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Coach Mike London will face former Virginia head coach Al Groh this weekend. |
This week, the Cavaliers look to rebound from a tough home loss against traditional power Florida State. Coach Mike London will take his team on the road to Atlanta where the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets await. Virginia has plenty to improve on this week, and will have to make those adjustments against a team that runs both a 3-4 defense and a triple-option offense; it’s a whole new ballgame, everyone.
London said his team learned some lessons against FSU.
“I would say the one thing is when you’re playing a good team like that, that those issues of the third down efficiency come into play – we were 0 for 7 in the first half. You’ve got to make a third down situation so you can hang on to the ball,” London said. “Second half we outscored them. It was 14-7, but you’ve got to play four quarters with a team like that because you will get your issues and your weaknesses exposed if you can’t play every quarter. That’s something that we’ve got to work on, and we’ll continue to work on.”
In addition to leaving points on the field, Virginia also gave up valuable yardage against the Seminoles; penalties also doomed the Cavaliers on both sides of the ball last Saturday.
“We had nine penalties in the game, they had four – going into the game they were the most penalized team in the conference, and we were 10th. We’re 11th in the conference now in terms of penalties, which is unacceptable,” London said. “The margin for error when you’re playing against a fast team, the gaps that you have to close quickly, the decisions that you have to make – you have to make those things, you have to make them quickly. You have to do things quickly. But there are no excuses. We’ve got to make the plays.”
A Familiar Face
Georgia Tech has a new-look defense this season, courtesy of one Al Groh, former UVa head coach and current Yellow Jacket defensive coordinator. Groh left behind an unhappy fanbase and a head coaching vacancy that was filled by his former defensive coordinator, Mike London. London has no qualms about coaching opposite the man whose job he filled, and plans to treat this game like any other.
“I’ve been coaching college ball for a long time now. And I know that he knows this is the reality of the profession of the business. It’s the storyline – if you say the fact that we were both here at the same time – but to me, I’ve told the players, this is a game where the University of Virginia is playing Georgia Tech, and it’s our second conference game. And that’s the way that we’re going to approach it, and that’s the way we look at it,” London said. “There is so much moving around. Your paths cross so many different ways, but the bottom line is when you’re competitors, the job is now to try to do something to help your team win. There is much respect that I have but like I said, it’s Virginia playing Georgia Tech.”
London may be able to put the personal stuff behind him come game time, but what about Groh’s former players? There have to be some mixed emotions about their ex-head coach.
“We don’t think about it. It’s UVa vs. Georgia Tech.,” wide receiver Kris Burd said. “We just go out there, and we’re going to play the 11 guys they put out on the field.”
The Cavaliers have a goal of getting their first ACC win and no one, not even a former mentor and coach, will alter that focus.
Getting Defensive
When Groh left Virginia, he took his pro-style, 3-4 defense with him. Groh and GT head coach Paul Johnson have been busy implementing the new schemes, but they have had to do it without Georgia Tech’s most recent monster-athlete Morgan Burnett , who went on to the NFL. So far, the new defense has been a little lackluster: the Yellow Jackets gave up a whopping 527 yards to N.C. State. This will not be the first time that Virginia has faced the 3-4 this season; VMI had some 3-4 looks in its defense.
“I think offensively with the 3-4 system, VMI played some 3-4, we’ve seen that before. And we practiced some of it during our opening week also, some 3-4 looks because of the different challenges it presents,” London said. “But nothing is like playing a 3-4 team from a guy that knows the 3-4 defense. That will be a challenge for sure, but it won’t be the first time that we’ve seen the 3-4.”
However, there will be a lot of adjustments for the offensive line assignments. Although the major differences are apparent with the front seven, even the Virginia receivers will need to change their game plan a bit.
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Kris Burd is ready to do whatever it takes to defeat the Yellow Jackets. |
“It’s a little bit different as a wide receiver,” Burd said. “You have to adjust when you see the blitz and it’s more of an up front thing in the running game about identifying the targets and blocking the right way.”
Nevertheless, the Cavaliers have a lot of confidence in their coaching staff and their own abilities in facing the 3-4. Coach London was in charge of Al Groh’s 3-4 for a time here at Virginia, and also coached it with the Houston Texans.
“It should be similar to the one we played here; we played against the 3-4 all the time in practice, but you never know what they’re going to line up in come game time on Saturday,” junior center Anthony Mihota said.
Triple-Option Flexbone Spread?
We are in Year Three of the Paul Johnson era at Georgia Tech, and everyone is still unsure of what to call his enigmatic offense. Whatever you want to call it, call it confusing for opposing defenses. Virginia has a secret weapon in defensive coordinator Jim Reid, who ran the option at VMI and has experience coaching against it.
“With the different defensive coaches on staff, there is a measured amount of experience running the option, and defending the option. Everyone knows when Coach Reid was at VMI and they ran the option there, and you’re playing a I-AA schedule [so] sometimes you’re defending option teams,” London said. “There is a culmination of coaches that have experience running it and defending it. Hopefully we can put a gameplan together that will give us a chance to compete.”
The head of the snake, so to speak, is senior quarterback and a three-year starter Josh Nesbitt. He is an option unto himself with his ability to run, scramble, and pass accurately. Even without the other two options of the triple option, the Cavaliers will have their hands full containing Nesbitt.
“I tell you, he is an outstanding football player. He almost gets about a hundred yards a game rushing. Coach Johnson has him doing different things with the ball. You get an experienced guy that knows how to do it all, knows when to tuck it and run and when to pitch it. It makes him alone a triple threat,” London said. “This is definitely an assignment oriented football game, but at the same time you can have a guy on him or two guys on him and he’s good enough to make them miss.”
Renaissance Man
Anthony Mihota isn’t your average football player. The junior from Fredericksburg, Va., has a wide variety of off-the-field pursuits, including his art major and an interest in ballroom dancing.
Mihota, along with teammate Dontrelle Inman , is pursuing an art degree. He originally wanted to study architecture, but the rigorous schedule of UVa’s “A-School” proved incompatible with his football schedule.
“I’ve always loved art growing up and I came here and decided that was what I wanted to do,” Mihota said. “My concentration is in new media, so digital art, animation, video. I want to pursue animation and go into that, maybe graphic design after college.”
In addition to his expressing his artistic side, Mihota has developed some fancy footwork with the Ballroom Dance Club. Believe it or not, his smooth moves on the dance floor have translated to the football field.
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Anthony Mihota has great footwork on and off the field. |
“It helped with my footwork,” he said. “It was fun, you know, just trying something different because you get stuck in the monotony of just going to class, going to football. I just thought it would be fun experience because that’s what college is about, different experiences.”
Could we possibly see Mihota on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon?
“One day.”
Worth Noting
- Virginia leads the all-time series 16-15-1.
- Last season, GT won in Charlottesville for the first time since 1990.
- Turnovers make a difference. During the last six match-ups between the two teams, UVa has had 15 take-aways resulting in 57 points.
- Three Georgia Tech players have more than 1,000 career rushing yards: Josh Nesbitt (2,503), Anthony Allen (2,050), and Roddy Jones (1,136).
- Georgia Tech has never lost back-to-back contests under Paul Johnson.
Worth Quoting
“It was a rush; it was a lot of fun playing with those guys because I had been looking forward to it for a couple years. Going into the competition we had against them, it was great. I’ve ever felt so happy being booed by so many people.” – Anthony Mihota on his first start again Virginia Tech in 2008.
“I was born in West Virginia.” – Mihota answers a question about his missing tooth.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to win. The coaches want me to get in a three-point stance? I’ll do it. Whatever it takes.” – Kris Burd
“It was great to see [the] uniformed aspect of it with the fans and the students and the support, just generated from everyone wearing white. I’d never seen anything like that, even in the years that I was at Virginia before. It was neat to see. The players were really impressed by it, and it was very impressive. I hope the next time we have such a marketing event, we can do better as far as playing on the field.” – Coach London on Saturday’s “White Out.”
“I noticed that the attitude was one that we don’t want to get used to the feeling that you have when you don’t play well on Saturdays. I think our guys are pretty much excited about the fact that we have another opportunity to play again. Our mindset is still strong. We’re all we’ve got. We talk about family and things like that, and that’s what it is when you have a football team, a young football team that sometimes is looking for an identity.” – Coach London on the team bouncing back from the FSU loss.
