The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Takeaways From UVA's Loss To Notre Dame; Should Elliott Bench Colandrea & Start Muskett?

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Takeaways From UVA’s Loss To Notre Dame Should Elliott Bench Colandrea & Start Muskett? Can UVA Become Bowl Eligible W/ 2 Games Left? No. 14 SMU (-9.5) at UVA, 12PM Sat, ESPN2 SMU (9-1, 6-0) Is In First Place In The ACC Keys To Victory: What Do Hoos Need To Do? UVA at No. 11 Tennessee, 930PM Thurs, CBS Vols Toughest Test Yet For Coach Ron Sanchez Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm 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.

Judy Ratcliffe's audience on Twitter to the show, Judah Wittgower, things are looking good on our end. We can start the program when you are ready. Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. This show at a studio in downtown Charlottesville, less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena in Scott Stadium. Scott Stadium, home to where Virginia football will have its last contest of the 2024 season. SMU visits Charlottesville. The Mustangs are a very good football program. They are currently 14 in the nation, and they are nine-and-a-half point favorites.

Saturday kickoff, 12 o'clock start, ESPN 2. By now you know it's no secret. Tony Elliott's program needs one more win to become bowl eligible. Those two games left on the schedule, SMU and the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. A lot to unpack with Virginia football, including a pressing question that has the fan base divided. Should the head coach bench second-year Anthony Calandria in favor of the veteran Tony Musket for the last two games of the season? We'll talk about that

with Hootie Ratcliffe. We'll also talk basketball, UVA at Tennessee, 11 in the nation, the volunteers, a 9.30 tip-off on CBS Sports Network, certainly Ron Sanchez's stiffest test yet of his very short head coaching UVA career. Judah Wickhauer, if we can go to the two-shot and welcome Hootie Ratcliffe to the show. So much to uncover. The Notre Dame contest on Saturday, I guess as expected, right around the line. Notre Dame did not cover, interestingly. Musket comes in and leads a couple of touchdown drives and plays pretty well. But in a mop-up type scenario, I'll start open-ended. What are the takeaways from the loss to Notre Dame?

Well, just the fact that they went up there and and turned the ball over so much five turnovers could have been worse they fumbled two or three other times and didn't lose the ball but I was pretty much domination by the Notre Dame defense Al Golden the defensive coordinator that was formerly here as a grad assistant and then a defensive coordinator under Al Groh, has built quite a reputation for his defensive tactics over the years, head coach at Temple in Miami, and he had Virginia pegged pretty well. Yes, he did. They couldn't do much of anything against Notre Dame's defense,

which is ranked number seven in the country, number one against the pass. And they made it a long day for Calandria. They put a lot of pressure on him. He was forced out of the pocket several times. And I don't think the Virginia receivers were able to separate that much from that coverage. Just a really good game planned by Notre Dame, and Virginia helped them immensely by turning it over, starting with the opening kickoff, which, I mean,

that's the last thing in the world you want is to fumble the kickoff. Especially if you're a guy who played at Notre Dame last year. Yeah, and right there with, I don't know, 90,000 people or whatever, rabid fans, and, I mean, you're immediately in the hole, and it's hard to dig yourself out of that, and Virginia didn't. I think, you know, had they not made the mistakes, they could have played a little more competitive game. But, you know, that's what separates the good teams from the bad teams

is somebody knows how to dominate you and they take advantage of it and you're groveling for any kind of success in the game. We should also highlight that Notre Dame made their fair share of mistakes that UVA did not capitalize on in the first half. A couple of callback touchdowns. That's true. The fumble ruski and then the other long play right after that was mind-boggling. You don't see two plays like that very often that are called back that quickly.

But yeah, I mean, Virginia had opportunities to at least narrow the gap a little bit, but just couldn't do it. Notre Dame behind us. We're looking at a college playoff football team, most likely with the fighting Irish. Virginia's trying to find their way into the postseason. There's two games left.

SMU, the last home game Saturday. A high noon kickoff on ESPN2. The Mustangs, the Ponies, as you like to call them, nine and a half point favorites. This is a very good SMU team, folks. First place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, 9-1 overall, 6-0 in ACC play. We'll get to the Mustangs, really a Cinderella story in their first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But before we do, it's all over Twitter. It's all over the message boards. You're hearing it left and right.

You know where I'm going to go with this. Musket, Calandria, Calandria, Musket. Does the head coach need to bench the second-year precocious quarterback, Anthony Calandria, because of the mistakes that have happened of late? I don't think so. I don't think they will. And I'll tell you why. Because, you know, if it was early in the year, perhaps,

but you've only got two games left, you're fighting for your lives in terms of potentially becoming bowl eligible. Although we do know that there has been, and I haven't looked at the overall big picture this year there have been some five and seven teams in the past that have gone to bowls uh i don't know that that would be the case this year but i guess it's a possibility yeah uh but the you know to be bowl eligible they need one more win and they they have a lot to play for i mean uh what better way to become bowl eligible than to pull off an upset of the undefeated team in your conference

uh a team that's fighting for a playoff college playoff spot um your arch rival where you can't win yeah i mean how much more are you going to take of that right and especially after they your arch rival where you can't win. Yeah. I mean, how much more are you going to take of that? Right. And especially after they rubbed your nose in it last year and on your own home field, a lot, a lot to play for.

If you're a football player, these guys don't look at it the way some of us do from the outside. They believe they can win just about any game they play. And if you go there and tell them that they don't have a chance in these last two games, they're going to laugh at you because they believe that they can win, no matter what the odds are. And, you know, SMU has shown some vulnerability. They trailed Boston College last week, and Virginia beat Boston College.

Boston College with their second-string quarterback. I mean, you have a fiasco with Boston College. Precisely. And there's been a couple other games where SMU had to come from behind to win. They had one game a couple weeks ago where they turned it over, believe it or not, six times and didn't give up a point off of that, which is remarkable. But it's not like SMU's coming in as a titanic heavyweight champion that can't be beaten.

And it's a road game. It's here. Virginia has played fairly well at home most of the season. I think these guys have a fighting chance if they stop beating themselves. I agree 100% with everything you just said. Everything you just said. And the key, the aspect of what you said that just stood out to me was stop beating themselves. Calandria now on the season has got 12 touchdowns,

and he's got 11 interceptions. Yeah, he's second in the ACC in interceptions. And it wasn't just Calandria. There were fumbles. There was some tip balls, et cetera. He's third in the league in quarterback efficiency, passing efficiency, which is third from the bottom, that's not very good.

I mean, he was much better last year when he was pressed into action early. Maybe people didn't have the book on him. But, you know, with all his faults, he still gives you a chance to win, I think. Wow, you're still very high on Calandria. I was curious of how you would respond. Yeah, I just think he gives you the best chance to win. I know Muscat has performed well when he's come in, but again, the pressure was off in every circumstance.

He had nothing to lose, and the other teams by that point probably backed off a little bit. Calandria is going to get everything full force because Mack Brown told us, and we already knew that, that the way to beat Virginia is to stop Calandria, and everybody puts their entire defensive game plan together to do that. That doesn't mean if you switch quarterbacks, they won't do the same thing to Tony Musket.

But I just think the way he's able to extend plays with his legs, he still has a big arm. He played pretty well against Pitt in that upset a couple of weeks ago. I just don't see the benefits of putting him on the bench right now because you've got two games left, two games that you have chances in, even though you're going to be an underdog in both. I just think that when they lay all the cards out on the table in their coaches' meetings, they're going to realize, if they haven't already,

that Calandria gives them the best chance to win these games. And coaches aren't stupid. They're going to play the guys who give them the best chance to win. That's what it's all about. Multiple people asking a version of what Kevin Yancey is asking of Waynesboro. He says, is there going to be a quick hook? Kevin Yancey says, give Calandria the start.

Give them two series. If nothing happens, if nothing clicks, or if there's a turnover, then you use the quick hook on Calandria. Yeah, I think he'll be on a shorter leash. And if he would commit a turnover early, that might be enough to pull him. But I think you've got to give him a chance to see if he can get something going. Just because, again, like, I mean, he beat Pitt.

That wasn't an easy thing to do. And I just think that that's your best chance to win a football game. Kevin Higgins in Greenwood. We appreciate both Kevins. He says, the University of Virginia better be prepared to throw the ball effectively against SMU. SMU has kept opponents to only 10 rushing first downs this season out of 10 games.

Yeah, they're for real. There's no question about it. SMU is number one in the ACC in stopping the run. They're giving up 99 yards rushing per game. They're number two in the ACC in rushing the ball themselves. So a lot of times, if you'll pay close attention to that, teams that run the ball well usually are really good at stopping the run. And that's the case with this team.

Because they practice against each other. Exactly. They're averaging about 40 points a game, and they're giving up 22. They're number eight in the ACC in passing, and number 13 in the ACC in stopping and defending the pass. So they have some vulnerability in the pass defense. So that's something that they can watch out for. And they have a lot of dramatic offensive players.

Even Nick Saban's been singing the praise of quarterback Kevin Jennings, who didn't start the season as a starter, but he's thrown for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns this season, and he's pretty good. They have a good running back, Smith Brashard, 1,000-yard rusher. And three or four really good receivers. Keyshawn Smith, 415 yards, four touchdowns, 25 catches. Got a really good tight end.

R.J. Maryland, he has 24 catches, 359 yards, four touchdowns. So they have a lot of weapons. But, again, they're number 13 in the league out of 17 teams in defending the pass. So there might be something there that Virginia can exploit. This SMU football team, if I had told you in the beginning of the season that they would be 9-1, that they would be 6-0 in conference play and the 14th ranked you in the beginning of the season that they would be 9-1, that they would be 6-0 in conference play, and the 14th ranked team in the nation, would you have bought it?

I will give you props. You said in the summertime this team was going to be very good. I thought they would be really good. I thought they would be in the top four in the ACC. I don't know if I thought at that point that they would be possibly playing for the ACC championship. That's certainly a distinct possibility. They're in the driver's seat. They were fortunate. If you look at their schedule, they didn't have to play Miami or Clemson this year.

They avoided a little bit of that. But, yeah, I probably wouldn't have bought it to that degree, but I'm not surprised that they're successful, that's for sure. I thought they'd be really good because football means a lot to that school and that program. Once upon a time, they were really good because football means a lot to that school and that program. Once upon a time, they were really good in football before they got the death penalty with some of the really good running backs that they had, Craig James and the big guy.

What's his name? I can't think of him right now. Is that Dickerson? Yeah, Eric Dickerson. Driving around, was it in a Corvette Camaro? I think it was. It was a really nice car that he drove off. He laughs about it today

that Craig James was always helping him shine his car. And they laugh about it because everybody knows that that was a gift. Yeah, it was against the rules. Craig James goes on to become a fabulous broadcaster as well. Dickerson, a living legend. There's a fantastic ESPN 30 for 30 on the death penalty in SMU that if you have not watched, viewers and listeners, I suggest you give it a whirl. It's fascinating.

SMU, probably, you know, anything can happen, but very well could be playing in the ACC championship. Yeah, I mean. This is a crazy thing here. Ready for this one? You make it to the ACC championship, then anything can happen. SMU could be in the college football playoffs. Yeah, just right outside as we speak. Yeah, they're just right outside

as we speak. What, 14th, I think? Or maybe 13th, I'm not sure. But they're just waiting for somebody above them to fall, which at this time of year is pretty likely that somebody's going to. So all they have to do is keep winning and see what happens. They could be in the playoffs in their first year in a Power 4 conference. 13th in the AP Top 25, SMU is 12 in the coaches' poll. So this is a very good football team, ladies and gentlemen. What do you make of the nine and a half point line? And then what do you make from a keys to victory stand, you know, keys to victory for Virginia.

Virginia has been really good against the spread this year. From what I understand, I don't, I don't bet on games, but yeah, I kind of think Virginia might cover this week. If I were a gambling man. I just think that people are underestimating how much these guys want to win, even though they have shot themselves in the foot so many times. But I think that there's still a lot of desire there. A lot of these guys came back for a fifth, sixth, even seventh year

because they wanted to help turn this program around and get it going in the right direction. And if they could make a bowl this season, that would be remarkable after back-to-back three win seasons. I know it's not likely, but it's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. And if you're a football player, you want to be in this situation. You want a chance to make a big statement, a national splash on your home field,

especially those seniors. It's their last game in Scott Stadium, and they're going to be playing their hearts out. They believe they can win this game. And, you know, I think they possibly could if they play error-free football. Who knows, SMU might be having a bad day. It's hard to play perfect football like they have, and they haven't exactly been perfect, but it's hard to go undefeated in a conference.

I don't care who you are. Very well said. So, you know, they've got a chance. They've got a chance. Virginia football has got Virginia Tech to close the season. This isn't Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech football program. They've seen some sour days in Blacksburg. Still, the record speaks for itself with UVA visiting Lane Stadium.

The contest first before Virginia Tech is SMU here in Charlottesville, and it's a game that's going to be on ESPN2. I mean, we have back-to-back nationally televised outings for Tony Elliott. I got to ask you the question, with a lot of viewers and listeners wondering the same, is Tony Elliott safe? Is the coaching staff safe I think so unless they just completely lose it over the next two weeks which I don't think they will I think they'll play hard in both those games they may not win either game but I think they'll at least play hard. What they have to do is avoid an embarrassing loss and just, you know, turning the ball over like they did last week. They can't continue to do that.

I've said before that I've had a couple ADs over the past tell me that when a team is struggling like this and some of the fans are restless, the things the ADs are looking for is how the coach conducts himself. In the face of adversity. In the face of adversity and how he handles his team. And if he doesn't lose his team, if he doesn't lose the locker room, and I don't see that happening. These players love Tony Elliott.

I think they have a lot of faith in him. And I guarantee you he's not going to throw in the towel. He's going to be – he and his staff are going to be giving it everything they've got. So I think he's safe. Five wins is not what everybody wanted. I'm sure it's not what he wanted. I think he wanted to be bowl eligible this year, and not to say that they won't be.

But I think if you'd have told fans before the season, would you take five wins? I think most people would have grabbed that ring. Five and five, three and three in ACC play. The Hokies five and five, three and three in ACC play. That game. They could be playing for, both of them could be playing to be bowl eligible. For bowl eligibility.

This game is going to have the Commonwealth Cup, guys. A lot of fireworks associated with it. The 8 p.m. kickoff in Blacksburg. It's going to be freezing cold on the 30th of November. It's always cold in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech is... My birthday. Oh, it's your birthday? Yeah. Happy early birthday. November 30th. We should remember that. It's Hootie's birthday right there. Hootie Ratcliffe, your birthday gift is going to be 24 degree temperatures and blustering winds and a two and a half hour three hour drive to

Blacksburg. Yeah. And worse, a drive back late that night. At two in the morning. Yeah. Two in the morning. This is what you guys have to do if you want to be an award winning Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. And that's what Hootie Ratcliffe is. Jeremy Ronica says, I can't believe, Jeremy, that Virginia Tech game is at eight o'clock. Multiple people are asking the question about the athletic director and who the

athletic director is going to be. Is there any more news or movement on that front i haven't heard anything at all and which is not a surprise because virginia's really mum about such things and it's difficult to get information from people uh we still keep probing and um but i haven't heard of any any rumors since last week's show. So sometimes things like this take time, but to ratify themselves one way or the other. So we'll just keep asking questions and keeping our ear to the grapevine and see what we can find out. But no news, no rumors that I can gather that have been out there this question comes in from Richmond does who do you think they're gonna become bowl eligible Wow it's a challenging question I mean the odds are no certainly if you're a nine and a half point favoritehalf point favorite, or excuse me, underdog to an undefeated team in the conference,

a team that's only lost one game, and that was to BYU, I think, early. I mean, the odds of beating them are not very good, and certainly I can't pick them to win in Blacksburg until I see them win in Blacksburg. And I did see them win in Blacksburg 26 years ago. Man, think about that, 26 years. Yeah, every time I look at my oldest granddaughter, that's an automatic reminder because she was born about a month before that game was played.

And so that was 1998. And one of the greatest comebacks in UVA football history was Aaron Brooks and Thomas Jones. Ahmaud Hawkins made that famous catch. Yeah. They were beaten at halftime and came back, and I think Anthony Poindexter gave a fiery speech at halftime that got the team fired up but um yeah I mean until I see him do it again it's all I can't pick him to to win in Blacksburg

it's just that would be stupid um SMU did lose to BYU 18-15 in Week 3. So this is a good SMU football team. The point Hootie made should be a point that stands out. SMU has not played Clemson or will not play Clemson or Miami, although they still have California on the schedule. Cal's a terrible football team, 5-5, 9-5. But they've played a lot of close games. They beat Pitt.

They beat Louisville. TCU, they blew out. BYU, they barely lost to BYU 18-15. So SMU, your point is this, is they've had, I don't want to say some breaks go their way, but they've won the close games. They have, and that's what good teams do. They find a way to win.

Is that Cal game in California? Let's see here. I can tell you right now. The SMU closes the season Cal at home. Okay, it's at SMU? Yeah. Okay. Well, I thought if it's at Cal that they might could possibly lose that game.

How about this question? Cal's not a bad football. They're 5-5, but they've lost a lot of close games. 5-5, 1-5 in conference play for Cal. What is the bigger story or the more significant story? The fact that Florida State is 1-9, 1-7 in conference play, or the fact that SMU is 9-1, 6-0 in conference play? I think it's more shocking that Florida State is 1-9.

I mean, nobody saw that coming. They were favored to win the conference, for goodness sake. I mean, they were 13-0 last year going into, well, at the end of the season. Going into the, you really can't count that bowl game because half the players left the team before the bowl, and they were massacred. But, I mean, to go 1-9 with the kind of talent that they've assembled down there and the momentum that program had.

And the money they've spent. It's mind-boggling. The bullying they did to try to get out of the ACC. Yeah, I mean, they've got everything in the world in their favor. They have no excuses to have a bad football team at Florida State. Zero excuses. Fired three key lieutenants on the coaching staff already. The head coach playing

for his job. Maybe the only thing keeping him at the school as the head coach is the buyout. $65 million buyout. Unbelievable. Just signed a contract extension. Yeah. You have to look at the administration for that. I mean,

they went through, what, two or three coaches in a matter of five or six years, not too long ago, before they brought in Norville, and had to pay massive buyouts to get rid of those guys, and now they give him a contract extension like that. But at that point, though, he did deserve it. Maybe deserve is not the right word, but he was coming off an extremely successful campaign. Yeah, he did.

And I'm sure there were other suitors out there that put pressure on him to do so. But still, I don't know. You're putting yourself in a bind there a little bit. Maybe you don't make the buyout. Well, maybe they didn't have any choice to make the buyout any less than that because of his agents. But to me, that's the most shocking story in the whole nation, really, in major college football.

SMU, we knew they were going to be good. We didn't know they were going to be quite this good, but it's not a shock that they're 9-1. I'm surprised that they haven't gone 9-1. You thought they would have maybe lost another game somewhere along the way. But to me, Florida State, that's the biggest story in college football, not just this year, but in the last several years. How would you characterize the Atlantic Coast Conference top to bottom?

Let's go by the AP rankings. You've got Miami at 11, SMU at 13, Clemson at 17. Then you've got some receiving votes in the mix. Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Duke, Georgia Tech in receiving votes. How do you characterize the Atlantic Coast Conference? I think the league is better than it has been. It doesn't have the flash or the powerhouse teams that has had showcased some in the past years. But top to bottom, some of the lower tier teams can jump up and bite you if you're not careful. We've seen that over the past month or so.

I think Narduzzi was talking about that the other day, and somebody else, too, was talking about how the worst teams in the league can still beat you. And so who didn't Stanford? Stanford just beat Louisville, right? I'll take a look at that. Stanford. Yeah.

Stanford was terrible, and they beat Louisville. I don't think it was even – well, maybe it was close. But, you know, Louisville goes in and dominates Clemson in a night game at Clemson. There's been example after example, Virginia beating Pitt on the road. 38-35, Stanford over Louisville. Yeah, there's been a lot of the lower tier teams have jumped up and beaten some of the better teams in the league.

So I think it's a good league in terms of balance from top to bottom. They just don't have the powerhouse teams that put you on the national map like they might have had in some years past. Jeremy Hu says, I think the Hus blew their bold chances weeks ago. Jeremy Hu, unfortunately, I think you are right, but my fingers are crossed, and the fan in me hopes that you are wrong. I appreciate your comment either way, Jeremy Hu, and we love when you watch the program.

I think he's probably right. I think you're right. I think they did. I think they should have beaten Louisville, and there was another game that they should have won. Don't have the schedule in front of me right now, but there was a couple of coaching decisions in one of those games that I thought that hurt them badly and possibly cost them a bowl game.

I can't remember if it was the Louisville game or another game. Maryland game. Could have beaten Maryland. Yeah, could have beaten Maryland, could have beaten Louisville. The Clemson, North Carolina, and Notre Dame games were blowouts. Here's an intriguing question for you. At 5-5 UVA, 5-5 Virginia Tech, both teams also have identical 3-3 conference records.

How would you compare and contrast those two programs? Their trajectories. Which one's heading in the right direction? Which one's heading in the wrong direction? Which is the better team? I think they're both in the same boat right now. I think Tony Elliott had a deeper

hole to climb out of and certainly has had some circumstances that nobody else in college football history has had to deal with that set the program back. But looking at it from outside as a neutral party, if I'm a Tech fan or a Virginia fan, I would be more disappointed if I were a Tech fan right now because their program has been better. Although, if you look at their records over the past,

Danny Neckle had a great stat the other day, and I don't have it in front of me right now, but I can't remember the time period, maybe five years, last five years, something like that. I'll find it for you. Tech only has, I think, maybe one more win than Virginia does and maybe has more losses. I'm not sure.

So if I'm a Tech fan, considering the recent histories of those two programs, I would be much more disappointed if I were a tech fan right now, and they were supposed to be really good this year. A lot of people had them on the outside looking in for the ACC championship game, or at least being a contender for one of those top two spots, but I think they're both in a hole right now, and I don't know what it's going to take to climb out of it. I'm not as familiar with Tech's program, obviously, as I am Virginia's. Virginia has got to find a better way to recruit.

And I can't remember if we talked about this on the show last week or not, but when Mark Richt asked Tony Elliott. We talked about it last week. Yeah, I thought we might have. He asked him about how he's handling the portal. This was in the ACC post-game coverage. After the pit game. After the pit game.

Yeah, after the upset. And Coach Elliott said that the way he's negotiating or maneuvering his way through the portal is signing grad students, and that dramatically shrinks your talent pool. Not only dramatically shrinks your talent pool, dramatically diminishes the runway of the player in the program. Yeah. Eligibility-wise. You've got him here for one year.

You can't develop him. I mean, you hope. Look at the Harvard tight end. We'd love to have that kid for years. Oh, my God. Yeah, he's terrific. I think he might be playing on Sundays. Same.

But, you know, that doesn't always pan out. Some of these guys come here and do well, and some of them really don't do much of anything. But it's awfully hard to continue to build your program with that method as opposed to your opponents who are getting underclassmen and some dramatic players through the portal and if you can't do that you're you're handcuffed simple as that and the point was made by coach elliott and rick already knew this answer because he was very familiar with the interviewing process at uva right that they cannot take um

it's the underclassmen transfer opportunity is extremely limited because the underclassmen get significantly behind on accrued credits, class credits, and can't catch up fast enough. So that's why you see some of these. I mean, even Chris Tyree, who makes the transfer from Notre Dame, he's coming from a prestigious academic school. Neville, the tight end from Harvard Harvard is coming from the Ivy League. They've had several Ivy League players.

Yeah, several Ivy Leaguers. A lot of folks asking for an injury. The viewers and listeners are extremely intelligent. Yeah, we have an intelligent fan base. I see. You're 100% right. Asking for injury updates. This one from John Blair. Any word on Corey Thomas, his injury status for Saturday?

I think that's probably the deciding factor. If he's healthy, we've got a shot. If not, that secondary without Thomas and Clary is just not going to stop SMU, in my humble opinion. That's a very good point, and there hasn't been any update. We'll get that this afternoon from Coach Elliott. He always gives us an update on the injuries. That was a very physical game.

Dude, Notre Dame manhandled Virginia and put so many of Virginia's key players either on the sidelines because of injury or on the sidelines because they were licking their wounds from pride. There were four or five guys who left the game, and I don't think came back in. You know the one that came back in, one of them that came back in? Sanker. Yeah, you're right. That kid just embodies.

And won his fourth ACC player defensive back of the week award this season. I mean, Sanker is just one of my favorite players maybe in a long time with Virginia. Yeah, there's no quitting that guy. Right. He's got something special. And I think even though we've talked about it before, his size is maybe not NFL size, but he's got NFL size right here where it counts and up here.

And I think he'll be playing on Sundays for sure. He's a special player. If you could put 11 guys like him out on defense, he'd be one of the top defenses in the country. He's just, you can't say enough nice things about him. A local boy from the Covenant School who came to Virginia after playing seven-on-seven football in a private school league.

Yeah. That private school now making the jump back to 11-on-11 football. Yeah, I heard that. Because numbers have picked up. That's great. That is great. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear that as well.

Comments coming in quickly here. Rob Neal, if the team finished five and seven and was offered a bowl game, do you play in it, or do you spend all of December closing for high school signing day and mining the portal? What is the best for the future of this program? Question for you. That's a great question. I think if you get that chance, you take it. I think you take it, too.

Game experience. Yeah. It's game. And not only is it game experience, but it's practice experience too. Coaches will tell you that one of the best benefits of going to a bowl is essentially another, it's almost like having another spring practice. And it helps you develop some of the younger players and bring along some of the other guys that are on your depth chart. And that's going to be – that would be very helpful for Virginia because they lose a huge portion of the roster after this season.

I think there's 40-plus players who might be gone. That's what really concerns me about this team. Yeah, there's a lot of good, a lot of the talent is gone after this season. And that's what also really concerns me, frankly, about Calandria. Calandria is going to have two years of eligibility remaining. He'll have a lot of suitors. He'll also see that the roster is going to be super thin, unless they can do something in the transfer portal.

I'm concerned about Calandria staying with his football team, especially if he's benched these last two games. I'm curious if the coaching staff plays what's best for us now versus what's best for us next season when it comes to Calandria. I think all those things will be weighed. And, again, I think that they will go in favor of Calandria. I don't have any inside information. I'm just going off my years of experience and thinking like a coach thinks. Because as many coaches as are friends of mine and I've gotten to know over the years,

I tend to know how a lot of them think. And I think that's what they'll do. He also said post-game he didn't want a controversy. Yeah, exactly. And he said he still has faith in AC and knows that he'll bounce back. And I agree. I think he will. He may come in and lay an egg,

but I think you've got to give him a chance to at least turn things around this week. But, yeah, again, I think if you get a bowl opportunity, you have to take it because it also shows recruits that, hey, we're almost there. We've turned the corner a little bit, and we need your help. So it gives people hope, a little promise, and that's what a lot of this is about, is hope. I totally agree. A lot of the fan base has already transitioned to basketball. Yes. Ron Sanchez.

Can't say that I blame him. Right. Can't say that you blame him either. Phillip Downs, Scottsville, watching the program. A lot of viewers and listeners want to talk basketball. 3-0 to start. We will highlight this. The Villanova team is not the Jay Wright Villanova team. A lot of viewers and listeners want to talk basketball. 3-0 to start. We will highlight this.

The Villanova team is not the Jay Wright Villanova team. It's the best team they've played so far, but it's not the Jay Wright Villanova team. A clear-cut best team they've played so far is going to be Tennessee on Thursday. This is a 9.30 tip-off on the CBS Sports Network. The Volunteers are 11 in the country, and this is a very good basketball team. Open-ended, where do you want to start with this matchup? Well, let's go back and look at that Villanova win. Again, this is not a vintage Villanova team by any stretch of the imagination. They're two and three, and they've got problems. And that guy's probably going to be coaching for his job

if they continue to struggle like this. I think he is. You know, the thing that Virginia did was what you're supposed to do against teams that aren't as good as you. They dominated, and Virginia's defense played awesome played awesome I thought Villanova had a really tough time finding shots getting good shots Virginia forced him into taking a lot of bad shots and Virginia played pretty well offensively as well and where has that Andrew Rohde been all this time? He made a lot of us eat crow, but he said he couldn't shoot.

But he certainly did the other night. And he's battling back issues. Yeah, there was one time after he made a shot, he grabbed his back, yeah. And I've had lower back issues. That's no joke. Oh, that's one of the worst things you can possibly have. Right. And with my lower back issues, I'm just trying to get in the car and drive to work not play a 40 minute basketball game exactly and uh sometimes you just want to be able to

sit down without hurting yourself right but um i mean if he can continue to play like that that's going to be a huge boost to this basketball team because people say, well, you know, he can't shoot, he shouldn't be on the floor. You know, for those who haven't played sports, you've got to – people who have played sports know this because sometimes there are role players who do things the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet that the glue guys like jack salt and some of those guys people kept saying why in the world is jack salt starting why in the world jack salt getting all this playing j willie j j yeah those guys do the dirty work, and they leave the scoring up to somebody else.

They're role players because they are leaders. They make good decisions on the floor. They play good defense. They rebound. They pass well. They set bone-jarring picks. They do all the things that are necessary to win games. Same in football. There's some of that too.

That's why Andrew Roddy is seeing the floors because the other aspects of his game are pretty solid. He has a calming effect. You stop and look at this roster. It's a really young basketball team. And sometimes when they run into some adversity, they need somebody on the floor, and IMAC is one. But other than that, who are you going to turn to? As far as the starter goes,

you've got to have somebody that's a calming influence on them, and Andrew Rohde can keep it together. So if he can keep playing like that, that's going to make this team a lot better because I noticed he and Day-Day Ames played together a lot, which Tony used to like to do, and Ron Sanchez obviously likes to do. Day-Day didn't play that well. Yeah. Day-Day't play that well. Yeah. Dede had some turnovers.

Four turnovers and only one dime for the Kansas State transfer. Rohde, 13 points. Rohde, three rebounds, four assists, one steal. And probably in Sanchez's eye, most importantly, only two turnovers, a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio for Rohde. He goes three of five from downtown five of eight from the field and he was the calming influence that you 100 said you know said accurately for this team a couple things that have stood out to me this season um first the villanova game he

shortened the bench a little bit played eight players against villanova you may start seeing this the guys who are getting minutes kind of being figured out here with Kofi and Sharma and Rohde off the bench, with Buchanan, Saunders, Power, Dede, and McNeely in the starting lineup. Another thing that stood out to me is the Duke transfer, TJ Power, limited offensive production so far. Do we look too much into it, or do we chalk it up to three games in the season and fresh from a transfer and a new program? I think it's early.

I think he will be effective as the season wears on. He's got a lot of talent, and I think he just has to get comfortable in his role, I think. I think he'll be okay. What is his role on this scene? I think he's a stretch four, and he has a nice three-point touch. We haven't seen a lot of it yet, but it'll get there. I think he's a good rebounder. I'm not sure at this point what kind of defender he is.

We'll learn more about that as we go along. But he's a big body, and that's a pretty nice front line if you've got him and Saunders and Buchanan in there. With Kofi coming off the bench. Yeah, I mean, that's... Those are big boys. What, 6'8", 9", 6'11", 6'10". Pretty nice front line. And then Saunders built like a brick house.

Yeah, he certainly is. Jumping ability, shooting ability. We were told Saunders was going to be good, and then we heard in practice that Saunders was going to be good. Saunders could be really, really good. This guy's got a feathery touch at the free throw line, the 90% plus free throw shooting for the transfer. This guy can shoot from downtown.

He's physical inside on the block. I mean, he, in a lot of ways, could be the best interior player on the roster. And Kofi's not far behind for a freshman. Practicing against this guy, against the man. Yeah, but they've talked about how they make each other better. Certainly that's a huge bonus for Ron Sanchez to have those kind of guys.

I don't know what it's going to take, but I think they and I know Sanchez is encouraged the heck out of this, but they've got to get more shots. Every time that guy shoots the ball, everyone leaves his hands. I think it's going in. And he missed one shot. Eight of nine from the field, six of six from downtown, one of one from the stripe, 23 points in 36 minutes,

and it made it look easy. He sure did. And, you know, he needs to get more shots. I know he's an unselfish player, but come on, man. You've got to be a little selfish. You've got to jack it up there and see what happens.

He doesn't want to take bad shots, but gosh, I think he could even make a bad shot. Here's a question for you. How good is the Virginia basketball team? Is it to be determined? There were times last year, early in the season, we thought the team was really good.

They just never gelled. They never gelled. They couldn't find their jump shot. They struggled offensively per some would say usual. This team, and granted, I'm a glasses half full kind of guy, and everything in life, i'm a glasses half full kind of guy and everything in life i'm a glasses half full kind of guy when it comes to this team i'm glasses half full kind of guy i see offensive production here we don't even have christian bliss in the lineup yet curious to see what happens with christian bliss if there's minutes to go around for him by the time

he returns from injury how good is the team or is it going to be nostalgic of last year, where they showed flashes of brilliance early on and then kind of fell apart? I think this team, we thought last year that they would get better and better as the season went along. Tony thought that too. It just never happened because the guys were not that good offensively. That was a misjudgment by a lot of people. And I don't think this team has that problem.

I think this team has a lot of scorers, a lot of guys who can shoot the basketball, and a lot more playable depth and a stronger front line, a more imposing presence up front than it did a year ago. More guys that can hurt you. And I don't think we're anywhere close to the tip of the iceberg on this team yet. And I wouldn't judge a lot about what happens in the Bahamas this coming weekend because they're going to play Tennessee and either Baylor or a very improved St. John's, physical St. John's team on the second game. And, you know, if they lose one game or two games, I don't think it's that big a deal. I think it's

going to be a learning experience for these guys so they can handle the rest of the schedule and see where they have shortcomings, where they need to improve for the ACC race. They'll still have a couple of really good tests before then, but if they come out of that one-on-one, I think that's a big feather in their cap. If they go on two, I don't think there's any reason to panic.

And Virginia has been pretty good in these November tournaments for the most part. Who knows? They may shock college basketball and upset Tennessee in that first game. Tennessee has obliterated everything that's gotten their path so far, including Louisville. That's what a good team is supposed to do. Rick Barnes is an excellent coach. He's got a great program going. I think it's yet to be determined about Virginia.

I think this team will continue to improve all season long because it's just more of an efficient offense than it was a year ago. And I think a better defensive team than a year ago. Tennessee 4-0 overall. They beat Louisville 77-55. A win over Gardner-Webb. A win over Montana. A win over Austin Peay.

They got this Virginia team that's trying to find a little bit of an identity and trying to show the conference and the fan base in the world that it's a very good team. How far do you think they are from a top 25 team? That's a very good team. How far do you think they are from a top 25 team? That's a good question. It may take a while for them to get there,

unless they pull off an upset this weekend. Is that because of the uncertainty on the coaching staff? Is that because of their performance over the last few years? Yeah, I think that's part of it. A lot of people on the national scene who vote for these things probably are in a wait-and-see mode because there was a lot of turnover not only in the coaching ranks with the head coach but in personnel.

And the fact that they faded down the stretch last year and have bombed out in the postseason for the last several years. I think a lot of people are looking at Virginia with a different view at this point. I think it's proved to us that you're worthy, and I think this team proved to us that you're worthy. And I think this team probably will at some point. I don't think there's any hurry to do that. But I think by the time ACC play rolls around, they might have a chance at breaking into the top 25.

Jerry Ratcliffe, namesake, website jerryratcliffe.com. What you have in the hopper, he's going to the press conference today, Tony Elliott. You've got a busy couple weeks here, Hootie. Yeah, we do. SMU will be all over that, obviously, and starting with today's press conference, there will probably be lots of news coming out of there, so we encourage you to look at our website,

and we'll be keeping an eye on the basketball. We're here in November, and it's a busy time of the year. We'll also have reports on Virginia's Olympic teams that are still alive, women's basketball a little special story about a kid lives up here in Forest Lakes who a nine-year-old who signed a I was I was there for the signing the other day signed a scholarship with Virginia's baseball team with the team impact program a great kid and we'll be having a little report on that. I was going to do it over the weekend, but I was a little under the weather,

so I didn't get a chance to do it. But a lot of stuff on our website this week. JerryRackliff.com. I'll say it again, JerryRackliff.com. I'm on his website two or three times a day at least. Follow him on Twitter where he positions a lot of fantastic content. The star of the Jerry and Jerry Show and the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. Judah Wittkower behind the camera, the Tuesday edition of the program,

archived on every social media platform possible and wherever you get your podcasting content. Thank you kindly, guys, for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. So long. Thank you.