth — that was awesome. When they blast the music on third downs — we see and we appreciate that and I’m not sure fans understand that, but it doesn’t matter if it’s Miami, Duke, Liberty — it helps us.”

We conducted a poll earlier in the week asking Wahoo Nation the following question: If you used to regularly attend UVa football games but rarely do now, which reason would you give:

• The fact that all games are on TV
• Not wanting to deal with the aggravation of gameday
• The team’s performance on the field
• The reshuffling of season tickets
• Other

Some Wahoo fans explained that they have simply moved too far away, are too tied up with their children’s sporting events on the weekends, or can’t make plans due to the announcement of kickoff times far enough in advance, among other reasons.

Out of 316 votes on Twitter, a little over half (51%) went with option C, siting the team’s performance as the reason they haven’t been showing up. If you’ve been following the team this year, this is no longer an excuse.

Mendenhall has the Cavaliers on the verge of cracking the top 25 for just the second time in a decade and first time in nearly seven years. He is pledging his own money toward a new football facility, which should give recruiting even more of a boost. Things are certainly trending in a positive direction in nearly every aspect.

“If we win out these last three home games — I don’t know the last time Virginia has been 8-2 or whatever — but just keeping the foot on the gas,” said Bryce Perkins, who added that the Cavaliers have a big opportunity in front of them over the next 21 days.

There was a video posted online recently that showed a boisterous crowd of around 90,000 diehard Nebraska fans in attendance to watch their Cornhuskers, who at the time happened to be 0-6 on the season.

Now, those are true fans. The ones that show up early, sport a poncho or bundle up for a few hours if need be, and stay until the end — win or lose — no matter what.

It hasn’t been long since Scott Stadium was the place to be on Saturdays in the fall. All of the top 10 largest crowds occurred from 2003-08, with a record 64,947 that saw Virginia get beat by Southern Cal to start the 2008 season.

Virginia was consistently in the top 30 nationally, averaging 60,000-plus fans per game in 2003, 2004 and 2005, then dipped down into the 50,000s over the following three seasons. In Al Groh’s final year as head coach (2009), the average attendance was 47,986, and the numbers have continued to drop ever since.

Mike London’s last season drew an average crowd of 43,285 and the other three years of the last four have failed to hit an average above 39,929.

In this season’s three games played so far at Scott Stadium, the average attendance is 39,121, with the high being the 42,393 that rocked the house and eventually rushed the field against Miami.

“The team was happy and just short of surprised that the turnout was strong for [the Miami game], but also just our student section was awesome and the noise,” said Mendenhall. “There was a home-field advantage.

“That was a really cool environment to play in and we were so appreciative of our fans being there.”

The feedback Mendenhall received after the big upset win, he said, was very gratifying.

“It’s just people were glad to be at the game and to see them happy,” said the coach. “I was getting comments like, ‘Wow, the stadium hasn’t felt like that in a while.’ So those kind of comments, there is a sense that this actually might work. You know, ‘Wait a second, this team and program and approach and staff, we could actually have really good football again at UVa and it could be a consistent winner.’”

The opener against Richmond welcomed in 40,524, while the low was 34,446 against Louisville. Big crowd or not, the ‘Hoos won all three.

The team would love nothing more than seeing and hearing a near-sellout crowd to cheer them on, rain or shine, these next three weeks — more like the 57,600 at Carter-Finley Stadium against N.C. State earlier this season as opposed to the measly 20,277 in attendance at Duke last week.

Simply put, if you call yourself a Virginia football fan and you’re able to make it out, these guys deserve your passion, your voice, your presence this Saturday and beyond.

“I would love this community and institution and the state to have, again, a great place to come watch and participate in an amazing college football experience,” Mendenhall said. “That’s what we’re looking to build.”