A strange season ends in a familiar place with Virginia vs. Virginia Tech

“Yeah, it’s actually more normal than not normal,” Cavaliers Coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday during his weekly Zoom call with the media. “And it doesn’t mean the game isn’t more important. It doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have significant value, but the preparation models, they’re designed to maximize performance every single week so there is more routine.”

Last season’s outcome became all but official late in the fourth quarter when Virginia defensive end Mandy Alonso sacked quarterback Hendon Hooker deep in Hokies territory, dislodging the ball into the end zone. Defensive tackle Eli Hanback recovered with 1:01 to play for a touchdown that produced the final score.

Virginia Tech tight end James Mitchell, a junior, this week recalled with disgust navigating through the celebration on the field at Scott Stadium to get back to the locker room. Mitchell’s teammates also mentioned that scene as providing extra incentive heading into Saturday night.

“Probably exactly that,” Virginia Tech defensive tackle Jarrod Hewitt said about which memory stands out the most. “Just them storming the field, and they’re our rival. You’ve got to give them credit though. They played hard. They played harder than we did last year. They wanted to win more than we did last year.

“When you look at the statistics of the game, it was pretty [evenly] matched as far as yards, turnovers, that kind of thing, but it ultimately came down to they had more energy that day, and they wanted to win more, and that’s been something that’s been eating at us for the last whole year.”

Virginia Tech (4-6, 4-5) ranks second to last in the ACC in total defense, giving up 460 yards per game behind a secondary that played without both starting cornerbacks and the top two backups early this season. The dearth of available players on the back end compelled the Hokies to guard against the deep ball rather than stack the line of scrimmage to stop the run.

The Hokies also have pushed through instability at quarterback. In last weekend’s 45-10 loss to Clemson, Virginia Tech used three quarterbacks, with third-stringer Knox Kadum finishing the game after Hooker and backup Braxton Burmeister departed in the third quarter.

Hooker, according to Coach Justin Fuente, left because of discomfort with the chilly conditions, and Burmeister, a transfer from Oregon, absorbed a sack that forced him from the game. Both are in line to play against Virginia, Fuente indicated this week.

“When I called Bronco, and we canceled or moved back the first game, like we just shared a moment of, ‘Can you imagine making it until mid-December doing this?’ ” said Fuente, who amid a four-game losing streak has been the subject of criticism on social media from a restless fan base. “It seemed like it was year away.”

Virginia has been on an opposite trajectory, having won four in a row to move above .500 for the first time since September. Beating their instate rival would ensure the Cavaliers a third consecutive winning season for the first time since 2003 through ’05.

The most significant component in the upswing, according to Mendenhall, has been the health of quarterback Brennan Armstrong. The redshirt sophomore missed one game while in the concussion protocol and since rejoining the starting lineup has directed Virginia to three games scoring at least 43 points.

Armstrong has accounted for 13 touchdowns over the last four games and will be making his first start in the Commonwealth Cup. The left-hander also is one of four captains helping to ensure the team continues to follow safety protocols during the pandemic.

Virginia is one of the few schools in the ACC not to have been significantly impacted by the virus. No starters have missed a game because of a positive test, and each of the Cavaliers’ conference games that had to be rescheduled was the result of an outbreak in the opponent’s locker room.

“I think it’s business as usual, but the win last year definitely pushed the program, pushed the culture I would say in a linear, positive direction,” Virginia safety Joey Blount said. “It kind of just sets the tone for what Coach Mendenhall preaches. It’s not if but when, and last year was the start of a trend that we’re working toward, and we want to make it a yearly thing, you know, beat Tech.”