State rivals searching for certainty
Mendenhall makes sure U.Va.’s reg. season won’t extend beyond Saturday; Blount says Cavs might not want bowl
After spending six months on campus without going home in order to adhere to strict coronavirus protocols to be able to play football, Virginia’s Joey Blount thinks skipping a bowl opportunity isn’t such a bad idea.
He wasn’t speaking for his teammates Monday when he suggested it, but he may soon find out if he’s surrounded by like-minded players. Riding a four-game winning streak into Blacksburg, U.Va. is preparing for a Saturday matchup against rival Virginia Tech (4-6, 4-5 ACC) in what could end up being the last game of the season for both programs.
“I think with this season and everything everyone’s sacrificed and been through, it may be time if we decide not to take a bowl,” said Blount, a starting safety. “If we do take a bowl game, everyone will play. Just my personal opinion on that matter, I don’t want to speak for the team, but I would not mind spending Christmas with my family after the whole COVID pandemic that’s going on.”
While it remains to be seen what the postseason could hold for U.Va. (5-4, 4-4), it’s clear there will be no games in the regular season after this weekend for the Cavaliers. U.Va. coach Bronco Mendenhall said he turned down a chance to play Dec. 19 when the ACC
approached him about having the Cavaliers schedule a game for that day.
“I don’t think it added value to our program, or the team we would have been playing in whatever schedule changes we were asked to do,” said Mendenhall, who added he thinks “there’s some teams that are just treading water and trying to make it to the finish.”
He added, “I’m mindful of our program, our players and doing the very best I can for them, and having Boston College at home and then Virginia Tech on the road as their last two regular-season games. That’s the appropriate finish for our team. I can’t speak for any others, and a lot of times it’s just more than inventory, it’s more just than TV. Sometimes coaches and administrations have to speak up and look after the well-being of a student-athlete who has been (at U.Va.) for 23 weeks straight after a 17-week break of not seeing their coaches. So, it’s been long.”
In addition to the ACC championship game Dec. 19 that’ll feature Notre Dame against Clemson, the ACC has also scheduled Georgia Tech at Miami and Florida State at Wake Forest as makeup games to be played that day.
U.Va. was slated to play 11 games during the regular season, but it had its game scheduled for Nov. 28 at FSU postponed (and, ultimately, canceled) when the Seminoles announced on the morning of the game they had several players quarantining after the Cavaliers had already arrived the night before in Tallahassee, Florida.
Tech will finish its full 11-game slate this weekend, and the ACC is on pace to play 87 of 90 scheduled games.
Those are facts that are shocking to Hokies coach Justin Fuente, considering he didn’t think it was possible when he called Mendenhall on Sept. 12. That’s when the two coaches talked on the day it was announced the U.Va.-Tech game would have to be postponed from its kickoff date of Sept. 19 because of coronavirus issues involving Tech’s players and coaches at the time.
“No way,” Fuente said Monday. “Impossible. I mean, when I called Bronco and we moved back the first game, we just shared a moment of, ‘Can you imagine making it to mid-December doing this?’ It seemed like it was years away.”