Virginia competed against a good Pitt football team. The Hoos competed against a title contending Louisville crew too. They competed against a decent Wake Forest outfit on the road. In the middle, the UNC debacle stunk.

Over the last four weeks, we have discovered that coach Bronco Mendenhall has a tangible process in place to move the program forward. At the core: identifying, correcting, and implementing improvements for the team. Now the next step is putting it together consistently game after game.

I think it’s fair to say that what we’ve learned is if the Hoos execute well, they afford themselves a chance to be successful and win football games. Against Wake on the road, as the grades indicate, execution was a mixed bag. Virginia lost on third down, lost on first down, and lost on turnover margin … yet the Deacs needed an interception returned for a touchdown late in the game to secure the win.

Clearly the current growth period is learning what it takes to win a game and it’s those five or six execution areas that dictate the outcome of games. Mendenhall seems to see it the same way.

...