The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Dismantles Duke; In Driver's Seat To ACC Title; Hoos (9-2, 6-1 ACC) #19 In AP & Coaches Poll

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Dismantles Duke; In Driver’s Seat To ACC Title Hoos (9-2, 6-1 ACC) #19 In AP & Coaches Poll Morris Plays Well, Des Rebounds, Defense Steps Up Breakdown Virginia’s Road To ACC Championship What’s The Impact Of VT Hiring James Franklin? ACC News & Notes: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Last Time Football & Hoops Have Been This Good? UVA (4-0) vs Northwestern (4-0), 5 PM, FRI, CBSSN 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. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us. Tuesday morning in downtown in Charlottesville, less than two miles from Scott Stadium, less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena. Ladies and gentlemen, we are on the near horizon of the regular season closing out for Virginia football. a team that is just charmed, a team that is backed by hard work, a team that is captivated and captured the attention of Wahoo Nation.

Virginia dismantles Duke and Durham. UVA now has a brief break before dreaded Virginia Tech comes to Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. The Hokies have won 19 of the last 20 contests against the University of Virginia. We're going to talk ACC Championship. We'll talk Virginia. We'll talk a trip to the college football playoff. We will talk James Franklin and the Virginia Tech Hire. We'll talk the good, the bad, and ugly of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

We'll talk basketball. Virginia's got Northwestern in a ballroom in West Virginia at the Greenbrier Resort. Northwestern is unblemished right now. I can't wait to see basketball played in a ballroom. Ladies and gentlemen at the Greenbrier, I love the Greenbrier. I think Hootie loves the Greenbrier as well. I really do. Yeah, Greenbriar is a special place.

Judah Whitcower behind the camera, special play, special guy, Judah Whitcower. He's the director and producer of the I Love Seaville Network. He keeps us on the up and up. If you could go to the studio camera and then two shot, the star of the show, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hootie Radcliffe, who had a, I salute you, fantastic. I watched a good chunk of him. A fantastic conversation with Dave Odom and Jeff Jones.

If you have not had an opportunity to watch the show, the Hootie and JJ show. Go to YouTube, search Jerry Rackleff, and you'll see a fantastic, you know, basically like a fireside chat with Dave Odom and Jeff Jones. Just a memorable walk-down memory lane on Virginia basketball. Nicely done, Hootie. I'm sure that was a pleasure for you as well.

It was. Hey, well, that's what we're trying to create is just a, it's like a bunch of guys sitting around talking sports. having a beer or something and the barbershop yeah barbershop it was great catching up with dave um hadn't seen him i saw him at ryan's initial introductory press conference and talked to him that day but uh you never can get enough of dave oum he's just a wonderful human being and a great storyteller and he shared some pretty cool stories in that podcast, which, by the way, Jeff Jones came up with the name, Hootie and JJ.

And this week, we're going to have another one, just as much fun. We're going to bring him back to the Kentucky gang. Jeff Flamp, Lee Raker, Jeff Jones, and Terry Gates, all four Kentucky guys that were lured to Charlottesville by Terry Holland. changed, helped change Virginia basketball. So that should be a lot of fun, too. It's fantastic commentary. It's fantastic content.

It's long form, which furthers its special feel. I mean, it's like you guys are sitting in the waiting chair at a barbershop. And in walks Virginia Sports Hall of Famer and Jerry Rackleff, head basketball coach and Jeff Jones. Dave Bowdoin's the Hall of Fame, right? Is he in the Hall of Fame? He should be. He's not.

He should be. Yeah, he should be if he's not. Goodness gracious, was it good? Hootie Rackleff, we start with scatter shooting with you every single show. My friend, where would you like to begin? It was a pretty good weekend. If you're a Wahoo fan, going down to Duke, which was supposedly the toughest game on Virginia's schedule,

and just blowing out the Blue Devils like nobody had all year. And that had to be special for, Tony Elliott and his staff. Annie Diaz said that Virginia totally outclassed them in every phase of the game. I don't know that he has said that about any other game this year. And then Ryan Odom's team scores 104 on Marshall and 61 in the first half. I'm sitting there talking to a couple other writers saying, and how many times we've been sitting here with four minutes left in the game

and Virginia didn't have 61 points and here it is halftime and they've got 61 already. So it was a pretty good weekend to be a whew, that's for sure. Virginia lived awesome against Duke. Outside of what a pick six and a little scare, a slight scare in the fourth quarter, it was from start to finish and tail beating. and Twitter is what you want to check, not YouTube. YouTube is good J-Dubs.

My friend, what struck you from that game besides Chandler Morris, besides Deskitching rebounding, what struck you from that game? Well, I knew Chandler Morris would rebound strong if he was capable and cleared protocols and all that. And I think that was a little more touch-and-go than we thought. But I think just the way that John Reginsky's defense continued to dominate. I think that's three straight games

where they've held the opponents to less than 300 yards or some magical number like that. I mean, nobody had been able to get the Mintsa, the Duke quarterback, really, this year, and Virginia got to him, pressured him all day,

really shut down the second best passing attack in the country, I had asked Tony Elliott in the last week's press conference if this was the best passing attack he had faced all season. And he said, yeah, without a doubt. And you look at their numbers. MENSA was throwing for 310 yards a game. And it was ranked in the top five in the country

and touchdown passes and a couple of – $8 million quarterback. A couple other quarterback. Yeah, a couple other categories. And, yeah, big time money. on him coming from Tulane and they just essentially shut him down for the most part

and they had three wide receivers with really good numbers and you got to hand it to Virginia secondary they're playing just lights out right now. Defense has stepped up it really has I mean

they're dominating and you know they did have that one little moment in the fourth quarter where they gave up two touchdowns, but, and Tony jumped on the team, and he was trying to teach him a lesson. He says, you know, you don't let off the gas, not now, not at this time of the year. I don't care if we've got 50 points, you don't let up.

And I think they took that to heart and finished the game fairly strong. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Looks good on Twitter now, J-dubs. Ray Cadell, Big Ray and the Cool Cats, wants to talk James Franklin, the Virginia Tech hire, and whether Franklin will be

on the sidelines in Charlottesville when Virginia Tech hits Scott Stadium. We'll table James Franklin discussion for later in the program. Big Ray, I promise you we'll talk James Franklin on the show today. I want to talk Cam Robinson. James Madison, who lives in Mineral,

wants to talk Cam Robinson. It's all over the feed. Yeah. It's all over the feed. What's the status of Cam Robinson? Well, you know, people should be interested because he's the lifeblood of that defense. There hasn't been any word on him. Perhaps Tony Elliott may mention something tonight during his coach's show.

I think they're going to have that even though it's a by week. There's no press conference today, meaning that the media won't have any contact with Elliot or the team until this time next week. The latest word we got was post-game Saturday when Tony revealed that I think trainers or doctors had initially thought that there might have been a bruised nerve in his knee. And that's why they had him up and moving on the sidelines

after he came out of the medical tent. They took him into the locker room. They put a knee brace on, and he came back out for the second half and went out for one play and tried to play but just couldn't do it. And so he came out of the game for the rest of the day. But that's the latest word that anyone has on Cam.

And again, we may not know anything more on him until next Tuesday. Chad Wood watching the program, one of the key cogs of Steve Isaac's triple, triple misdirection, triple-wing attack. Yeah, he knows his football. He knows his football, now an assistant coach at Western Amo High School. He says he made the trip to Durham. It was an awesome time. It was fantastic to see so many Wahoo fans travel.

He highlights what Juja said. Cam Robertson came back in for that one play, and he was far from 100% and could not go. Chad Wood, who is a football coach, in the high school level is concerned with Cam Robinson as we all are this man's irreplaceable oh yeah I mean even though a Danley came in and played well in his absence and I think led the team in tackling even though he played only a half there's nobody that can that's the playmaker that Cam Robinson is I mean he's done things we documented that last week that he was the only player in 20 years to block a punt.

Do it have a pick six, a scoop and score. And that's not just a Virginia. That's in college football. And how about that safety as well? And yeah, you throw that in, you might have to go back another 10 or 20 years. But that just shows the value of the – it's like John Rogensky said the numbers. Well, Cam said it himself. if we asked him about what he had done

and whether he should be considered for ACC player of the year. And he said, well, the numbers speak for themselves. And he was spot on. I think he absolutely, my money, he's the defensive player of the year. He's got my vote.

Yeah, yeah. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put him in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Comments are continuing to come in here. This is an interesting one from Buckhead, Georgia. What's the team need to focus on in this off week to be

ready for Virginia Tech? I think continuing to work on the run game that's the whole key to this team winning is controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling the clock,

controlling the pace, controlling the early downs so they don't get stuck in third and long, putting pressure on the defense They're linebackers and safeties who can't crowd the box. And if they do crowd the box, that gives Chandler Morris a whole lot more working room.

So I think that's the whole focus of this team is to make sure that that running game really hones in here for the last game of the season and for whatever comes after that. I think that's because the defense is just, I think they're just going to keep getting better because they've, they've jelled, they've become more familiar with each other. The secondary is all on the same page. Communication seems to be sharp. The pass rush seems to be getting better. Chandler Morris is Chandler Morris, and he's got a good fleet of receivers. So I think it's all about the running game at this point.

If they can pile up numbers against the Hokies, they should be able to do their thing. Bobby Kohler watching the program on the Jerry Rackleaf Facebook page. He says this week off could not have come at a better time. It's time to heal the bumps and bruises, get focused and prepare for the final game, and hype it up for Scott Stadium for a sold-out crowd with Virginia Tech and attendants.

Bobby Kohler, I think this is your first comment on the Jerry and Jerry's show. Welcome to the family. Let us know, Bobby, where you are watching the show and the feed, and I will mention it live on air. I agree with him. Oh, I do too. Perfect timing. Yeah, perfect timing, and we could see

a record crowd for that game, because if you're a Virginia fan, you're not enthused, and you don't want to see these guys play, then you're not a fan. You know, there's something wrong. especially against the years of frustration against your rival. And I'm not saying it's an automatic win or anything,

but Virginia will be favored. They're at home where they've only lost once this season and shouldn't have. And they're playing really good football right now. So it's an opportunity to see something special. Talk to us about a lot of fans want to talk about the road to the ACC, championship what needs to happen a lot of things still need to happen uh virginia fans are rooting for pittsburgh that's for darn sure yeah virginia fans are rooting for louisville um anywhere you want to go on the ac c championship well it's it's that's pretty probably the most simplified part of it right

there and virginia's got to win out they got to they got to beat virginia tech to make anything happen then those other two scenarios certainly help Virginia get into the game in Charlotte. And if a couple of those things go sideways, then there are like 18 different scenarios of things that could happen to put Virginia in the championship game. And that which is, we could spend the rest of the show going over those. But that just shows you how convoluted it is

when you have a huge conference in a tight race, and it's almost, you almost have to have a calculus degree to be able to figure it all out. It's clear. Win some football games, Virginia. And then you controlled your own destiny at that point. At that point, you've done what you can. You might not be in total control of your destiny

because some other things may need to fall your way. But when beat Virginia Tech, that's the only thing Wahoo Nation needs to be focused on. I'm seeing all over the feed, 19 of 20, Virginia Tech won. Hokies have entered the chat box and they say they're ready to spoil this season for Virginia. Chad Wood says, Hootie requested the credentials for the championship game, so I'm very confident Virginia's going to win.

Chad's very insightful. Comments continue to come in. Bobby says he's watching right here in Charlottesville. This is one from Pennsylvania. can he put into perspective some of the other injuries that the players are facing right now and who needs to heal and quickly before Virginia Tech hits Scott? Well, let's see. I'm trying to recount what happened the other day.

And just looking at the two deep here, I think most of the guys starters on offense, other than the little Knicks and stuff that they have. Everybody's playing hurt right now. I don't see anybody that's probably going to be out for that game.

They're relying heavily on Jamari Taylor and Harrison Whaley. They hope to have Noah Vaughn back for that game with an extra week to heal. They thought he was going to be back last week, but he just wasn't ready. Defensively, of course, Cam, just looking at the roster here.

I don't see anybody else that right now you would count as out. So I think they should go into that game pretty healthy, which is a huge, excuse me, a huge key because you're going to need everything you got on your side going to end that rivalry game because, you know, whoever mentioned it just now, I guess, who was Chad, was right that the Hokies have a, you know, that's their salvation for this season. They're probably going to lose to Miami this week. there'll be three and eight going into that game.

So that's the only thing they can hang their hat on is if they ruin their arch rival season and continue that streak. And that would make their year, even though it's been a horrible football season, but that would, in their eyes of their fans, that would give them somewhat of repentance. I will tell you, and comments are coming in via YouTube. I'm going to get to

Shift God 137 and Lightning Fisher, 8177 on YouTube here in a matter of moments. If you're watching on YouTube, hammer the thumbs up button, subscribe to the channel, and put your comments in the chat box, and I'll relay them live on air. The James Franklin hire scares the bejevis out of me as a Virginia fan. Franklin's a hell of a coach. Franklin recruits the DMV. He's a hell of a recruiter. And if anyone had said at the beginning of the season, because we knew Brett and Pry was on the hot seat. Right.

And if anyone had said at the beginning of the season that Virginia Tech was going to be in the mix and then hired James Franklin, we would have laughed at them. Penn State, I think, was preseason number two. Yeah. And the polls. Now, that being said, if anyone had said in the preseason

that Virginia would have nine wins, had a shot at 10 wins for only the second time in school history had a shot to make the ACC championship in the college football playoff. We probably would have laughed even harder at that person than the James Franklin hired in Virginia Tech.

Early thoughts on the Franklin hire, then we'll get to comments that are coming. Hokies have entered the chat box. They're all over the place right now here. Welcome to the new world of college football. I know, I know. Yeah, I mean, James Franklin is a solid coach.

There's no question about. it he has recruited well when he was at Maryland and then again at Penn State he's recruited the state of Virginia and the DMV very strongly and but you got to remember he was recruiting to Penn State which was national power Virginia Tech hasn't been a national power in a decade and as good as he's been it doesn't mean he's automatically going to turn the program around although a lot of that's going to depend on NIL money and what they choose to do with it. Which they're pumping money into the program.

Yeah, they are, and they should. And that can change things overnight. We've seen that firsthand. And so, you know, he certainly can turn Virginia Tech football around almost overnight, if given the right tools and leeway. appears that he's going to be given those advantages to get tech football back on the map. And that makes the state of Virginia football even stronger, having two competitive, three competitive teams throwing in JMU.

So, you know, and it's good for the ACC, I guess, to have another team that that can show up in the polls. So it's just part of the arms race, not that that's anything strange to college football, foreign to college football, because we've seen it for decades in various ways in terms of facilities and recruiting and coaching hires,

coaching staff salaries, et cetera. Virginia threw into the, the kitty and up the ante this season, and now Virginia Tech's trying to match that. Let's get to comments. YouTube's buzzing right now. This comment comes in from, is it, Cardo Bell 7555, with the announcement of Franklin, how will current Virginia Tech coaches approach their remaining games, especially ours? Will they be focused or already looking for new jobs?

Ray Cadell asked the question, will James, Franklin be on the sidelines in Charlottesville because he's the new head coach. This comment comes in from Tennessee. How many of these Hokies are even going to be on the roster next year? My hope is they're checked out and they can transfer portal.

This comes in from Lightning Fisher 8177. They'll beat Tech. The defense in Morris won't let them lose. They know what it means to win this contest. This comet comes in. The challenge I have with this roster is 40% plus of it

is new. Do they appreciate what this rivalry means with Virginia Tech with so many new faces without ties to UVA? A lot of good stuff right there in the chat box. Let's try to address all those. You might have to remind me. I'm happy to. I throw a lot to you right there. The Hokies are all over the chat box right now. Yeah. Oh, that's okay. Yeah. We have friends at Tech. Yeah. Well, let's see. Will James Franklin be on the sideline next, not next Saturday, but in two weeks. I don't know. That's a good question.

He was on the sideline at Old Dominion last week, I believe, for their game. Of course, the head coach here is one of his former assistants, I believe. It depends. You know, if he feels like he's going to be intruding on the present staff, whether they would invite him to be on the sidelines, whether he feels comfortable being. on the sidelines. It's going to be interesting to see how that unwinds. Maybe somebody at his press conference today might ask him that down in Blacksburg.

I don't know. Or is it tomorrow. I think maybe the press conference is tomorrow. But, yeah, that's anybody's guess, and some of his preference as to what he wants and whether they feel like it's appropriate or not. The coaching staff might feel like he's looking over their shoulder or something. I don't know. But it will be his program.

It's a question we won't know until somebody asks him, I guess. If I'm James Franklin, I'm certainly on the sidelines. You might want to just, you know, see the mood. Just have your presence there. See how your team reacts. Will he be on the sideline this Saturday when they play Miami? If he's going to be here, I would think he would want to be at that game as well. Let's go to one of the other questions.

Next question is, with so many new faces, 40% plus of the roster do you, do these guys know the significance and the history of this game? Well, it's a good question because certainly they haven't played in it. and the only thing they know about it is by talking to some of the Virginia players who have lived through it and the coaching staff. A couple of things I've been disappointed in, not just with this staff, but the previous staff, when it came to this rivalry, is I always felt like that this game meant more to Virginia Tech than it did to Virginia. And I never quite understood that.

The tech coaches did a better job of getting their players really fired up for this game than I think Virginia has, and I don't understand that. That should be a championship game mentality. And I know that Tony Elliott started working on that in the locker room at Duke last Saturday when he said the only thing that matters to him now is the state championship. And I think he made that very clear to the players in the locker room. So hopefully there's a different mentality in approaching this game than in the past. And in terms of game planning, I thought in the past, Virginia has been, it's just held back.

I think for a game like this, you've got to throw a few twists in there and play it. hold nothing back absolutely nothing you've got to throw the whole kitchen sink into this game and attack it like you haven't attacked anybody all year and that's something I don't think Virginia's

done a good job of the follow-up question how many of the Hokies active hockey players are on the roster with such a losing behind them and on this year's schedule are going to be checked out and thinking transfer portal

well i'm sure there'll be a portion of them but then you it's a two-sided coin too because uh james franklin may come in and say some of these guys don't meet his standards he may got the roster he may get the roster we've seen we see that more and more and i mean tony elli got the roster yeah um so there may be some players he doesn't want on his roster and so there could be a big change there and and for various reasons. The matchup, the time of the matchup is to be determined. Yeah, six-day hold by TV.

Six-day hold. I don't think is right. It's the worst because it's the right after Thanksgiving. And you're trying to figure out what you're trying to make plans. You get your family in town. What are you doing for the holidays? And there's a massive difference with a 12 p.m. kickoff on a Saturday. and a 7 p.m. kickoff on a Saturday.

Massive difference. Incredibly. 7 p.m. kickoff on a Saturday? No. And it could be really cold. It's end of November. What's your instig say if you had an instinct? You think it's the 12 o'clock?

I think a lot of it has to do with what happens this weekend for the significance of that game. It could be. You say 12? I'm hoping it's 12. I just think it's although students are going to have to Well some of the students won't be here Most of the students won't be here

Thanksgiving The tickets available But So that may not be an issue after all But I hope it's 12 Just because it's warmer for the fans And daylight I think

Sometimes that time of the year It's weather so unpredictable If it's a night game It could be really brutal we've seen some brutal weather for this game in the past and so i'm i'm hoping it's noon but uh dug doughty used to have something he called the piss factor which is whatever is most convenient for the media or at least for fans usually goes the other way so who knows uh Doug doughty of course uh run oak times uh legend yeah watches

this program from time to time, Doug Doughty. The positive of the 12 p.m. game, I see the benefit for the media. I see the benefit for the temperature. Yeah. The downfall of the 12 p.m. game is the casual fan. And there better not be any casual fans out there. Slow to get out of bed.

Slow to fill the seat. Plus you got to travel. You got to travel. The positive of the 7 o'clock game, is you get some of that liquid courage in you from tailgating all day. Yeah. And maybe more fannies in the seats that are trying to stay warm with that liquid courage that are getting louder. That's true.

I'm curious to see if this approach is sellout status. You would think it would. I'm also curious to see if it knocks on the door of the Southern California Trojans hitting Scott Stadium. What was that in? 20 years ago? Yeah, pretty much. Crazy to say roughly 20 years ago. I think it was 06.

I believe. Yeah, where the fire marshal would have had a major issue if he was counting heads at Scott Stadium for that match. I was like the fire marshal was probably there. I'm sure he was. Probably having some bourbon. Unfortunately, it was an ass whooping. It was.

I mean, Southern Cal was pretty damn good. Southern Cal had pros. Virginia did not. And it was pretty evident from day one. I was at Scott Stadium. And then I looked around as these guys around the field, I'm like, even the backups are bigger than Virginia starters. Yeah.

What's going on here? That's when Southern Cal had it rolling. Right. They had a role in that year. Any thoughts on this Virginia Tech UVA matchup that we have in cover that we should cover? Well, I don't know if we answered all those questions or not, but I mean, Bill Dooley, God rest his soul, when he was at Virginia Tech, I got to know Bill really well. And he used to say it every year for this game. He said, well, with his southern drawl, he said, well, you can sort of books, the records and the books out the window on this game because it's a robbery. And he was right.

I mean, it didn't matter if both teams were terrible or both teams were decent. One could be having a bad year. One could be having a great year. And it would be a bloodbath. They would just really go after each other. And I don't think that's changed. I don't think it will change at the end of the season. It's the last game for a lot of these tech players,

and they're going to be playing like their hairs on fire, you would think. Now, maybe if they get pummeled by Miami and everything's piled up, loss after loss after loss, maybe, I don't know, maybe they just don't have, the fire in their belly that they normally would. I don't know.

That's yet to be seen. But I'm expecting tech to come in here and play like their hairs on fire, and Virginia better match that intensity. I agree. I'm very curious to see how Virginia Tech steps up in this matchup, because I think they're going to get crushed by Miami. Most likely. I mean, Miami's playing really well.

Miami's playing great football right now. I'd still think, you know, you know, dollars to donuts that Miami is the best football team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They have the most talent. The most talent. Miami may not be in the ACC championship, and Miami, it's looking at now that they need kind of an at-large berth in the CFP, but I think they have the most talent in the Atlantic Coast Conference. So let's say the Hurricanes crushed Virginia Tech, that's probably how it's going to go.

Then these Hokie players, post-thanksgiving, post-Turkey, got to be thinking, is Frank this Penn State head coach, who's going to be paid a lot of money here, going to gut this entire roster, take these millions of dollars that are coming from the Virginia Tech Board of visitors and these big-time boosters and completely wipe us away from this football program and do they come out flat? Now, Virginia better not expect that to play that way, but I can see that happening. Rob Neal, who's the biggest JMU football fan I know, he's a James Madison University football booster. It says Virginia wins by 17. going away in this contest.

On paper, it would seem like they're way more talented than Virginia Tech. I hate that I even said that on this show, Hootie, considering Virginia Tech has won 19 of the last 20 matchups. Right. And won some of those games when they shouldn't have. Right.

Yeah, I mean, that's the 64,000, now million dollar question, I guess, is the mental attitude to both these teams coming into that game. I think Virginia will probably approach this better mentally than they have in a long time. And I think the difference may just be Chandler Morris and the defense because the last time Virginia won, it was mostly Bryce Perkins that did the damage, and Tech had no answer for him. And I think Chandler Morris is going to have to deliver that kind of performance to where they just can't shut him down. When a quarterback's having a great day, there's not a whole lot you can do.

And I think a lot of the weight is going to be on his shoulder pads to deliver a win. But it's going to take a team effort without question. but all those factors you mentioned about that could go negative for Virginia Tech still doesn't override the fact that they hate Virginia and it would make their day and make their year if they can walk in here and ruin Virginia's season. And it would be a tremendous trampoline into the next year with the new coach, with recruiting, with money, with new roster, beating Virginia

and saying we've won 20 of the last 21 matchups. Yeah. And then for Virginia's side, I mean, these guys want to be the ones that snap this and try to reestablish some dominance in the state of Virginia because they've got all the momentum right now, recruiting-wise and money-wise and talent-wise, really. So there's a lot to be said for that. Interesting question that's coming here from the Panhandle.

Florida, if Houdie had to rank the top five teams in the ACC right now, how would he rank them? Wow. That's a tough ask. I still think Miami has the most talent. If I had to vote right now, I would probably vote Miami number one. I think Georgia Tech has slipped a little bit of late. I think SMU is playing really well. Obviously, Virginia bounced back strong last week. I think that number two slot would be either Virginia or SMU, then Georgia Tech, and then Pitt.

And I may be shorting Pitt because I haven't seen him play very much. I think Louisville is falling off a little bit It hadn't helped That their best running back Has been hobbled But I would have to Put them below those other teams right now

Who's your ACC offensive player of the year? Is it Georgia Tech quarterback? Yeah, I think Haynes King probably deserves it at this point He's had a pretty darn good year and without him, I think they'd be a lot more of an average team than what they've been able to accomplish. I think he probably won that game for him last week

when they could have easily gone down at Boston College. You put any credence into Notre Dame hammering Pittsburgh? A little bit. We all wondered just how good pit was, I know Pat and Arduzzi said it didn't, that game doesn't matter because it's not an ACC game. I wouldn't have said that. Because, you know, it's not a good signal to your fan base that you're playing one of the nation's powerhouses and you say it doesn't matter.

And I understand what he's saying. It doesn't affect their season in terms of their goal, which is to get into the ACC championship game. but it's not a good luck when you say something like that but I think maybe Notre Dame exposed some warts on that team that's I don't know who else do they play Georgia Tech this week let me take a look I believe we'll take a look at this maybe Brent Key can

can focus on in trying to dismantle the Panthers but I think that's I think that's who they played this week. Georgia Tech has got Pitt. Yeah. Yep, 7 o'clock, national TV, ESPN. Where is that game? Hotlana.

Yeah, that's going to be a big statement game. That's going to obviously knock one of them out. Wahoo fans rooting for Pittsburgh. Yeah. It's going to be a fun game. I'm going to try to watch that one. But I would think Georgia Tech would be a slight favorite just because it's home.

Georgia, yeah, Georgia Tech has got a, I'll tell you what the line is. Georgia Tech's got an interesting way to close the season with hosting Pittsburgh and then closing with Georgia. Yeah. So Georgia Tech has a chance to really stamp, put their stamp on the season.

Two and a half point favorite, you get three for playing at home. Vegas basically calling it a toss-up, if not pit favored slightly. Yeah. The National TV 7 o'clock matchup for Georgia Tech. pit. You're starting to see the Atlantic Coast

Conference getting some prime time slotting. Yeah. I know the conference is still getting disrespected a major degree by the rest of the country, but I don't think a lot of these teams will want to play

some of these ACC teams. I think the conference has much improved over the last three or four years. 100%. Even though Clemson's having a down year. Clemson and Florida State, yet this team is still showing that at least it has a parity atop the standings. I'm not saying that we've got a top 10, top eight, top five teams here, but it's got a boatload of top 25 talent teams.

Really do. You know, some good coaches and they've recruited well. There's a lot of talent in this league. It's going to be interesting to watch the NFL draft this year. See just how much of that talent is tapped into, but I think the ACC is underrated as a whole. Interesting when talking Miami, I agree with you, Miami looks like the best team still in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami is ranked ahead of Georgia Tech in the AP poll. You're looking at 14 and 15 Miami, and the AP poll, Miami 14, Georgia Tech 15.

And the coaches poll, Georgia Tech is 12. and Miami is 15. So flipping flopping, flip-flop in the AP and the coaches bowl, Virginia and 19 and both. Did it surprise you, Virginia and the 19th slot with both polls? Or about right? No, I think that's about right. A lot of it depends on what happens in front of you. It's hard to leapfrog teams if they keep winning.

So I don't think there was a whole lot of losing in front of them. So, yeah, just to move up is a good thing. James Madison, this is for you, Rob Neal. James Madison, 21 in the AP poll, 22 in the coaches poll. Would love to see a James Madison power up in conference play to an ACC. I don't know if that will ever happen, but James Madison and the ACC would intrigue me quite a bit. That's an interesting concept. Of course, the only other state was more.

than two teams is the state of North Carolina with four for the original members. But, yeah, I don't know if the ACC is looking to expand anytime soon or will be forced to. A lot of it depends on if some teams are leaving. They keep analytics. I know when Gene Corrigan was the commissioner, he used to have a meeting every month with all of his lieutenants and they would expect a report on

any potential team out there should the ACC wish to expand all the attributes that that program could bring to the conference and if they didn't have certain specifications

that could help then they crossed them off the list and so I you you would have to, one of the big things is TV market. I don't know where JMU stands with that. It's the issue it has going against them. It's probably not a good. No, Harrisonburg not a good market.

It has that going against them. So, you know, that's one of the major focal points when you're looking to expand is what your TV market provides. Chris West watching the program. He says, Who did you think the conference, the Atlantic Coast conference, will go to nine conference games in the future. I hope they don't.

I think Tony Elliott disagrees. He wants to play more conference games. I think it takes away a little bit of your scheduling freedom to bring in once you're good enough to bring in a big-time opponent and play a couple of, you know, you know, two or three power four schools outside of your league. And then, you know, maybe schedule one or two cupcakes. But I think it's going to be interesting to see how college football does that. I mean, I think the Big Ten plays nine already, right? And I think the SEC is, I can't remember if they decided to do that or voted against it.

because their conference schedule is already brutal to begin with. I kind of like the freedom of scheduling if you have eight conference games, but I wouldn't be surprised if they went to nine. I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Hour in here, basketball. We've got to close with some basketball here. Virginia fans, are you on point for Tuesday next week for Jerry and Jerry show? Yeah.

Okay, so are we? Fantastic. Big show next week on Tuesday with the Jerry and Jerry show with the Virginia Tech matchup on the horizon. Basketball, though, Friday, this is so odd. I'm about to say this. I know. I can't get my mind around it.

Yeah, 5 p.m. tip off in the ballroom at the Greenbrier against Northwestern. I understand it's a tournament. And this is what comes with tournaments, especially early season. But a 5 p.m. Friday tip off. How about this? on the CBS Sports Network. I mean, last time Virginia's been on the CBS Sports Network,

probably early-round matchup in the NCAA tournament. Maybe the play-in, I think they were on the CBS. It might have been true TV. Regardless, open-ended question, Northwestern's unblemished. Yeah. Northwestern, would you characterize them as the best talent they've faced so far? Yeah, it's definitely a step up in competition this weekend with Northwestern.

Friday and Butler on Sunday at 2 p.m. And I'm sure it's a test that Ryan Odom is eager to face. They've played a couple of good teams in exhibition games in Vanderbilt and Villanova. So they've got a taste of what, you know, big boy basketball is all about. And, you know, it'll be a step in that direction come Friday. But it's going to be a strange environment. You and I both have been in that ballroom at the Greenbrier. Love the Greenbrier.

I can't imagine there being a basketball court in there with 2,000 people. It just, I have to see it to believe it. And, yeah, I love the Greenbrier, too. I've had some great moments in my life over there. beautifuls incredible place yeah um but walk into the lobby of the green brier and you get greeted with the glass of champagne yeah pull into the uh in the front door they park your car treat you like royalty wallpaper from 30 years ago still up magical place yeah it's it's a magical place for the whole family my kids loved it wife loved it i loved it steakhouse bar

gambling kits had the chocolatier and the I mean it was just it was awesome the Sam Sneed restaurant the golf courses are awesome got to play the the private Sam Sneed course over there

the private club compliments of Jackie Snead Sam's son who they treat like a god they might as well as be Sam resurrected the way they treat him over at the Greenbrier Jerry West Steakhouse I mean, I could go on and on about all the great things about that place.

But it'll be an interesting environment for two basketball games. I'm just looking forward to it, but it's just going to be a much different thing. I've never covered a basketball game in a ballroom before. of some of these resorts do this for tournaments around the globe. Yeah. But I haven't partaken in one yet. Did Virginia open it? Was it the Maui tournament?

The Maui tip off last year? That was a similar, oddly set up. Yeah, I didn't, and it wasn't at that game. I think that was similar, similar with its odd setup. Close on this question. How good is this team? Do we know yet how good this team is? Because they look unbelievable, Hootie.

Yeah. Now, they've played scrubs. I don't think we know yet. And, you know, Marshall was supposed to be a step up in competition, and they just obliterated them. Marshall didn't get off the bus. Yeah. And, you know, I asked the coach in the press conference afterward

if he felt overwhelmed at times in the first half because everybody was scoring for Virginia. And he had no answer. And he said, no, which kind of made me shake my head in Wonderment a little bit. I mean, if that doesn't overwhelm you, what does it take? But, I mean, it's all starting to evolve the way Ryan, I think, would like for it, too, in that he's playing a bunch of guys, a lot of minutes. They're all contributing.

the press is starting to slowly come around to the way he wants it and that gives more players more opportunities for court time because that's physically demanding the full court press and then playing up-tempo offense even though they don't have really that many more possessions than they did under Bennett ball but it just seems faster And the beauty, I think the beauty of the press is that you've got those guards and hounding opponents. And if they get beat, it's kind of reminiscent, believe it or not,

of back in the days when Ralph was back there. And Ricky Stokes and Othell Wilson were pressing the heck out of people and trying to force turnovers. But if they got beat, it was no big deal because you had a giant standing back there in the middle to swat anything away. Virginia's got... Virginia's got an assortment of Giants. Got three of them.

And so, you know, the other day, everybody was shooting the ball really well. And it was nice to see Dallon Hall. His offensive game come around. He had 18. He had been mostly a distributor until then. But, you know, all these guys can shoot. And they got a kid. who's 24, 25 years old that hasn't even played because he suffered an injury in an exhibition game.

Yeah. That could be a starter, certainly a key minute contributor. Yeah, a 6-9 guy. Yeah. Another big dude. Where is he going to play? Well, he and I think he and Grunlow will probably split some time at the four. But they've got so much talent and so many players that they can.

and move pieces around pretty easily. There's an abundance of talent here. I just, I don't know what to make of this team. I'm an optimist and a half-full, glasses half-full guy. You got a phenomenal post player in DeRitter, who's a bull. You got Grunlow, who's a threat from downtown, threat in the post defensively as a shot blocker. Yugo might be the best pro on this team.

He's only been playing basketball since he was 12 years old. Yeah, he was a soccer player. Yeah, only getting 16 minutes. He's phenomenal. You got town in the back court. Malik Thomas, when he gets cooking, he can cook. Yes. Dalyne was great with the basketball.

Chance Mallory, more upside at the point guard than Dailen, the thing with chance is you got some unexpected because he's a first year. You know, he's certainly a better score. You know, this team is ridiculous. but they haven't played anyone. Jacari White. Yeah. Shoot the lights out.

Shoot lights out. I love the Giacarmi. Sam Lewis. Yeah. You could just go on and on with this roster. They got one, two, three, four, five guys averaging double digits. And Jacari and Yugo are at 9.5. So basically seven guys averaging double digit points.

Dailin's at seven and change. I mean, it's as balance as a team as you're going to find. but before I put the cart before the horse and get ahead of my skis, they've played nobody. Yeah, they haven't been tested in the regular season yet, for sure. And that'll come this weekend. I haven't watched Northwestern R. Butler play this year. I've been so focused on football and covering this basketball team that hasn't been much time left to scout other teams. but it's definitely going to be a step up in competition

and we'll know a lot more about this team and so will Ryan win the weekend's over. But again, I go back to that game with Villanova. I think that gave them a good taste of what they might be in for this weekend. And so I'm feeling pretty confident about these guys walking out of the White Sulfur Springs with a couple more wins on their back. I'm feeling the same, Hootie. I'm feeling the same.

Time's going to tell Virginia fans this weekend, Virginia basketball, watch and learn. Jerry Rackliff's the namesake of Jerry Rackleft.com. Check out his fantastic fireside chat, his barbershop talk, his interview with Ryan Odom. Jeff Jones was sitting shotgun with Hootie. It was A-plus-plus-plus-plus. Jerry Rackliff.com, follow him on Twitter. He's the source for Virginia Athletics, folks. He literally is the source for Virginia Athletics.

He's been that way for a long time. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera, our MVP, our glue guy, we appreciate Judah Whitcower. My name is Jerry Miller, and this is the Jerry and Jerry show where we got a lot to talk about and a lot to follow over the next few weeks. It's going to be a fun ride. to Christmas. So long, everybody. Take care. Nice to done. Same to you, brother. Same to you, Judah.