College Football: 10 teams poised to be better in 2016
By John Buhler
It has been four long years since the ACC’s Virginia Cavaliers have reached a bowl game. The Hoos last trip to a bowl was the 2011 Chick-Fil-A Bowl versus the Auburn Tigers. Virginia entered the traditional ACC vs. SEC game with an 8-4 2011 regular season record, falling to Auburn, 43-24.
That 2011 NCAA season would be the only time that former head coach Mike London would get Virginia to a bowl during his six-year tenure in Charlottesville. While the Hoos have a long way to go to be relevant in the ACC Coastal, there is belief that Virginia will improve on its 4-8 (3-5) 2015 record in 2016.
The major reason that Virginia football is about to be a perennial bowl team is that Virginia athletics made a fantastic hire in getting former BYU Cougars head coach Bronco Mendenhall to leave a fantastic mid-major independent for an ACC Coastal doormat.
Mendenhall went 99-43 in 11 years in Provo with the Cougars, reaching 11 bowl games and going 6-5 in those postseason contests. He did this coaching at an LDS school that struggles to recruit top-tier talent on their staunch code of ethics. Mendenhall knows how to get the most of out the team and that is exactly what the Cavaliers will need going forward.
Mendenhall was so fired up to be the next Virginia head coach that he and his family of five lived in an RV while his house in Charlottesville was being constructed for months. Virginia has elite football talent near the Chesapeake region of the state, and with the right coach could be an ACC Coastal contender for years to come.
While the ACC Coastal absolutely amped up its coaching pedigree with Mendenhall to Virginia, Mark Richt to Miami, and Virginia Tech tabbing Justin Fuente as Frank Beamer’s successor, Mendenhall’s Cavaliers may not see wins right away in 2016, but know that they are coming.
The Hoos have several tough games this year including at Oregon (September 10th), home for North Carolina (October 22nd), home for cross-divisional rival Louisville (October 29th), and home for Miami (November 12th).
4-8 to 5-7 seems likely for Mendenhall’s Cavaliers during his first season in the ACC, but his injection of team unity might be enough to get the Hoos to bowl eligibility for the first time in five seasons with a rare victory over arch rival Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Cup at Lane Stadium on November 26th to get to 6-6.
Next: 9. Penn State Nittany Lions.