The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Matt Schaub Joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller Live On "The Jerry & Jerry Show!"

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Matt Schaub, Former UVA & NFL Quarterback, joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller live on “The Jerry & Jerry Show!” “The Jerry & Jerry Show” airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to “The Jerry & Jerry Show” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. We are live in downtown Charlottesville, less than two miles from Scott Stadium. Live in downtown Charlottesville, less than two miles, where we watched a Virginia football team suffer at the hands of the North Carolina Tar Heels in the South's oldest football rivalry. Ten quarterback sacks allowed an offensive line that was Swiss cheese-esque, and now Virginia football heads into its bye week,

not only searching for its identity, but searching for a sense of purpose to close the 2024 season. Many in the fan base are wondering if this football team will end the year on a seven-game losing streak, three teams on the docket remaining in the national rankings, and of course the last game of the season against the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. I would say sit back, relax, grab your coffee, grab your tea. I mean, heck, if you're like me and you bleed orange and blue, you might be grabbing your Woodford Reserve at 1030 in the morning.

Good night, guys. Judah Wittkower is behind the camera. He's the Elmer's glue of the network, and he's got Matt Schaub on the line over there. Hootie Ratcliffe set up this interview. My friend, I'm going to follow your lead here with one of the greatest quarterbacks in ACC history on the program today as well, and Matt Schaub.

Hootie Ratcliffe, where do you want to begin? It's a pleasure having Matt on the show. I covered him when he played here. And for those who aren't familiar or newbies and don't know the accomplishments of this man. He was ACC Offensive Player of the Year and the Player of the Year in 2002, beating out Phillip Rivers. Most NFL fans are familiar with him for sure, as they are Matt. His number seven jersey number is retired.

He was MVP of the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl. When he finished his career at Virginia, he held 22 school records, which is unbelievable, mind-boggling. Was one of the most accurate passers in the ACC history. 67% of his past completions went on to an incredible career in the NFL. 17 years, mostly with the Houston Texans. Two Pro Bowls, led the NFL in passing in 2009. And one thing I wanted to ask him about, I had forgotten about this.

I know, I think I watched this game. In 2012, against the Jaguars, he threw for 527 yards, which tied Warren Moon for the second most passing yards in a game in NFL history. At some point, we'll talk to him about that and just ask him what that must have felt like that to me is just boggles my mind but anyway um matt's live with us from uh his home in atlanta he was up here this weekend matt welcome to the show hey guys thanks for having me on good to be good to be with you thanks for taking time. It's absolutely our pleasure to have you. Hootie Ratcliffe rattles off your credentials. I say this, you're just a big-time baller, man.

You are calling the game on Saturday next to Johnny Freeman, next to Ahmad Hawkins, friends of the program. I'll get out of your way, Matt Shaw. Tell us what you saw from the booth. Yeah, you know, I think the expectation going into the day was a lot different than how it transpired. I mean, I think we all feel that. Just looking at both football teams, I thought we had a very even matchup, to be honest with you. When you look at the talent on both sides of the football, I thought it was going to be a really hard-fought football game. And I loved how we started.

Offense went right down the field, got to the one-yard line, and it felt like, and you referenced it earlier, when that snap went over Anthony Calandra's head on first and goal on the one, it just snowballed from there. And there was no stopping the bleeding for the Cavaliers from that point forward. Had they scored there, how would the game have gone? How would momentum have played? But it can't go understated. I mean, you had an offensive line that had to really be shifted around last minute when you have your

center, who is the anchor of that group, not be available to play. And you have to move someone over and your backup center is hurt and out for the game. And you have someone that really has never taken any snaps, didn't get to practice all week at that position. Like that is not easy. And that's a challenge. So as elementary as the quarterback center exchange can be, it, that's a tough situation for Noah Josie to be in. I know he's a veteran player, but that's not easy, as well as all the guys up there. But to go back to the game in total, I just feel like the defense somewhat didn't play nearly to their standard. Just a lot of the missed tackles. I think this week, given the bye week, is a turning point for this football team.

Look themselves in the mirror and look at each other in the meeting rooms and going out to practice and really get back to i know tony elliott said it last week coming off the clemson game that you're going to go home and practice and recommit to the process and the details well this week you got to get even more detailed and really find out okay where do we want to go? We're four and four as a football team. We have four games against really good football teams coming up and all the missed tackles that they had, all just the mental mistakes and just things that they could control, right? It's one thing if you lose a football game to a team and they just play better than you.

It's another thing when you go out and you don't play well because of things that you can control they ask something that the coaching staff and really the veterans on the team really have to point out and they really need to decide what this team wants to be when it's all said and done um and you know end of november you're right on about that and you know some people asked why they didn't go with the Grady bunch, the tush push down there, and it goes back to the same answer that you just gave about Noah Josie hadn't practiced that, and that wouldn't be fair and probably not effective if he was unfamiliar with that phase of the game.

But you're right about the quarterback-center exchange. I was in a story going back to the George Welsh days. I watched him practice one day, which media normally doesn't get to do. But I was over at Scott Stadium for a Saturday morning practice. And they kept screwing up the center quarterback exchange over and over and over again. And George stopped practice with a few expletives uh until he uh he said if we do this one more time this practice is over and and sure enough two snaps later uh there was a fumble on that that exchange and george was so upset that he threw

not only did he throw the entire team out of practice, but he threw the coaching staff out of practice, too. That shows you how that can really upset the apple cart, so to speak. But, yeah, that's tough when you're missing two starters on the offensive line and even a couple of backups. And you being a quarterback, you certainly know the effects of that as much as anybody. Absolutely. Especially you go going against a defensive line. They're very athletic and they're, you know, throw records out the window when you come into a game like this against two

longstanding rivals. Right. And, you know, and you give anyone an inch, they're going to continue to find those weak points. And we found ourselves in a game, frankly, that we had to throw it. And when you have to get away from your game plan and wanting to run the football to set up the pass, such as Virginia likes to do, that puts your quarterback in a very tough spot when you have guys playing tackle that haven't been,

that aren't as healthy or they're younger in experience, they haven't got a lot of playing time, and it just makes it tough when you have those edge guys being able to fly off the football at you. Absolutely. And it almost made Caranato look like the San Francisco 49ers front with the pressure they put on quarterbacks. I was looking for Julius Peppers to come out and take his helmet off.

I thought he was making a return. Yeah, it seemed that way, didn't it? It's going to be tough. I guess the bye week comes at a good time, Matt, because this team has some issues it's got to overcome. One of them is a red zone problem. They're ranked like 130th in the country in red zone touchdowns. What do you do about that?

Is there anything you can do about that? There's a lot of things you can do. And honestly, this dates back to last season. When you look at the 2023 stats, I remember just doing a deep dive into that when I was getting prepared for my role this coming season on the radio team. And that was an issue when I came up for August camp and did a mock scrimmage or mock broadcast with John and Ahmad at the one there at Scott Stadium and just

wanting to see more in the red zone. And what are we going to do to improve from the year before and i don't see the that coming to fruition like our team gets down there they can move the ball between the 20s and then it seems like they get down there to the 10 15 and things just go haywire and i don't i'm not exactly sure what where to put my finger on i just think that the other day you had a drive where the first play we ran an rpo and calandria pulled it to throw it. It looked like to Malachi Fields on a fade route, and he's blocking. So I don't know if there's a miscommunication, if there's lack of detail, or how we want to place things. You know, blame can go around, right? I mean, we can blame play calls. We can blame players, But it's a collaborative effort. And you just got to get on the same page.

Sometimes that means shrinking the calls you want to have in your playbook down there. What do we do really good? Do we run the wide zone? Do we run downhill? Is it zone read? Is it RPO? Do we run bootlegs? Like, what do we want to be as a football team down there?

Where's our strengths? And just lean on those and say, we're going to run these plays and we're going to be really good at them rather than having multiple looks and plays. Cause then when you have that happen on first and 10 down there, then the second down play you're stuffed. And then you're like third and goal from the nine or 10 yard line or third and 10 from the 12. And it's, those are hard situations because the fields go so condensed. So it really comes down to let's find out what our bread and butter and what our identity is. And I think that's one thing that offensively through eight games,

not just watching it, it's hard to say what our identity is. There's some really good players and there's a lot of talent, but what is our identity? What do we hang our hat on when we're in a tough situation and we need to make plays? And I think it changes, and that kind of creates some uncertainty in some guys' eyes of who's going to be that guy to have the ball in his hands and be the playmaker.

It almost seems like it's a look for Malachi Fields. Well, and that's not a bad solution. I mean, he's been so reliable. Not at all. And I love him as a player. And two things that, one thing about him, if we have a moment, I did the Clemson game the week before. And when our offense was struggling to move the football, find things,

you know, we hit a lull in the second and third quarter in that game. We moved Malachi into the slot, got him against a nickel corner or safety, and we hit him down the seam for a 30-plus yard game, really jump-started a drive. What happened the other day against Carolina? We were in the same position, having trouble manufacturing offense, put him in the slot changed where he was in the formation hit him on another 30 plus yard gain down the down the seam you know where he's on guys that aren't he's used to covering and he has more space to operate because his route tree changes on the inside versus being out there at the numbers and i think that's one thing that uh des kitchens and

tony ellie can really look at like how can we get malachi in different spots put him in the slot put him in an empty set and put him in that third man location where you normally see a tight end put him there where he's working on linebackers the mismatches you can create are vast and i really like to see him because of all the catches and plays that he can make he's such a hard tackle i mean he's a big dude and very strong with the ball in his hand so find a way to get him the ball wherever you can. Matt Schaub, our guest guys, we've got viewers and listeners watching on all social media and podcasting platforms. I'm seeing eight states watching us right now on the talk shows. They listened to one of the greatest quarterbacks in ACC and UVA history on the Jerry and Jerry show. Questions are coming in for you. Mack Brown says before the game, to stop Virginia football,

you've got to stop number 10. He said number 10 is their heart. He's the head of the snake. Nine sacks with Calandria. Another sack with Musket. They certainly stopped AC. Fan base right now, it's the first time

I've seen it all season. Some asking for Tony Musket, and if it's Musket, the guy that should be under center. It's the first time I've seen it all season. Some asking for Tony Musket, and if it's Musket, the guy that should be under center. I'm the guy at Scott Stadium that's watching live action while having the earbuds in and catching you and John and Ahmad in my ears while I'm watching the game in real time. There was an interesting conversation that came up with the three of you guys when it came to Tony Musket. You made the comment that Tony Musket goes about his business as a professional.

Even as a backup, he comes in the game as a professional. He's always prepared. Ahmad made the comment or responded to you by saying, if Musket was the younger guy of the two, a quarterback change would have happened, but Musket is the older guy of the two, a quarterback change would have happened, but Musket is the older guy,

so that's why he thinks a quarterback change would not. I'm very curious, the whole fan base is having this conversation right now. If you think a quarterback change should be made, if there's a time to do it, it would seem like the bye week is the time to do it, especially with the season at the crossroads right now, Matt? Yeah. I may differ from a lot of people's opinions on this,

but I think you stand your ground that it's Anthony Calandra's football team and he's the starter. That's the decision you made going into the season. As it stands, you're 4-4. He's played well at times and has some really exciting potential as a second year player So he is a far lat far less experience playing in game like situations than Tony musket And you made this decision as the head coach so to stand firm in that and have him play through some trials and tribulations And some adversity you're gonna go through it and it just so happens We're in a rough spot as a team right now, and's a lot of injuries there's a lot of reasons for that

and there's a handful of throws i know ac would like to have back and a few plays we all have those moments in games it just so happens they're spotlighted when you lose the way the past two weeks have gone and the way tony musket has played coming in in the fourth quarter. Unbelievable how he's played. Not surprised one bit given how much football he's played and watching him throw it. He's very decisive with the football. Could Tony be justified, Tony Elliott that is, be justified in making a change?

Yes, absolutely. I think you start bringing up a lot of different things and a lot of different questions. Then if Tony Musket struggles in the first quarter, a Whole can of worms can open up when you go that route. But to have Anthony Calandra learn from experience and learn how to play this level of football is important. And you're going to go on the road and you're going to play Pitt. You're going to go on the road and you're going to play Notre Dame.'re going to go on the road and you're going to play Notre Dame. Let's, let's go out and let's reset our jaw and let's show what we have on the inside. And yeah, let's highlight what we need to do better at that position. But I think you stick,

stick with your, your ground and you stay with Anthony and say, let's go play. This is how it's going to be. And you talk to those guys and you'd be very honest and upfront with them. You know, the situation. And I think that's how he should handle be. And you talk to those guys. You be very honest and upfront with them, you know, the situation. And I think that's how he should handle it. And I think that might be. I don't have any insider info. So, Jerry, you probably have way more information than I do. But for me on the outside, just having, I've been in it.

I've been benched. I've been coming as the backup. I've had all those scenarios play out. And even going back to my Virginia days, and Jerry, I know you remember it. I was benched my first game of my junior season, my fourth year, the one in 2002. And I've rotated the year before with Bryson Spinner. So I've been in all scenarios. And I think just taking a breath and a step back this week will be huge for this football team and Anthony Calandra and everybody. And, hey, this is what we're going to be, and we're going to go do it.

And that should be the focus. Well, you referenced that being benched for that one game in 2002. You bounced back pretty strong from that. Yes, he did. You ended up throwing for around 3,000 yards or maybe more than that and became the ACC Player of the Year. So you took that to heart and built something positive out of it. And people got to remember that AC is going to be your quarterback for the next two years. Do you shatter his confidence by putting him on the bench?

I think I agree with Matt. I think you got to go with him and hope that he can play his way through it and learn valuable lessons. Well, let me just say this too. There's something that in this day and age, and when you talk about the transfer portal, NIL, all these different things that these young kids, 18, 19, 20 years old, have being thrown at them and all these options and you're not happy doing this, you can go and do or um there's something to be said about just sticking with it and developing that that grit and that mental toughness you have a lot of it innately but when you have to go through hard times and adversity that's what football is about and that's

what being a football player is but giving guys outs and just you know coddling in a way or appeasing everyone's emotional desires. Like, there's no place for it because you're exposed in football, right? And you've got to learn how to deal with things. And I think that young players, this isn't just specifically to Anthony Calandra. This is to all young players. You've got to go through some hard stuff. You've got to deal with it, and you need to learn how to stand up and say, look, this isn't going to happen again. Enough i'm going to handle my job totally agree um this i wanted to

mention that you were up here not only as uh an analyst in the radio booth on the radio network this saturday but you were also honored and you brought your lovely family to Scott Stadium. You were honored by the Virginia Football Alumni Club in their Who's Making a Difference program. What was that like for you and your family? And also, just speak a little bit, Certainly you were honored for not only your football career, but this award is for stuff off the field. If you could talk a little bit.

I think you're involved in a children's hospital or something to that nature down in, I guess, in Atlanta. Right. A huge honor. When I was notified in early August, in early August, um, that the alumni club wanted to honor me at this game and, you know, it happened to be one that I was calling, which was a great, um, coincidence. Um, and then I, when I told my wife and I wanted them to come up, we have five kids. Um, they've been to Charlottesville one time for an in and

out for a Virginia Tech game, but they're older now, so they can understand and they can see and go out for a weekend and experience Charlottesville, experience the game. It was a beautiful weekend to all be there. My parents came, my sister and my brother-in-law and niece. And so to have everyone there and be a part of it, they got to come in the booth for a little bit in the post game. So it was cool to see them in an environment that I know so well and a place that means so much to me. So to have that happen was just awesome. And just talking about some of the stuff off the field, my wife and I, we started our own foundation back in 2010, 2009, 2010. And we're doing some work with a children's hospital down

in Texas outside Houston. And then we carried it with us to, yeah, and that's where we really did. And what sparked all that was when we were having our first child. And once we were really integrated in the medical system, just going through all the checkups and everything with her and just seeing the impact you can have on kids with medical needs, that's really where our pulse of our desire for philanthropic goals stemmed from. And so we got involved with them. And then honestly, when we came here to Atlanta, we brought it with us. But then we got tied to more of the networks here in Atlanta,

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. We do a lot with them. My wife's on the board of their hospital, and then we do stuff with Make-A-Wish. So there's different avenues that we really get involved, but most, if not all of them, all deal with children and doing the most we can to help them just be able to, for whatever needs it is, medically or in case of Make-A-Wish, Some of them are terminally ill children, giving them some hope and some positivity. That's awesome. You should be saluted, you and your wife, for that. It's incredible. Thank you.

You're not only doing some UVA games with the radio network, but you're also in the TV booth for the Falcons right uh no I wasn't for them I did do a little bit in the preseason this year with Houston I went over there and did a little bit um but I think I think I know where you're getting that um the one title I think that was put in um was a little misleading uh last season I was on the staff on the coaching staff for the Falcons as an analyst slash game management situational coach, helping Arthur Smith, the head coach at the time, with some of the in-game clock management challenges. Some of that analytical stuff, decisions that coach have to make on the fly. Sometimes things are going so fast and chaotically that

someone just to have that pulse is necessary. So that was my role last season. Okay. Matt, what goes into the bye week? Give us the behind the scenes here. Give us a quarterback and locker room perspective of what goes into the bye week here with the coaching staff and the guys trying to find an identity and get, you know, the season off the skids? Yeah, it all goes to you're always preparing for your opponent during game weeks, but this is an inside look. This is looking in the mirror. This is let's self-scout, self-evaluate as if we're preparing to play ourselves.

And now you have eight games. And I know they had a bye week earlier in the season so really you can look at whatever however many games it's been since then and really do a deep dive on on what's working what's not where's the glaring tendencies where do we what are areas of improvement right x's and o's and situational football stuff. And those are the things you really got to highlight in practice and say, you just don't go through the motions like, hey, we want to be deliberate in our practice and what we're trying to get done and why we're trying to get done. I think it's important for players to know why. Okay, all these plays look good on paper, these statistics that you can throw up, but what do they really mean and how are they

going to translate when we go out to practice? That's vital to me. And from a player standpoint, it's that, just that, it's taking it even one step further because the coaches look at it, not only from an individual player perspective, but in totality, what are we doing scheme-wise, but also health-wise. I mean, so many players, they get it. No one's healthy 100% at this point in the season. So you've got to manage some injuries. You've got to manage some ankle tweaks or shoulders or whatever it is. You've got to nurse those things. You've got one more month, and you're 4-4,

and you've got some really good football teams to play. So if you want to make a bowl game, you want to end your season on a super high note, the opportunity is right there. There's no time. No one's going to feel sorry for you. No one's going to just let you walk into their building in Pittsburgh or Notre Dame. They're not going to let you walk in and just roll over and let you win

because they feel sorry for you. So you've got to get yourself ready to go play some good football teams, and it's a great opportunity. Why not? Why not now? But this week is vital for these guys to just get down and watch some film and understand okay what am i doing and how can i be better what uh just going back to your days of virginia matt for uh al grow what what's your fondest memory

oh fondest memory there's so many it's vast i mean i don't know if you want me to specifically talk my fondest memory al grower just my favorite fondest memory of playing in virginia my time there i mean if it's that it's beating virginia tech at scott stadium in 2003 is our last regular season game before the bowl i mean it had been four years of not beating them and to finally beat them and in the manner that we did the crowd, the way, I mean, it was just an all around awesome way to end a career, um, for us older veterans on the team and, and to beat those guys. I mean, it was, it was really sweet. And so, I mean, that's definitely, and I think that was Jerry, I gotta say that was probably one of the more layup ish type of questions you've ever given me.

I'm glad I went with that and I didn't change my answer. Here's a tough one for you, a straightforward one for you. Best player you played with, and we'll wind down the interview because his time is valuable. Best player you played with in an orange and blue uniform? Oh, in the orange and blue? Oh, man, if any of my teammates are listening, I don't want to have to leave anybody out. I was fortunate.

There were so many good teammates. You had some big-time players. We had some great talent, but we had some great guys. We had some dudes that I'm still in touch with today, 20 years later. Just fantastic players, but people, too. So it's hard to really point one out. if we're just talking on the football field i mean what better guy than heath miller um when you look at what he meant as a player at virginia just as a teammate and production standpoint and then you know if you look beyond what he did at p in his NFL career, just a guy that didn't say too much at all,

but just went out and just worked his tail off. I mean, I could say him. I mean, there's so many guys, but I just, he stands out. I mean, he meant a lot to me. I mean, I threw him a lot of passes, so it'd be easy to go with him. Absolutely. Now the head coach at St.'s belfield academy heath miller why don't you give him uh one more here with the uh with the time clock on the interview with matt

oh yeah going back to what i said before tying that nfl record with uh warren moon 527 yards in one game what what was that like for you were you in just an incredible zone that day or or where the jaguars uh just couldn't stop you it's a little combination of both really looking back on it um you know football is one of those games where there's some times where you have to win 13 to 10 and sometimes you have to score 40 to win and you just never know going into it you have to be 13 to 10, and sometimes you have to score 40 to win. And you just never know going into it. You have to be prepared for all scenarios, right? But sometimes how the game unfolds, it's different one week to the next.

And this just happened. Jacksonville, you know, they had a lot of talent on their team, but so did we, obviously. And their quarterback got hurt, and Chad Henney had come in, and he started hitting one of their receivers who went wild, ran a hitch and broke a tackle and went 80 yards. And so we just found ourselves in a shootout. And, you know, we were a team that prided ourselves on running the ball, but we just found ourselves having to throw it.

And their secondary, they probably ran like three or four coverages. They weren't very diverse in their calls. And so we had a good beat on the plan and what they wanted to do to us. And it just so happened, Andre Johnson, of all guys, who just was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, I mean, he found himself open often and a single coverage way too often. And we took advantage of it, and he made the plays. We asked a lot of our offensive line, speaking of offensive line play,

and those guys drop back after drop back just gave me time and allowed me to to do what i had to do to get the ball to the open guys and but when you're going through it the game went to overtime so let's not say it was a four-quarter game when all those yards happened so sometimes we i mean we played nearly until two minutes left in overtime. So we nearly played five quarters. So maybe there's an asterisk somewhere out there next to that number. But you don't know what it is when you're playing. You're just doing whatever it takes to get the ball down the field to score. And so that was something that was brought up to me in the locker room after the game that Andre had 273 receiving I think it was give or take a

few and then what I had thrown for and it was like really like I had no idea all I knew is I had thrown all I knew is I had thrown two interceptions and we went to overtime like I was like this that's fine and I you know Andre had a walk off 50 some yard screen play in overtime to win it so um it was pretty surreal to to know after the fact that i tied warren i was like why couldn't we find one more yard out there and just get one more yard above him to be second alone because i think it was norm van brocklin there was no way i mean he was 550 you know uh some yards way back in the day 1951 yeah there you go there you go so it was pretty cool to see that happen, especially after a win,

because you don't want those things to happen after you lose. That's not a good way to go home in the car. Absolutely. Thank you, Matt. We appreciate you. You're doing a hell of a job on the radio broadcast. I look forward to your perspective and insight. And as a, as a UVA guy myself, uh, that was in school there while you were setting records, you're just a

fantastic ambassador of, of the university, man. We're lucky to have you, uh, tied to this, uh, tied to a school that we all love dearly. We appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. Uh, Love you, man. Take care. I appreciate you guys. See you. Appreciate you, Matt. Matt Schaub, guys. Judah Wittkauer, if you want to go to the studio camera and Hootie, we'll switch seats over here. We've got a lot of comments and questions

coming in. What a fantastic interview from Matt Schaub. And J-Dubs, make sure these mics are on if you can, and then mics three and four are turned off. Matt Schaub, guys, our guest, thanks to the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe.

And a lot still we got to cover. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll relay them live on air. We appreciate you guys asking questions. A number of folks, Hootie Ratcliffe, asking about the quarterback play. And I understand why they're asking the question. The most popular guy on a team that's struggling is the guy that's holding the clipboard on the sidelines, the backup quarterback. Folks are pointing to the success Tony Musket has had since he's entered the ballgame. It's important to caveat that success.

Musket is playing in a fourth-quarter period that is some would call, you know, not garbage time. Mop-up. Mop-up time, yep. When backups are in on the opposing defenses. Prevent defenses where you can accrue yardage, and you can move the ball around. I'll give you the open-ended one again with some time to pick it apart. What do you do with the quarterback play, Hootie? Yeah, I'm not throwing shade on Tony Musket because he's a quality young man,

but you just described the scenario very well, and he's not facing the same kind of pressure that Calandria is when he comes into the game because at that point, essentially, the game is over. They're just playing it out. But I think they have to stick with Calandria and just try to work things out. He's had greater moments, but they've got to find some ways to protect him. I mean, he was sacked ten times or nine times,

and it must get once in that game. And even the times he wasn't sacked, he was under incredible pressure. They've got to find some solutions to that because I'm sure Pitt is watching that game film and they're probably frothing at the mouth. Licking their chops. Licking their chops, waiting for their chance to do the same. And you certainly know Notre Dame is thinking that as well.

And Mack Brown, he's not in the Hall of Fame for nothing. I mean, I know he's having a tough year down there. Mack Brown's a great coach. He is a great coach. He analyzed things pretty well. He said, we knew that number 10 is their spirit, and if we stop him,

we stop Virginia. And he was absolutely right. And Virginia's got to find some ways to counter that, because if they don't, they're going to struggle. And they could end the season on a seven-game losing streak. I'll ask you, I wasn't going to ask Matt Schaub this question, you know, with his ties to the athletic department and the radio broadcast.

But I will ask you, Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, if the team ends on a seven-game losing streak, and Hootie, on paper, the Vegas oddsmakers would suggest this season ends on a seven-game losing streak. Yes. And that seven-game losing streak would include a loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, another one at the hands of the Hokies.

Right. If the team finishes in that kind of fashion, you know the questions are going to start coming. What does it mean for the coaching staff, the head coach, and his lieutenants? There's going to be a lot of heat on this coaching staff and a lot of heat on Carl Williams because the fan base, some of the fan base is going to be hot. No question about it. They're going to want heads to roll. Personally, I don't think, and I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with this,

but I don't think that they will fire Tony Elliott, even if they do end on a seven-game losing streak. I think they will give him one more year to try and straighten things out. And if he can't after next season, that might be a different question. But I think they did see improvement overall in the program this year. And next year won't be easy, Jerry, because this is a very senior and graduate student-laden football team. They're going to lose a lot of personnel.

Lose their two best players. Yeah. I mean, talking about who's your best player on offense, probably Fields? Yeah. Your best player on offense? Probably Fields? Yeah. Your best player on defense is Sanker. Right. You're losing your two best players. Yeah.

Yeah, you're going to lose a lot. I mean, the best player on the roster is probably Sanker, right? Probably so, yeah. Yeah, second best player on the roster is probably Malachi Fields. Yeah. There's a ton of guys that are going to be gone after this season just because their eligibility runs out. So next year will not be an easy task either.

Maybe the schedule will lighten up a little bit. I don't know. There's going to be people calling, if not for Elliott's head, then for him to make some staff changes. And we saw what happened the last time that occurred at Virginia. It ended up with Bronco Mendenhall saying thanks but no thanks and resigning out of the blue. And they had to start from scratch all over again. So it's going to be a very interesting postseason to see what develops there. Again, I don't think that there's going to be a head coaching change, but there could be some changes to the staff.

Ace, your buddy on Twitter, I mean, this is all over the show right now. Ace is saying on Twitter, they should definitely make a switch to Musket. What do you have to lose at this point? Not much. It seems every time he comes in, he does something good. Granted, it could be in garbage time against backups, but still, Musket deserves a shot. I'm sure AC would support him. Ace also on Twitter, I can definitely see Matt and Hootie's point of sticking with AC. He will learn and grow from these tough times and will probably be a good for UVA football in the long run. I, as probably with many fans, would have a better chance to win today, and let's worry about

tomorrow. The point Matt Schaub also made that should be highlighted is this. In the transfer portal, he said, young men need to fight through adversity and not just be given an out in adverse times. Another point that needs to be made in the transfer portal era, and we're about to talk a Florida State transfer to UVA who hit the transfer portal before even playing one game. Yeah.

I mean, that's bananas here. That's the world we live in. We're going to talk about that. So coaches have to think, if I pull my starting quarterback, does this give him the ammunition or cause the frustration for him to also enter the transfer portal. At the same time, my other quarterback, Musket, has exhausted his eligibility and has already told the coaching staff, I've done this for five years. I don't want to do it anymore. Yeah. And, you know, what if he comes in and plays well against Pitt and starts the rest of the season?

And then AC leaves. And AC leaves. Where are you then? Right. It's unfortunate that's the era we're in. It is. And I think AC is a kid that is not going to be tempted by NIL money because his family is very wealthy. So I don't think that is an issue, but the fact that you're on the bench,

that weighs heavily on some of these kids because they want to play, and that's one of the main reasons people leave programs to begin with. They want more playing time. But another factor is that when you're under duress like he was against Carolina and against most teams probably because they're going to take a blueprint of that, AC is much better on the run and using his feet. He's much more mobile than Tony Musket is. And so that's a factor I'm sure the coaches are weighing in on as well. An interesting piece of this puzzle,

North Carolina's defense had 10 sacks against Virginia. You look at the stats, this is the same North Carolina that gave up 70 points to JMU. And they only had 15 sacks. The whole year. In eight games. Yeah. And six of those were in the opening game. Exactly.

The point I was going to make is North Carolina's defense is not great. No. You can make an argument it's not good. And now you're traveling to Pittsburgh. You're playing the fighting. You're playing the fighting. You're playing Notre Dame and South Bend. You got SMU, who looks like the real deal, and a Virginia Tech football team that, by the skin of its teeth, could be atop of the Atlantic Coast Conference if the cookie crumbled a different way for the Hokies.

You're looking at defenses down the stretch that are, on paper, significantly better than UNC's. No question about it. And that's definitely going to be a factor in the long run. And again, these coaches are really good coaches, and they're going to analyze that Carolina film to death to see what worked and why. And part of that, again, was because the offensive line was so banged up. But they're going to still use some of those same tactics

to attack Virginia and try to force AC into making mistakes and try to limit this Virginia offense. This is a straightforward question for you. This is an interesting topic for content creators and media creators like us. Carla Hernandez, Carla Williams, Carla Hernandez, our old human resource director at the Daily Progress, Carla Williams, the athletic director at the University of Virginia, has said she's going to do a national coaching search with Virginia men's basketball. She's going to give Ron Sanchez the year to coach as the interim, but regardless, she's going to do a national search. She said that on the record.

Will the commitment to a national search with the most prominent program, basketball, discourage the athletic director from doing a synonymous search with the second most prominent program in the department, the football team. It's rare you have two going on at the same time. That is an A.D.'s nightmare. A.D.'s nightmare. I don't think so. Again, I could be wrong. It could be a factor of how many of the heavy hitters we want to change.

But I really don't think that she's planning on getting rid of Tony Elliott after this season, even if they don't win another game. I think she'll try to give him another year to get the job done. Again, I could be wrong on this, but unless a couple of ADs have told me over the years that if a coach is struggling, a lot of times the AD will look at two things. One, how he handles himself during that stressful period and if he loses the team or not. And right now, Tony Elliott's handling himself pretty well. He fell on the spear after the game the other day

and took total responsibility and was embarrassed and apologized to the fan base and the administration for not having the team ready to play, and that was on him. He owned it. You buy that um to some degree but you know you talk to the players and they said we had a really good week of practice i watched an interview on x we didn't see any of this this coming i watched an interview on x with you in it you were in the interview next to the tight end oh really yeah okay literally standing next to him in the locker room.

Tyler Neville. Tyler Neville, the Harvard transfer. Right. When he straight up said, we were prepared and ready to go, I'm shocked that this happened. Yeah. The week of practice was not indicative of our performance. Yeah.

I think this coaching staff got outcoached. I think Carolina came in with a great game plan and executed it to perfection. And, again, the players said they had a good week of practice and were ready to play. So there was some lack of communication in there somewhere because things just went haywire from that snap sailing over A.C.'s head. Nothing else really went right the rest of the day. But I really don't think that he has lost the team at this point.

That could change. Who knows what the players believe or don't believe in. We did see some interesting – I didn't actually see it. I was watching some of the action in my binoculars. I wasn't watching the sideline, but apparently Mikkel Boley, the left tackle, got into it with one of the coaches and maybe even with Elliott and was essentially sent to the locker room from what I was told. That's what happened.

Yeah. Sometimes we don't see all of that in the press box. I don't know if that was brought out on the TV broadcast or not, but certainly a head coach can't allow that to happen and apparently got things straightened out there immediately. I don't know what kind of aftermath or repercussion there may be there. There's no press conference this week, so we don't get a chance to ask Tony Elliott about that situation.

But there's no indication at this point that he has lost a team, and those are two things that ADs look for if a team is struggling and whether or not they should replace a coach. So I don't think there will be a coaching search at the end of the year. I could be wrong. But there may be some suggestions of some staff changes, and we'll have to wait and see how that rolls out but

those watching on television have cut the clip of Bollie and his interaction with Tony Elliott and the clip that's circulating on Twitter and this is just the era we're in as Bollie

mouthing I quit quit, to Tony Elliott. I saw that, yeah. And that's a clip that's going around the Internet. Sometimes that's a lot of heat of the moment stuff as well. So I'm sure cooler heads will prevail once the game was over. And Bully's father, who I've talked to before, was an NFL player and I'm sure had a good conversation with his son after the game. I'd be

very surprised if those words were said in the heat of the moment. I really would be surprised if he ends up quitting over some kind of an altercation. What do you do going into the bye hoodie? You've been around football more than anybody. Well, I totally agree with what Matt Schaub said. And I've said this before the first bye week they had, that you go in and you find out what you're doing well and you focus on that.

You eliminate the bad plays. And certainly they self-scout. And I think that's part of it. They may have to go back to some of the fundamentals. The big thing is getting those offensive linemen well. They lost another one for the season. Jimmy Chris broke his ankle in the game, late in the game. So that's one less body they have.

I mean, they're in a tough spot right now. We all knew that, we said this before the season even started, that the last half of the schedule was nasty, and it's not going to get any easier from this point out. They're going to have to find ways to make A.C. more effective, whether that's rolling out, having a rolling pocket to where he doesn't stand in there and wait for the pocket to collapse but to throw on the run, maybe use some other misdirections and stuff

so the defense can't key on what he's doing. They might have to simplify things a little bit more. You know, the old saying, KISS, K-I-S-S, keep it simple, stupid. Make things less complicated and just go with the only things that work well that you're doing well. But they're between a rock and a hard place right now, and I don't see any way out of this mess. I think it's going to be very surprising if they win another game considering who they're going to be playing. I concur.

I concur. And I'm a glasses half full kind of guy. Yeah, me too. I know you are. I try to stay positive. You are positive. But I'm also a realist. You're a realist.

You're facing we're realist three ranked teams and going to blacksburg where you haven't won since a lot of our viewers weren't even born right in 1998 um so um last time they went in blacksburg i was 17 years old uh yeah and i was a grandfather for the first time in 1998 yeah So that shows you it's been a long time. It's a black hole. We are glasses half full kind of people. We're also realists. Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, SMU, Virginia Tech,

these are the real deal, ladies and gentlemen. These are the real deal. We're talking ranked opponents. These things are fighting for a chance to play in the ACC championship game in a college football playoff. Yeah. So they're not going to be taking it easy on you by any means. We're playing three teams that are fighting for a chance to play in the

college football playoff. Yeah. And Virginia Tech, I need to highlight this. As much as it pains me to say this, Virginia Tech is a damn good football team. If the ball bounces a certain way in two of these games they lost, this football team is a top 20 football team. I mean, we're looking at murderer's row to close the season here. And I watched the Vanderbilt game and I watched the Miami game from start to finish against Virginia Tech. They should have won those games. They had some bad luck in those contests. A lot we have to cover. The 11-15 marker, and we have significant

basketball news to report, news that's going to be on jerryracliff.com. Follow Jerry Racliff on Twitter. The man's breaking news left and right. We got a six-foot-seven Florida State transfer that commits to Tony Bennett and his program that within 24 hours of the interim coach Ron Sanchez calling the point guard position, point guard by committee, with Day Day Adams, with Day Day Ames, with Christian Bliss, and with Jalen Worley, Jalen Worley said, peace, I'm out. I'm transferring from the program. I don't even care if I don't play. I'm going to redshirt my last year of basketball. I have not

played in a minute of basketball, real basketball at UVA, but I don't want anything to do with this program. This is shocking news here. Yeah, it is shocking, particularly with the timing of it all. I don't know if that was the straw that broke the camel's back with what Ron said yesterday, but he was just being honest, obviously,

that nobody has stepped up and won the position. And if Worley had fallen behind the other competitors at the job, Bliss and Ames, then that's on him. the Quidditch team eight days before the season opener, it just shows you what is so wrong

with college sports today. I mean, that's... Yeah, the head coach resigned because of the NIL and the transfer portal. And then less than a week later, it's less than a week later, the prize transfer point guard quits. I don't have the words

to describe how malfunctioning this whole system is. And we're going to see this all over the country. It's not just at Virginia. But, I mean, what's Ron Sanchez supposed to say? Did he make a mistake? No. I'm sure that he's just telling us what the players already knew. I can't imagine that Jalen Worley was taken by surprise that it's going to be point guard by committee. I think Tony Bennett actually mentioned this in Charlotte a couple weeks ago

or whenever that was at the ACC tip-off that it was going to be point guard by committee. So I can't believe it's a shock to Jalen Worley. You don't know who's in that kid's ear these days. Street agents tampering from other programs. Who knows what the bottom line is there, but I just can't believe that that came as a shock to him that it's going to be point guard by committee, and now the committee's a little bit less.

Of the three, Christian Bliss, Day Day, and Worley, which three was the most important to the team? Well, I think, and we haven't seen Bliss play since high school, since he was redshirted last year and then had surgery. And so we haven't seen him play. So we don't know where he stands in the pecking order and how his game is at this point. We'll see that soon, but by all accounts,

Day Day Ames has been pretty effective, and Ron Sanchez said yesterday he's got a little boogie in his game, which I think probably separates him a little bit from the other two. I agree. He's got the most upside plus three years of eligibility. Worley's a 6'7 guy, so he's got length, but he wasn't a great shooter from everything i understood offensively limited offensively limited um not the kind of guy that's going to create a lot of

offense for the his teammates whereas i think day day probably is so um i i would have if if i were a betting man i would have put down money that dayDay was going to get the bulk of the playing time right out of the gate. I 1,000% agree with you. Now the curious question is, what's the starting lineup look like? Well, we're about to find out. We know a little bit more now. You're looking at probably what, Day-Day at the one. Does McNeely play the two or the three?

We know you're going to see TJ Power at the four. And from press conference yesterday, it looks like the San Diego State transfer, Elijah Saunders, is going to see some significant minutes at the five with some small ball. If they play small ball, he can play five. He can guard two through five. He's a physical specimen. Blake Buchanan has a year of experience under his belt,

so certainly he could play the five. Tane Murray, I was very impressed with the way he came on strong at the end of last season. So he's going to give them another weapon and experience. And then Andrew Rohde, although he had a miserable shooting year last year, he still, every other facet of his game was solid. And so I think people seem to forget about him, but I think he's going to be a factor on this team too.

I can't believe that he will have another poor shooting year like he had last year. Virginia basketball guys, all the content, all the news on JerryRackliff.com. Hootie, you are loaded with content. Well, we're happy to see our good friend Jay Huff sign a contract. Four-year contract with the Grizzlies. I'm so happy for him. He's such a good guy.

We're going to have him on the show sometime soon, and he's already agreed to come on. But that just shows you the persistence. I mean, he was that kind of guy at UVA. He rode the bench and rode the bench because he wasn't strong enough. His defense was – footwork was a little off. And he finally kept working hard and ended up being a really good player for Virginia.

And he's hung in there for four or five years now in the NBA. No more two-way contract. He's going to be making some big bucks and getting some real playing time with the Memphis Grizzlies. Jay Huff, congratulations. I want to close with this metric for the viewers and listeners. Notre Dame is 7-1 overall. The Pitt Panthers are 7-0 overall.

That's 14-1. SMU, 7-1 overall. That's 21-2. Virginia Tech, 5-3 overall. That's 26-5. The combined records of Virginia's remaining opponents, 26 wins and five losses. Yeah, I mean, it's as close to a murderer's row as we're going to find it at this point in the season.

And we've documented that Virginia hasn't played well at Pitt over the years. It used to be Hines Field. I don't know what they call it now. The last win in the Al Groh era, right? Al Groh beat Dave Wanstead. Two former NFL coaches going at it, and that's Virginia's only win there. They've had a couple other games where they played fairly well, but generally they've been dominated at Pitt.

Everybody, you don't have to say anything about Notre Dame. They're playing for a college football playoff spot, so they're not going to overlook Virginia, no matter what Virginia's record is. SMU is in a huge game with Pitt this week, so that's an elimination game for one of those teams. SMU is still going to come in here win or lose against Pitt

looking to continue to make a splash in the ACC. You don't even have to say anything about Virginia Tech. All you've got to do is look at last year's scoreboard and how embarrassing that was. And for them to come back out on the field after the game and pose for pictures was the ultimate insult. If I were a Virginia football player, I would be so pissed off. I would go to Blacksburg and play like my hair was on fire.

But for some reason, these guys don't seem to get up for Tech like Tech gets up for Virginia. And the fact that they haven't won there since 98 just complicates matters even more. Jerry Ratcliffe, the namesake of jerryratcliffe.com. He set up the interview with Matt Schaub, one of the greatest football players in Virginia history, one of the greatest quarterbacks in ACC history. And one of the great guys, too. Oh, he's fantastic. Fun guy.

A guy who's involved professionally into a fantastic broadcaster. Yes, absolutely. I mean, he's fantastic. I think he could have a future there if that's what he wants to do. If that's what he wants to do. I mean, absolutely. Check out jerryracliff.com for everything UVA related. The metrics are going to be going through the roof at JerryRackliff.com.

If you're trying to reach Virginia fans, UVA fans, there's one place to do it, and that's JerryRackliff.com. Judah Wickauer behind camera. He got the interview set up, got the Skype working. He's a wizard. Helped us transfer seats in the middle of the show. I told Matt Chubb that you're in good hands with your Skype interview because Judah is a wizard.

He gets it all figured out. All on the fly. All on the fly. With even temperament. Judah Wickhauer, director and producer of this talk show on our network. Mr. Cool. The I Love Seville Show, guys, at 1230 p.m. Thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show

featuring the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hootie Racklin. So long, everybody. Thank you.