The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Thoughts On 7PM Kickoff? Does It Favor One Team?; UVA Keys To Game: What Do Hoos Need To Do?

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Va Tech (3-8, 2-5) at UVA (9-2, 6-1), 7PM, SAT, ESPN UVA Favored: Line Opened at -11.5, Now -9.5 VT Has Beaten UVA 19 of Last 20 & 23 of Last 25 Thoughts On 7PM Kickoff? Does It Favor One Team? UVA Keys To Game: What Do Hoos Need To Do? Inside The ACC: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly? UVA Hoops Suffers First Lost Of Year To Butler Strengths And Weaknesses Of Virginia Basketball 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.

Welcome to the Jerry and Jerry Show, guys. Thank you kindly for joining us. My name is Jerry Miller. A pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seville Network. We are less than two miles away from the John Paul Jones Arena and less than two miles away from Scott Stadium. We're on Saturday night under the lights on national television. The Virginia Tech Hokies invade Charlottes and Wahoo Nation for a clash of epic proportions. An ACC championship on the line, Virginia is a clear-cut favorite to win,

although that Las Vegas line is moving, ladies and gentlemen. It opened at 11.5 with Virginia a double-digit favorite to win. Now that line is down to 9.5 points, regardless of what they win. by, if the Hoos do get a win, they have a chance of glory, a chance at championship trophies, and a chance, ladies and gentlemen, at the college football playoff. So much to cover on today's program, as Virginia is going to hopefully snap a generational curse. Virginia Tech has beaten UVA 19 out of the last 20 games and 23 out of the last 25 contests. like and share the show if you're watching on youtube hit that thumbs up button and subscribe to our channel

put your questions and comments in the chat box and we will relay them live on air to the star of our show a virginia sports hall of famer who's a household name jerry hooty rackliff legitimately as the program was starting jerry rackliff was taking a phone call from former uva coach jeff jones juda wikara studio camera if we can welcome our star jerry rackliff to the program my friend jeff Jones on the speed dial here for what has turned into a fabulous program, the J&J show. You interviewed four of the top Kentucky recruits who chose the University of Virginia some time ago. I watched much of that show. That was absolutely fantastic. It was a blast. We normally go like an hour, but that one went more than an hour. That went a while. It went a while.

Yeah, I think like 96 minutes, but we were having so much fun and there were so many great stories being told we just kept going on and on but it was great catching up with those guys i saw all of them but lamp up at the jimmy graves uh memorial service when he passed a couple of weeks ago but uh lamps out on the west coast but it was great uh seeing jeff lamp uh terry gates lee raker and of course jeff jones uh the four kentuckians that came here to play for Derry Holland and reshaped Virginia basketball. It was just a blast. A lot we're going to talk on the show today, including Virginia basketball,

a loss to Butler, the first blemish on the season for Ryan Odom. The first blemish is a Virginia basketball coach for Ryan Odom. That is going to be at the back end of our show today. Football is front and center. And Hootie Rackleff, we start with scatter shooting with the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. It's rivalry week, my friend. Say that three times fast. That will be weak.

I mean, easy. I'm not good with tongue twisters, but, yeah, I've seen so many of these tech and UVA games going back to the early years. And we've seen the good, bad, and ugly back when Virginia used to dominate with George Wells for a while. Well, tech was dominating. Then George Wells came along. and that win in 84 changed everything with Mikowski to Ford. On the fourth and inches call, it'll go down in history.

And the catch by Ford, one of the best catches any of us have ever seen. And George always said, well, we had to beat them sometime. We had to do it. And this was the year we thought we could do it. So ever since George retired, the wins have been few and far between and some of them have been granted there's probably at least

four times I can remember maybe five that Virginia should have won had the game won and choked and blew it probably the latest was 2020 when after they had beaten tech the year before and going to the Orange Bowl and then the following year,

I thought they had Tack on the Ropes, so you had a first down and around the 10, if I recall, and couldn't move the ball and on fourth down with everything on the line. Robert and I made maybe the worst play call I've seen in my career.

Wow, in your career. I was going to say it's the worst I've ever seen. Yeah. Your career. Yeah. When he threw the tackle eligible play to a guy that was like 320 pounds or something, expected him to run

15 yards through the tech defense, and that was doomed from the onset. But there's been a lot of thrills in this series over the years, but not a lot of joy for Virginia fans over the past two decades. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Ray Cadillow watching the program. He says, I'm a hokey dad, and I'm a huge fan of Jerry Rackleff,

and he's a huge fan of this show. I'm a hokey dad, too. From Big Rain the Cool. My daughters went to tech. I know you. I know you are. William McChesney watching the program, the mayor of McIntyre. We have a lot of states watching the show, and of course we do. We have Virginia Tech Week in our hands here in Charlottesville. The line starts at 11.5. It's down to 9.5. What do you make of that?

Well, I never argue with the Vegas guys because they seem to always know what they're doing. Anytime I think that they've made a bad call, I'll look up at the scoreboard on Saturday night and say that they were exactly right. So you look back at last week's game and Miami was up 20 to 3 at the Hokies at halftime ended up winning 34 to 17, but they didn't seem to struggle too much. And a lot has transpired over the past week down in Blacksburg. Virginia is coming off.

the by week certainly to mend a little bit but they I mean they might would have rather kept playing because they just blew Duke's doors off down at Wallace Wade Stadium they just dominated that game in every facet

probably their best overall game of the year. James Madison's watching in Mineral he wants an update on Cam Robinson Rainey Clark is watching we have the local newspaper, TV station and radio station watching the Jerry and Jerry show as we speak. Viewers and listeners, if you have a question for the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, put them in the feed, we will relay

them live on air. Hokey fans in the chat box like they were last week all over the feed talking some smack. We don't mind the smack talk, viewers and listeners. James Franklin was on the sidelines at the Miami matchup. He was going around shaking hands. The excitement is clearly palpable at Virginia Tech, which we appreciate. Renee Pettiford says, hello, Jerry, and Jerry.

She wants to talk basketball and what we're doing for Thanksgiving. Renee, we'll get to that in a matter of moments. I'm a huge fan of Kites, country ham, not a huge fan of the turkey. I'm going to ask Jerry Rack with that question as well. Turkey just makes me sleepy, and I find the meat to be too dry. The country ham I like. My friend, let's talk about the Virginia Tech matchup, however. Keys to the game for UVA.

Keys to the game, then we'll get to the injury report. I think it's all going to be decided down in the trenches, not that it normally isn't, but I think a big emphasis this week on line of scrimmage. Virginia needs to go in and control the line of scrimmage and run the football. They've been really good at running the football. I was looking at some stats last night. Jamari Taylor is number. one in the ACC and rushing yards with 917 and has the most carry of any back in the league

with 187 and so he needs less than 100 yards to become a thousand-yard rusher Virginia hasn't had one since Jordan Ellis in 2018 and they haven't had a guy to lead the ACC in rushing since our good friend T.J. Thomas Jones did it back to back in 98, 99, and then Antoine Womack in 2003 straight years leading the ACC

in rushing. But I think Virginia has to control that facet of the game and give Chandler Morris all the protection he needs because Carson Beck picked the Hokies apart last week. This blew me away.

completed 84% of his passes. That's unbelievable. Unbelievable. 27 or 32 had four touchdowns well over 300 yards, but 84% just unbelievable. Meanwhile, tech strength is a running game

and Virginia is going to have to try to make them one-dimensional because they can't throw the ball. They're not very good at throwing the football. Drones was only 12 or 21. That's 57% for 124 yards against Miami. So Virginia's defense needs to try to put the heat on tech and make them a one-dimensional football team. Cliff Daisy watching the program. He says, Good morning, gentlemen. Wrapped up work this morning, wishing you the best for Thanksgiving and all that you do here, wishing I could attend the UVA Virginia Tech matchup, but the night game prevents it.

7 p.m. kickoff, it's got a lot in Wahoo Nation rankled. Yeah, I think they were hoping for at least a 3.30 game in the daytime, which would eventually turn to night by halftime, I guess. But there's been a lot of night games this year. I think this is the sixth night game of the season. Good problem to have, though. I guess it is because you're in prime time. And, you know, there's a lot of eyes on on things, but it can get really frosty in Scott Stadium at night in late November. And not that that should be a deterrent because that's the way it is in football, but some people with kids and stuff, it makes it a little rougher.

And especially if they're having to drive a distance to get there, and if they're planning on going home after the game, it becomes a challenge. What do you think the turnout's going to be? I mean, if there's ever a time to sell out Scott Stadium and get 63,000 fans, it's a team like this that is on the cusp of an ACC championship with a 9-and-2, 6-1 record, on a cusp of an ACC championship birth. Goodness gracious, if I see an overwhelming amount of hockey fans in Scott Stadium with my own eyes on Saturday night, I certainly will be disappointed.

That would be embarrassing if that happens. I could understand that some in the past, because Virginia at that point of the season normally hasn't had much to play for but this year they're playing for everything and it's the most meaningful game here in a while I know that all the student guest tickets have been sold out

somebody said they're expecting in the 50s I don't know it certainly should be in the 50 thousands and it should be approaching a record crowd but I don't know that that's going to happen. The low on Saturday. I wouldn't be shocked if it did. It's going to be a chilly contest.

Saturday night, the low is 21. The high on Saturday is 41. Yeah, that's not a pleasant day to sit out for four or five hours. That is to be cool. We're also going to see, I'm following the following here. This game means quite a bit. Ladies and gentlemen, like many of you that watch this program, bleed orange and blue.

Virginia Tech has won 19 of the last 20 games, 23 of the last 25. So the very large portion of my life, I've seen Virginia Tech dominate UVA. We're talking a generation of dominance here. I'm watching closely on Saturday to see how the UVA students support this team on a holiday break. I think, well, that's a good question. Holiday break. They're not in Charlottesville. Right.

will they return and fill the hill i'm i'm very going to watch the fan base uh that can be fair weather at times and whether they show up and most importantly who has sold tickets to whom because virginia tech travels and now we're starting to see i give them credit for that we're seeing empty seats at lane against miami there were empty seats uh at lane but virginia tech travels so a lot to watch And the 7 o'clock kick, I'm of the mindset. Vanessa Parkell says she loves the night games, bundle up and have a great time. She's watching in Ehrlichville. I'm of the same mindset.

It's a good problem because you're getting the prime time slots because you're winning ball games. Absolutely. If you're a Virginia fan, this is fun. I mean, it's been a long time since they've been able to have this kind of success. And you should relish it because it's never guaranteed. I mean, you look around the country, it seems like Florida. State and Clemson, you never know if one year or the next, if you might take a tumble. So enjoy it while you can.

And I mean, who knows what is in the offing if they can get through this game. It should be in the ACC championship game. And, you know, if you're on that, it's 50-50 if you're going to the playoffs or not because I think they can play with anybody in the conference. And it most likely looks like SMU, but I mean, yeah, go out and enjoy yourself and have a big time. You know, it could be a night to remember. SMU, ladies and gentlemen, the ponies are a very good football team. They travel to California.

That's an 8 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2. The ponies are a 13 and a half point favorite. California just fired their head coach. Yeah, Will Cox. So, you know, watch that game closely. Mark Brown is a Wahoo fan. He's watching on one of the 15 Facebook pages this show is airing upon. He says, Virginia Tech always scares me.

I think they will try to hurt Chandler Morris. Virginia Tech, his words, makes me want to vomit. If Virginia Tech was playing Russia, I would root for Russia. Jesus. I'm sure there's a lot of fans of it. that way. And probably vice versa, too. You know, I'm sure tech fans feel the same way. Good Lord. Mark Brown, you gave a chuckle to both Hooty and I, but we respect your passion, my friend. All right, Cam Robinson's all over the feed. I can't avoid the question. Do we have an

update on Cam? Nothing official. That'll come at today's press conference, perhaps. We don't know exactly. Nobody's had any contact with the coaches or players since the Duke game with the bye week. And we have some spies that indicate that Robinson should be okay. But that's not official. And we won't know that until we hear Tony Elliott's report this later this morning, 11.30 this morning. Warren Robert Childs. Thank you for liking the show. We appreciate you, Warren, Robert Childs.

Put your comments on the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Stephanie Wells Rhodes is a diehard UVA fan. I will say this, though. Cam Robinson is a warrior. Yeah. This is the biggest game of his career. Anything short of a broken leg is not going to keep him off the field.

I totally agree. He's played through so much pain. And while the knee injury looked pretty severe initially, it looked like it wasn't as bad as we thought. Yeah. So, you know. Sorry to interrupt you there. Knock on wood, no problem.

If they play well, Stephanie says, we will be warm jumping, clapping, and swaying to the good old song. Yeah. There's ways to stay warm. Yeah. I mean, one of my favorite ways to stay in warm is the airplane bottles of bourbon

that I have tucked in my belt that I'm sneaking into Scott Stadium. There's a lot of ways to stay warm. Exactly. Yeah. Put in perspective for the viewers and listeners the impact of a of a Cam Robinson to this team defensively. I mean, the impact is unquestioned. I mean, it looks like to me the best player on the roster.

Yeah, well, just the fact that number five is out there is inspirational to his teammates because he calls the defense. He's got tons of experience. He can make every play in the book. he's an exceptional athlete he's tough as they come he gets he's like the boat

that everybody raises the performance of everybody else I talked to John Rizinski, the Virginia defensive coordinator before the Duke game and I was just talking to him about what Cam brings to the game. And I said, you know, I know you're a defensive coordinator,

but if you're an offensive coordinator, you have to know where he is every moment of the game, right? And he said, oh, absolutely. He said, and Al Groh, who, I guess he got this term from coaching so long under Bill Parcells. He said, when there's a game wrecker on the other side of the line, you have to pay special attention to that guy. every play in the game.

So I guarantee you that tax offensive coordinators are going to be monitoring every movement that Cam Robinson makes because he is a game record. Wesley Kinchillo, I apologize if I'm messing up your last name, Wesley. Thank you for watching the show. He's also wondering about Cam. Renee wants to talk Greenbrier, Butler, Ryan Odebin, UVA, which we will. She's also wondering about the Queens game on Friday. We'll get to those comments, Renee.

you watch the program, we appreciate your passion for basketball, Renee, sincerely mean that. Comments continue to come into the, onto the feed here. This is a very interesting one for Hootie Rackleaf. This is coming from Pennsylvania. Seems to me Virginia Tech's game plan should be stack the box, stop the run, and make UVA beat you with the pass. If they do that, is Virginia up to the challenge, Hootie? I think they are because, like I said, Carson Becker last week completed 84% of his passes and I think Chandler Morris is a very accurate thrower particularly on the run if they do load the box but they're making them you know you take what the defense gives you and if they're going to give him short passes he can

pick you apart he's got plenty of targets do you buy that that the game plan against UVAs to stop the run, stack the box, stop the run? Well, if they don't stop the run, they're going to be in trouble because then Virginia can do whatever they want. But I would imagine that's where it starts, so they're going to try to stop the run and force Chandler to beat him with his arm, and he's well equipped to do that. And certainly I think he'll leave it all on the line.

I think he'll probably play with abandon like he normally does, even though he's taking some shots. but I think he will run liberally if he has the opportunity. We've got some smack talk going on the feed on one of the 15 Facebook pages. Mark Brown said if Virginia Tech was playing Russia, he'd root for the Ruskis. Russ Melton on a different page is watching the program. He says, settle down there, Mark Brown. Go drink some Zimas.

And it starts. I like it. That's what makes rivalry week so fun, ladies and gentlemen. Would you make a James Franklin? Taking Hanson Kissin' Babies at that Miami matchup. I didn't see a whole lot of that because I was, I can't remember what I was doing, but I didn't see a whole out of it. I saw a little bit of it.

But, you know, I'm sure he did the right thing. It was a big recruiting weekend. I think he was on the phone all week getting as many recruits as you could into Lane Stadium. And it was a smart move on his part. and there'll be a ton of recruits here on Saturday as well, Saturday night. I assume he'll make the trip up here. I don't know that, but I assume he will. If he was on the sidelines last weekend, he'll probably want to see what it's like this weekend.

He's been to Scott Stadium before as an assistant at Maryland. In fact, I think he and Al Grohl almost got into, had to be pulled apart almost during the warm-ups, one of those games. But they've become friends since then, I think. Jeremy Wilson watching the program in eastern Tennessee, he says UVA needs to run up the score on Virginia Tech and show absolutely no mercy. I mean, there's certainly no love lost.

And Wahoo fans certainly remember after Virginia Tech last clobbered UVA at Scott Stadium, the Hokies coming out of the tunnel out of the locker room, and celebrating and dancing and stomping on the 50-yard line on the UVA logo before they were douse with the sprinklers as the sprinkler operator decided a coincidental, let's put it that way. Sprinkler splashing was deserved for Virginia Tech. Oops. Oops.

Yeah, but interesting, Carla made him apologize. Didn't understand that move. No mercy, UVA fans. I would think that if Virginia would be in position to do that, they would, because payback as hell and I'm sure they haven't forgotten two years ago might have been one of the best things that ever happened to Virginia football

because that awakened the money people. They were embarrassed and they said we're not going to let this happen again and they have rolled out the money bags and it has changed Virginia football and so yeah I would think if they get tacked down and have a chance to pour it on, I think they will. 7 o'clock ESPN national television.

This is a matchup that I think Wahoo fans could potentially be talking about for a generation. I very well, if things go the right way, can see myself talking about this game with our seven-year-old son and our three-year-old son. He turns three on Thanksgiving Day, where Virginia snaps a skid, reaches the ACC, championship and if the cookie crumbles the right way secures a spot in the college football playoff hoody did you ever think you would say that virginia college football playoff no i didn't but then again i didn't ever imagine it expanding the way it has and looks like it will again uh i know they've just uh extended the deadline to come up with a uh a bigger playoff

plan. The Big Ten wants 24 teams, and the SEC does not. But no, I didn't, because Virginia was so downtrodden. I just didn't see any way to change that under the old way of thinking. But now that they have embraced the NIL and wisely used that in a transfer portal, I don't think you could ever count Virginia out from this point on if things remain the same. Amen, brother. Virginia atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with SMU and Pittsburgh, based on tiebreakers. If all three teams win UVA, SMU, and Pittsburgh, UVA and SMU would make the ACC championship based on tiebreakers. Pittsburgh SMU is there one that you like as a better?

their opponent for Virginia? I haven't seen that much of SMU, but you and I have talked about this ever since SMU came into the conference that they take their football seriously out there. And I know a lot of the big 12 people are giving them shade because they lost to TCU and Baylor.

But SMU is a solid football program. And they're going to be a force in the ACC from this point on. You predicted that. Might as well as get used to it. There's so much money thrown at that program from the oilmen in Texas that they can't help but be good. And we all know what Texas high school football is all about. Billy Bob and Friday Night Lights showed us that a long time ago.

But we knew it even before then. I remember I was covering a minor league baseball team in the 70s. And one of the summer baseball coaches was from Texas. He took that as a summer job to make some extra money. But he was saying, wow, in Texas, man, coaches don't even teach classes. We just show up and coach and get paid like college coaches. They have some football talent and some big money in the big star state.

The first time a Billy Bob reference on the Jerry Jerry's show. Yeah, I love Billy Bob. I love that movie. Love the whipped cream bikini from that movie, but I'm getting off track over here. You are off track. You remember that in the movie. I know you do as well. I watch Billy Bob religiously on the Landman. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's one of my favorite actors. Landman is a fantastic show on Paramount Plus.

Season 2 is underway. Are you watching Landman's season 2? I'm waiting on my gal to come back up from Atlanta and we're going to, I don't want to watch it without her. Oh, you're a good man. Sometimes one of my, the biggest gripes I get from my wife is we'll start a series together. I stay up way later than her. And when she wakes up the next morning, I'm three episodes ahead of her. Yeah.

She hates that. She hates that. So you're a very good man right there. I try. The Cavaliers, here's an interesting wrinkle. UVA could lose to Virginia Tech and still weasel its way into the title game. But in that scenario, they would need both SMU and Pittsburgh to lose the best case scenario is obviously for all reasons to beat virginia tag the smu matchup

against cow will not be decided until around midnight since it's an eight o'clock kickoff it's a west coast game the ponies are a double-digit favorite to hootie's point this is uva's sixth night game of the season all at home uva's four and one in those contests this season It should be 5 and 0. 100%. Should be 5 and 0. Hootie Rackleff, can you put in perspective for the viewers and listeners the job this coaching staff has done and the accolades that could follow Tony Elliott?

That's remarkable. And it just goes to show what people will tell you, and the old coaches will tell you. It's not the X's and O's. It's the Jimmy's and Joe. and when you have the jimmies and joes you can move those exes and those a lot better a lot more efficiently than you can when when they're not talented and I've said it a thousand times and I'll always continue to say a bear Bryant told me the whole key to football is recruiting and you got to get the thoroughbreds and he said you ever seen a jackass win the Kentucky Derby and he was right it's one of my favorite lines you get it's one of my favorite lines and That's my favorite line, yeah. Something I'll never forget him saying.

But, you know, you give coaches talent, and it shows you they know what to do with it. And, I mean, they're on the brink of winning 10 games. It's only been done once in UVA history in 138 years. I remember Algrove talking about it. So he won't a couple of years. He had a chance to get the 10 wins. He talked about it incessantly all week to his team about making history.

Mike London, the same thing. Bronco Mendenhall, the same thing. It's really important to those guys to try to get a 10th win. I'm sure this coaching staff is not really talking much about that, but just focusing on winning. And it doesn't matter everything else will follow. but I mean if they do this obviously Tony Elliott gets

some bonuses some of his bonuses kick in I don't know if the staff has those kind of things written into their contract or not but there will be some ACCC coach of the year accolades I mean it's got to be the coach of the year

you would think I mean I don't know who else it would be right now and I know he's been nominated in some national coach of the year awards. He's been mentioned and nominated in some of those. So that can only help your recruiting and your fundraising and everything else. I would assume you would be a contract extension as well. Right. He goes from the least amount of wins in all of power football over the last three years

to potentially an ACC championship birth and a college, football playoff invitation. I mean, that's the makings of a Hollywood script and a national coach of the year, from my standpoint, although my lens is skewed. Bobby Kohler watching the program, he says Virginia Tech is going to do a trick play. UVA better be ready.

Multiple viewers and listeners are warning, if not chastising ticket holders to not sell their passes to Virginia Tech fans. Chad Wood is watching. He says, win and in, let's go whose. Bobby says they're going to throw the kitchen sink at us would love nothing better than to be the spoiler of Virginia Tech. He's 100% right.

I have a select few friends that are Virginia Tech fans, select few. And goodness gracious, they're already running their lips and talking smack. And they want nothing more than to be the spoiler here. Yeah, I have some friends that are doing the same thing. Well, that's one thing in this series that has disturbed me. in recent years is that tech always comes to play with their hair on fire and

they do throw the kitchen sink at you and I don't think Virginia has matched that intensity very often and has been less creative I think for this game you've got to come up with some wrinkles

and just you don't hold anything back in this game and I don't think some of the staffs in recent years have done that. So I think that's something that they need to do. And from what I understand, they are working on some new wrinkles over there

to throw it to hockey. So I'm believing that maybe they're taking this game more seriously than they ever have before. I couldn't think of a better time for the by week to come. I mean, it was just picture perfect, the potential buy week. Chad Wood says it's going to be cold. Keep that blood warm.

And he does wink, wink. I respond in the chat box to him. I already got my airplane bottles purchase, chat. James Watson watching the program. You guys got one of the best shows out there. He says, but you got to give props to the athletic director. Lots of criticism from you find gents six to ten months ago. And now literally every team in UVA's portfolio is pretty much in the top 25.

Also, the game time fan experience is incredible with all lights, bells, and whistles based on the improvements to the stadium. I will be the first to say to James Watson, who's a friend of mine, that Carla Williams has absolutely answered the criticism. And I will also counter by saying the criticism was warranted at the time from the naysayers, which we led the charge on our platform. Got thousands of people watching us every week. We led the charge. But that criticism was warranted. And like in athletics and sports. It's how you respond to the criticism that determines winning and losing character resiliency, and she's responded admirably. Well said, and I totally agree with you. And we have,

we have given Carla praises throughout the season about the turnaround and her hire of Ryan Odom or hire of the new baseball coach. The new baseball coach. and making some facilities improvements and supporting the NIL the way she has. I think we've given her a lot of credit for that, and she deserves a lot of credit for it. No question about it. But, again, I think back at that time that you were mentioning, there was some criticism warranted,

and she has responded in a positive manner, and we were reaping the results of that. yeah when we were offering the criticism her her basketball team was in you know despair yeah yeah we couldn't even recognize the basketball team football program was not in too good shape either football football was the worst program in power football over three year period of time yeah the baseball program had lost its head coach there was behind the scene squabbling that led to the departure of the baseball coach you know it's there was reason for criticism but to james's point Look, she's over the last 12 months had the Midas touch.

And we've got to transition into basketball. I understand Butler beat UVA. I understand that Butler, the physicality of Butler, overwhelmed the University of Virginia. Still, Virginia basketball and Renee Pedifer, this is for you. There's a lot of promise there. They beat a good Northwestern team. Virginia played poorly against Butler.

They could not shoot the ball, and they could have won that contest. And Butler's a damn good team. Yeah, they really didn't shoot the ball that well against Northwestern either or early. They came alive finally. But, yeah, they started slow in both games and had their lulls. And Butler is a good team. Butler is the best team that Virginia has faced. There's no question about it.

And I don't know that they'll play a whole lot of things better than Butler this year to tell you the truth. They had really quick guards. The Bisjack kid scored 25 points. It was hard to stop. He was awesome. Michael Jai, the 6-7 forward at 17 points, made 7 of 14 field goals, had 14 rebounds, and he took it to run low. He was quicker, fast, or stronger.

kind of exposed some warts there but he was an extreme I don't know they'll see too many more guys like him that athletic at that size this season but Butler was very good they had a great game plan

Thad Mata's been around a block a time or two so he had a good plan it didn't help that Tester Ritter got his brains knocked out and was no call earlier in the game

I thought the officiating Virginia had the same set of officials for both games and I thought some of the worst officiating I've seen in years I can say that they can't find me but I'm sure Ryan would probably agree

he got a technical foul for a DeRitter was called for a travel on one end and then Northwestern I mean excuse me Butler came back and traveled right in front of him, I think, and there was no call, and he lost it.

And I don't blame him. I was surprised that he was able to restrain himself that long, and Thad Mata was all over the officials all night, or afternoon, rather. But Butler is a good basketball team, and the thing about this tournament, Jerry, was that he could have scheduled a couple of cupcakes or, you know, had some of the kind of gone to a tournament, exotic tournament somewhere,

but it was close by, gave Virginia fans a chance to go see it. But the objective was to get better and to learn about his team. And I think playing these two teams, both very good basketball teams, showed them a lot that they need to improve on and work on. And that's what coaches strive for this time of year is to have their weaknesses exposed so they can work on them and try to build those into strengths. And I'm sure that's how they're going to use this tournament. Very well said.

I'll give the viewers and listeners some statistics here. Virginia shot 30% from bonus fear. Virginia shot 47% from the free throw line. Virginia had six assists and nine turnovers. and Virginia was in this contest. Yeah, they still had a chance, even though they hadn't played great. And Butler tried everything they could to take De Ritter

and Chance Mallory out of the game, even though they both ended up scoring in double figures. But they weren't as effective as they were in the Northwestern game when they were unstoppable. And Thadmata just wasn't going to let them. that happened. He was going to make other guys beat him, and they nearly did. I mean, Malik Thomas had a great game.

9 of 17 for 24 points. Tari White, 5 of 7, 14 points hit 4, 3 pointers. So it kind of stretched things out over the lineup, but

our guy, Hugo, had eight blocks. There's twice. He had two blocks in a row, back-to-back on the same possession. That guy looks like an NBA player to me. I think you'll get a shot. He's not offensively polished, but he hasn't played a lot of basketball. Yeah, and he moves so well.

He's so fluid for that size. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And such a good jumper, and he's so, like, coordinated and fluid. I mean, I get the offense is not polished, but good night. For a man of that size and weight to move like he's moving gracefully, few people can do that. Yeah, no question. I was totally impressed with them.

and I think he's just going to get better and better. How about Chance Mallory starting the second half? Chance Mallory is a friend of mine sat beside an NBA scout at one of the games, and he asked the guy, he said, who are you? He asked the scout, he said, who are you here to see? And the scout looked at him like he had three heads, he said, who do you think?

And he was talking about DeRitter. He wanted to look at DeRitter. And then in the same conversation, he said, and Chance Mallory is unbelievably quick. He says, that guy's, I can't believe he's a freshman. And he doesn't play like a freshman. So Chance Mallory has got stardom written all over him. Is Chance Mallory your starting point card this year?

There are a different team with him at the point. He's so dynamic, so quick, so aggressive, has the complete game. He had 34 minutes to Dalyan Hall's 11. Yeah, and Hall was in foul trouble. But I think Ryan Odom is, at least for now, is going to continue to start Dallin Hall because of his experience. And he likes the energy that Chance brings off the bench. it's like sending one of Elon Musk's rockets into the game when he comes off the bench

and most people don't have an answer for it. And if things are bogged down, they're not going to stay bogged down for long. I totally agree with your analysis. Chance Mallory is, this team is a different team and Chance Mallory is on the floor. He brings a mentality of someone that can score at the point guard position where Hall just is not looking to score. Oftentimes on offense, the

defense has realized that Hall's not looking to score and they're sagging that defender somewhere else. Hall's defender somewhere else. Point of concern I have and it's early in the season, what are we six games in? Is Mallory's free throw shooting? It'll get better. Yeah. I think it'll get back because his stroke is so

smooth and pure and you see it from downtown. But for a guy who's going to have the ball in his hands, he's the point guard, that's got to be an 80% clip. Yeah, it does. It does. Comments continue to come in. Anything else?

Oh, you have a press conference? I do. Oh, my goodness. I completely forgot. I thought it was moved to the, it's not afternoon? No, the coordinator. Oh, the corner. Okay, I apologize.

We usually do them on Wednesday. Jerry Rackleff, ladies and gentlemen, has got a, I've made him late to the press conference. I apologize. That's sincerely my fault. Olivia Branch, we'll close with this. How about this? my weekly sports education, the Jerry and Jerry show. Happy Thanksgiving to you guys.

Thank you. Same to you guys and everybody out there. Jerry Hooty Ratcliffe is literally going to be speeding to the press conference, thanks to me. So long, everybody. Thank you kindly for watching The Jerry and Jerry Show. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Take care. Hootie, I sincerely thought it was this.

That's right. I probably gave you that. Thank you.