The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Football Pounds Richmond In 2024 Opener; Breakdown Wahoos Victory Over The Spiders

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Football Pounds Richmond In 2024 Opener Breakdown Wahoos Victory Over The Spiders QB Anthony Colandrea Picture Perfect In Victory Week 2: UVA At Wake Forest, 7 PM, ESPN2 Around The ACC: What Stood Out In Week 1? Defending Champ Florida State Falls To 0-2 Vanderbilt Upsets Virginia Tech In Overtime Georgia Tames Clemson Tigers In Atlanta 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. Thank you kindly for joining us on a crisp Tuesday morning in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, less than two miles from Scott Stadium, the site of a pounding folks, Virginia football beat the Richmond Spiders like a drum in the 2024 season opener. Anthony Calandria, as Jerry Ratcliffe, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, offered on his namesake website, almost picture perfect in this victory. Calandria, the offense looked dynamite, the defense looked stifling most of the ball game. And Virginia starts the campaign with a victory that is a confidence-boosting win, heading into what is a must-win contest in Week 2 against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The game is in Winston-Salem.

The Deacs a 2.5-point favorite depending on where you shop. As of Tuesday morning today, that line will most certainly move. So much to cover on today's program, including a look around the Atlantic Coast Conference where the defending champions, Florida State Seminoles, fall to 0-2 to start the season. A team that tries to sue the conference, threatens to sue the conference, and falls to the doormat of conference play. Clemson takes it on the chin against the Georgia Bulldogs in Hotlanta. And Virginia Tech upset against Vanderbilt. Ladies and gentlemen, week one, surprises and

storylines everywhere, much to the chagrin of content creators like the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer and yours truly. Judah Wickhauer, studio camera, Let's welcome the distinguished and dapper Hootie Ratcliffe to the program. Where do we begin, Hootie? Where do we begin on week one, my friend? Well, it's turned out already to be a wild college football season. Not a lot of upsets, but more of them close to home than the ACC. But I'm stunned that Florida State's 0-2. Talk about somebody on the hot seat. Mike Norvell, I've never been a

big believer in him being the exalted coach that some people have made him out to be, but still they've got a lot of problems down there. Quarterback problems,, quarterback problems, defensive line problems, offensive line problems. It's going to be hard to win their fans back after an 0-2 start. I mean, everybody's talking about them being a favorite to be in the college football playoffs.

There's no way they're going to make the playoffs. You're talking a top-ten football team in the preseason, a team that is now Boston College manhandles Florida State. Georgia Tech, maybe you say the Georgia Tech loss is, hey, it's in Ireland. We had to go across the pond. We'll chalk it up to travel. But losing to Boston College, how they lost to the Eagles, shows that there is concerns on both sides of the ball for the Florida State Seminoles. Downtown Charlottesville, it's a UVA athletic-focused program.

How about Anthony Calandria? The second year was, as you put it, what, picture perfect, my friend? Pretty much. I mean, if you look at his numbers, he was 17-23, and that included a couple of drops and at least one throw away. And, you know, he really, I only saw him make really one mistake. The sack? Yeah, he held on to the ball way too long.

Yeah. I know he'd like to have that back, and he realized it. But, you know, other than that, he played a pretty terrific football game. Threw for almost 300 yards, a couple of touchdowns, a lot of explosive plays. Ran the ball 11 times for really 79 yards. He had 30 yards in losses on those two sacks. But, you know, he ran the ball out of bounds a few times. He slid, avoided contact.

He was wisely taking advice from his coaches not to sacrifice his body. And for the most part, just was solid and made really good decisions and distributed the ball pretty well. He had nine or ten guys that received catches, or at least were targeted. And, you know, I think the Virginia's coaching staff has to be pretty pleased with the outcome of his debut. Kobe Pace moves the chains.

Anthony Calandria takes care of the football. The defense makes a statement. They're able to overcome a two-hour-plus delay, unlike 2023 where the JMU Dukes used a storm and lightning delay to basically manhandle Virginia football last season out of the delay. Virginia keeps its head on its shoulders. We don't hear any rumblings about what was going on in the locker room like we did last year against JMU.

I mean, is this the storybook start for week one? Yeah, you know, I think they learned a lot last year from that delay. And they were talking to the players after the game. They said they felt like everybody was much more focused during this two-hour and I think 18-minute delay. They learned last year that they needed to get some nourishment to the players. They brought in everything they could from the concession stands, I think, to get them fed. I know some of them dined on going over their iPads and stuff,

looking at plays from almost the first half. And so there was a lot more organization and focus during this delay, and I think that they showed how focused they were when they came right back out and scored an immediate touchdown and continued to dominate the game instead of having a lapse like they did against JMU last year. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. The only storyline that left me flummoxed and a bit flabbergasted

was Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree failing to register a catch. I had a handful of drops, the Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree, what, failing to register a catch. Had a handful of drops, the Notre Dame transfer, who's expected to be, at least in camp, to be the top playmaker for the Virginia football team. We'll talk about that with Hootie in a matter of moments. We've got to highlight the defensive side of the ball first. I mean, Hootie Ratcliffe, 13 points for the Richmond Spiders. I understand this is maybe the easiest matchup of the year, perhaps.

I think Richmond's still a pretty good ball club. Holding the Spiders to 13 points, including six in the second half, the defense needs some attention. No question about it. I mean, they only gave up 147 yards on the ground, and 43 of those came on up. Probably the only breakdown of the night run by Zach Palmer-Smith late in the game. You take that away, and the Spiders barely had 100 yards rushing.

They had 110 yards passing. Only 13 first downs. Yeah, 13 first downs. They only gave up 13 completions. And, you know, they weren't able to put a lot of, too much pressure on Wickersham, who's an experienced quarterback, and he wasn't going to hold onto the ball very long because he knew what he was facing.

And their tight ends and other players were chipping a little bit, which slows the pass rush down. So it was going to be hard to get to him. So Virginia didn't get any sacks, and they didn't force any interceptions. But they did a good job of not giving up but really won two big plays all night of over 11-12 yards. And pretty solid performance all around.

Bellamy Brown watching the program. Love you, Bellamy Brown. He wants us to highlight JMU and the Dukes' impressive week one start. We'll talk a little JMU. We'll talk some Virginia Tech. We'll talk some Florida State. We'll talk Clemson and the Georgia Bulldogs and take a look at college football across the board.

We're going to focus here on UVA. The team in tackles, Jonas Sanker, the Covenant School graduate, this guy is a man among boys. He had eight total tackles, four solo tackles, a tackle for a loss, the guy all over the football field, six-year Antonio Clary, six-year, imagine that, all over the football field as well. We're in a time where you can put a six-year in college football, but hey, that's college football today. I was impressed with these fellas. Yeah, I mean, they were solid. There's no question about it. And, you know, they came out determined and played

a really strong defensive game. And, I mean, you're right. Sanker was everywhere. Clary made his presence known. They just didn't make many mistakes. The tackling was, I thought, solid, which is something that they were focusing on hard in camp. Didn't give up, like I said, didn't give up many big plays.

And were dominating. And that's what they wanted was to be dominant on the offensive and defensive line. And pretty much did so. Defense good, offense good. What do you make of Chris Tyree performance? Chalk it up to the first week and it's just a transfer, learning the system? Yeah, I really think he knew the system a long time ago.

I really don't think that was it. It's hard to explain. I mean, he was targeted three times. He dropped a couple of them. I think everybody was a little surprised that he didn't get more touches, something that talking to Calandria after the game, and he promised there would be more touches for Chris Tyree going forward. They're going to have to do that because he's an explosive playmaker. I'm not down on him at all. I think he'll be fine. They've got to

find a way to use him on special teams because Richmond deliberately kicked away from him every time. There's ways around that. You can either have him back as the lone guy or you can line up both guys together so they don't know where Tyree's going to be lined up left or right and let him go to where the ball is. But he got no, really didn't get any touches in terms of return guy.

And that's a shame because that's one of the things I really wanted to see was the ball in his hands. The Chris Tyree storyline, I agree with him. I think it's nothing to worry about right now. I would imagine Kitchings and Calandria, Tony Elliott and the staff are going to undoubtedly weave Tyree into the game plan against Wake Forest with the Deacs now a two-and-a-half-point favorite. That line's going to move.

I think special teams might be a storyline, though. We saw some breakdowns with special teams, punt returns and kickoff returns that, you know, if it was a team perhaps with more offensive firepower, could have impacted the game in different fashions. Kickoff return, what do we have, average 57 yards? Yeah, I think that's correct. For the Richmond Spiders?

Yeah. How about the punt return average of 43 and change? Yeah, so, yeah, they still have work to do there. And we had heard some rumblings throughout camp that perhaps that was something that still wasn't quite where they wanted it. So, yeah, there's work to be done there. I think they had, well, it doesn't have the long. Yeah, they had a 22-yard punt return by our favorite player, Jerry Garcia, Jr. But, yeah, they've still got some work to do on that.

But it was nothing that ended up hurting them in the long run. So I think at least there was no huge major snafus in that department. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts, questions on the attendance coming into play. We'll talk attendance. You know, I think it was, it was billed by the athletic department over 40,000. Someone who, who, who saw with, with their own two eyes, not a chance in hell 40,000 were in that stadium. In fact, and this is back of the napkin estimate, who's got more experience with this than me? I'd say there's somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 at Scott Stadium from what I saw. I'll let you make that call here in a matter of moments. But we got to talk Calandria. Multiple

people are asking us to talk about the second-year gunslinger here. Break his game down. Break what you see with Calandria last year versus this year. Well, again, I think there was some natural maturation there. Last year he was like a bright-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights kind of guy at times. He would tend to, if the first option wasn't there, a lot of times he would tend to just take off with the football or force things to happen.

I just saw better decision-making. I don't think he ad-libbed on the runs quite as much as he would have a year ago and didn't have to for the most part. Made better decisions when he did run. Again, I know he slid at least twice, ran out of bounds at least once, avoided major contact, not that he's afraid of it, but just smarter in trying to protect his body and not taking shots that he didn't have to. And then no interceptions, which was a great thing. Again, he threw for almost 300 yards, three yards shy of 300 yards, a couple of really

nice touchdowns. Found his receivers. Used a lot of different guys. And, again, that's without Tyree being a factor. Who knows if they get him going, how much that's going to impact the passing game. And, you know, he did have that one sack to impact the passing game. He did have that one sack that was a major problem. It was a 20-yard loss.

In a close game, that could have hurt you, but it didn't really have that much impact on the game. But I know you could tell talking to him in the locker room after the game, he was just much more poised and subdued this time around than he was last year when he was kind of, you know, just really excited about everything that happened. And this time he was just more of a normal dude sitting there talking to the media. So I think we're getting to see a better version of Anthony Calandria, and I expect that just to get better as the season goes along.

Offensive line play, what did you see? Much better. Point of concern coming in. Yeah, it was. I mean, and they didn't have Mikkel Boley, the left tackle, that we expected. He's still a little nicked up, so I'm sure they were saving him for this week's game against Wake Forest. And instead, Jack Whitmer, a senior, started there. I don't know if he got all the snaps or not or if Ethan Seip played into it,

but they gave up only two sacks, which was much better. I mean, last year they were porous, and quarterbacks had to run for their lives. It wasn't much of that Saturday night. And the offensive line gave them some nice holes for the running game. I mean, they've stacked up 200 yards rushing essentially, which hasn't happened a lot in Virginia football over the recent years. Kobe Pace was as good as expected, maybe even a little better. Calandria was their second leading rusher by a few yards over Xavier Brown, and then Jack Reese, he had a few carries,

and they showed a lot of versatility. I thought Kobe Pace was terrific. The one thing that I really liked out of this offense, which I didn't think they used properly last year, The one thing that I really liked out of this offense, which I didn't think they used properly last year, was the screen pass. I think a team that is really good at screen passes is a much, much more dangerous team. And I was really impressed with the way they used screen passes the other night. I thought that one call by Des Kitchens on third and second and nine

or whatever it was, 19 maybe, the screen pass to Kobe Pace that went 50-some yards was a brilliant call. And they used some nice screens throughout the game. And I think that's going to, if they continue to throw a lot of screens, I think it's going to make them a much more dangerous offense. Here's a challenging question for you. Dominant against Richmond. How much of this is fool's gold

and how much of this is authenticity with performance? And how will it apply to a Wake Forest team that gives Virginia football trouble? Well, you know, I think Richmond is a pretty decent football team. They're picked to finish second in the CAA. They're expected to go back and be another playoff team this year. They won nine games last year after a rocky start. Finished what, nine and four. Nine and four. Made the postseason. Yeah, they started out something like one and three or four or something. Two and four or something like that.

Yeah, I think Richmond's better days are ahead. They've got some players. It's hard to measure at this point. We'll know more about this team this coming Saturday night. We'll know much more about Wake Forest. They won easily over

North Carolina A&T, which I think is probably a much lesser opponent than Richmond is. So, you know, good start for both programs. I think it could be a Donnybrook on Saturday night down in Winston-Salem. Naturally televised game, under the lights, 7 o'clock kickoff, ESPN 2, a chance for Virginia football. We've called it on this show the most important game on the schedule. I think so because it's a conference game.

It's a road game. It's a winnable game. Wake Forest looks like they have found some guys that there were some question marks about what their offense was going to be like, if it could be in the same mold as a lot of Dave Clawson's previous offenses, which has been one of the highest scoring programs in the conference for the last several years. They struggled a little bit on that side of the ball last year, but they put up some nice numbers. Again, how much of that is fool's gold

as you mentioned is questionable because let's face it, A&T is really not that good. But they showed some guys. Hank Bachmeier, I think, established himself as probably the quarterback. They used a couple of guys, and they found some other weapons during the game, but, yeah, it's a huge game. If Virginia wants to get to where they want to be, if they want to contend for a bowl game.

You've got to win this game. I think this game is huge because after that you've got Maryland coming to town. Maryland's decent. And you've got Boston College coming. We saw last night that Bill O'Brien has done a good job. I mean, that guy's a solid football coach. Spent the last year or two at Alabama on Nick Saban's staff, and obviously he's been a head coach in the NFL.

Yeah, Coastal Carolina and Conway, that's winnable. Yeah, and then Carolina and Conway, that's winnable. Yeah. And then the Louisville's here. I mean, we've said on this program, 4-1 and I caught some flack from fans after the 5-0 comment a few weeks ago. But 4-1 or 5-0, we're not saying it's going to happen, but it's feasible. It's conceivable, yeah. There's no question about that.

They can't afford to stumble, but those are winnable games. I mean, there's nobody on the planet in this football that says that Virginia has no chance to win those games because Maryland's starting over with a new quarterback, Wake Forest. We just don't know how good they are. Coastal Carolina is not supposed to be as good as they normally are. BC might be a little better than people expected. Louisville we don't know that much about. But they should have beaten Boston College and Louisville on the road last year.

Those games are home games. And Virginia will have four games under their belt before they take on those guys. There's not a game on there that you can look at and say that Virginia has no chance to win. They might be underdog like they are this week, but I don't know that that's a big deal. Stephanie Wells-Rhodes says there's always a 50-50 chance. Amen. SWR, completely agree with you, Stephanie Wells-Rhodes. I want to start for Virginia football.

We're going to learn a lot about this football team, guys, on Saturday night. Wake Forest, two-and-a-half-point favorites, the Demon Deacons right now, a nationally televised ball game for Tony Elliott and Virginia football, ESPN2, a chance to make a statement, not only for the 2024 campaign, but for the fan base, for recruits, and to build momentum for the rest of the schedule. Speaking of the fan base, opening week,

athletic department calls it what 40,000 and change at Scott stadium. You're the Virginia sports hall of famer. I'm the guy that worked for the Virginia sports hall of famer. That's it looked like 30 K to me. I think you're probably right. I was impressed that the students filled the hill. I thought they showed up and they were vocal and they supported their team well. There was no way there was

40,000 people there. It's been a constant joke in the press box for 20 or 30 years that when they announce the attendance it's very constant joke in the press box for, I don't know, 20 or 30 years, that when they announce the attendance, it's very embellished. And I'm not great at sizing up how many people are in a stadium, but the guy who used to be in charge of telling the PA announcer how many people were there,

told me, he doesn't do it anymore, but he told me that he always guessed the number because of how many people were on the hill and that the numbers were embellished. There was no question about it. I don't know. Maybe it was tickets sold, but there was not 40,000 bodies in that stadium Saturday night.

There was no way in the world that was close to being accurate. What do you make of that? You got a football team that's in an opener? I don't know why you do that. Why not just be honest and say we had 31,000 or whatever? I don't understand why you have to do that. Follow-up question for you. Opening week, brand-new scoreboard, team that's got some talent,

quarterback's the face of the program, half the stadium full. What do you make of that? Well, I mean, that's what we have come to expect in recent years, and there's still a lot of apathy around the football program. There's some, you know, the true fans, the hardcore base, gets very excited about this football team, and they should. I think this could be a fun team to watch. Same. But there's some people who, for whatever reason, just aren't interested enough to come to the games anymore.

And, you know, it's easy to sit home and watch it on TV if you can find it. I know it was on some of those extra or plus channels over the weekend, which you have to pay extra for. I don't know how many people want to do that, but it's probably cheaper than going to the game. But, you know, Virginia has tried to make it as comfortable and accommodating for fans as they could. I know they enhanced their food availabilities. You can have beer and wine at the stadium.

The giant scoreboard is a nice touch. Massive scoreboard. Yeah, massive. See that from Carter's Mountain, that scoreboard. Legitimately. No, you legitimately have. I've seen it. Have you? Really?

From Carter's Mountain. No kidding. Yeah. Wow. That's impressive. And the sound system is much improved. You know, I was surprised as many people came back after the two-hour-plus storm. There was a few thousand. Yeah, I mean, last year there was nobody essentially came back except for some JMU fans.

But this time there was a lot of Virginia fans there, all things considered, in a wet, chilly stadium in a game that really wasn't that close. So hats off to those people that came back. I thought that was impressive. There's a movement amongst some fans to shrink the seating capacity of Scott Stadium. Do you buy that movement? I would be reluctant to do that because I've seen a couple of... Have you heard the movement? I've heard of it.

I know that there's been some other stadiums around the country years ago that did that, and then their football program got dramatically better. Then they regretted it. they regretted doing it. I wouldn't pull the trigger on that quite yet. If it goes on another 10 years and you can't put a winning program on the field then yeah, maybe so but I wouldn't pull the trigger on that quite yet. You've got to wait and see what's going to happen with so many changes in college football

and the way things are done. But I just – I wouldn't do that yet. I don't – I think that would – I think it's kind of panicking a little bit. Ray Caddell giving Hootie Racklow some props. Big Ray and the Cool Cats, thank you for watching the program. Demon Deacons, two-and-a-half-point favorite, 7 o'clock ESPN2, Saturday night, a must-win game. Keys to the ball game from Hootie Ratcliffe, the namesake of JerryRatcliffe.com.

I think Virginia's got to just continue doing what they did the other night, is eliminating the mistakes I don't think they turned it over at all I know there was no interceptions, I don't remember any fumbles they played solid on the offensive and defensive lines and they've got to shut down Wake Forest running game, That Wake Forest offense, it's not a triple option or anything like that, but in a way it's kind of like the triple option in the fact that they attack you in the A-gaps,

and if you can't shut down the A-g a gaps you're going to have a long night because that lets the rest of their offense uh develop and it makes it um less predictable on on what they're going to run so uh they've they've been uh they've had some quarterbacks that have been able to throw the ball well. I don't know how Bachmeier is. I mean, I know he threw for more than 3,000 yards in 2001 for Boise State and racked up more than 2,000 yards at Louisiana Tech later. I mean, the guy's 25 years old, so he's been around the game. He's a man. He's a man.

He's been around the game. But they've got this really focus on shutting down the run, and they did a much better job of that against Richmond. I was looking to see. They still gave up 3.9 yards per rush, which is a little bit more than you would want, but it didn't hurt them too bad. They can't afford to do that against Wake Forest. They've got to cut that number down a little bit. Kevin Higgins watching the program, he said the Hill looked like a landfill on television.

It was littered with water bottles and cups. Are they trying to keep opposing fans from rushing the field? I don't get it. It looked terrible. So I'll offer some perspective. Then, Hootie, you chime in here. They are limiting access to the Hill. If you're a single-game ticket holder, you will not have access to the Hill. If you're a single game ticket holder, you will not have access to the Hill. The thinking

with limiting access to the Hill is it's the gateway to rush the field for opposing fans. Virginia Tech, when it beat UVA badly last year to close the season, Hokie fans rushed Scott Stadium, the actual field, through in large part the hill. Virginia's athletic department is trying to prevent that from happening, so they're limiting access to the hill and not allowing single-game ticket holders entry. I also saw on Twitter that if you went to the hill, you stood on the hill, then you chose to leave the hill, that you were not allowed re-access to the hill. I didn't know that. Multiple folks were posting that on Twitter, that you could not leave and re-access. So maybe we call it a work in progress, the hill. Yeah, I mean, again, I thought

the atmosphere, even though it wasn't anywhere close to a cell, I thought the atmosphere was pretty good. I thought the students showed up in mass. And I thought that was impressive because that hasn't always been the case. I'll give them kudos. You know, if you're going to have football fans on a hill, it's going to get messy. Especially in a game where you've got a storm coming and a lot of people are going to leave their stuff behind if they have to get out quickly, which they had to do. They've got people to clean that up.

I don't think that's a big deal. I don't think that's a big deal. I don't see any threat of any opposing fans rushing the field this year. Richmond hardly brought anybody at all to the game. If that was done solely to prevent Virginia Tech fans from doing it, I don't know why they instituted the policy this year instead of next year

when Tech comes back to Charlottesville. But I don't know. Maybe they had other reasons that I'm not privy to, but I don't know if it's that big a deal or not really. I mean, the hill was still full. So, you know, how many more people could you have gotten in there? Jim Romeo, thank you for watching the program. Mr. Higgins in Greenwood, thank you for watching the program.

The fabulous Emily Perry, props. Hootie Rackliff's kin right there. Sweetie. Watching the program and giving you some love right now. Hootie Rackliff's kid right there. Sweetie. Watching the program and giving you some love right now, Hootie. Ladies and gentlemen, you've got the Demon Deacons on the docket. Roger Voisinet giving Hootie Rackliff some props. Two-and-a-half point favor right now with the 7 o'clock kick and Winston Salem, ESPN 2 on the coverage.

Florida State goes to 0-2. Georgia Tech lost in Ireland. Boston College lost. Florida State fans, say what you want, but Boston College manhandled the Seminoles. I watched that football game. It was an impressive showing from start to finish for the Boston College Eagles. Even in the fourth quarter when Florida State had the ball, they were down, I think, 15 points. You thought maybe a comeback was on the horizon. The Noles could not muster any kind of offensive production. They look at loss defensively. They look like they're struggling to fill the five or six guys that are now playing in the National Football League. They seem to lack some leadership.

Mike Norvell said in the postgame that his team, the players need to trust each other more. Norvell to his credit took the heat for the second straight week, said I didn't have this football team prepared. To say Mike Norvell's on the hot seat is an understatement. You got a Florida State program

that was looking to litigate and bully and sue and use the courts to get out of the conference contract obligations, and now they're the doormat of the ACC. Is this karma? Hopefully. I think most of the rest of the ACC is pretty upset with Florida State

with all the disruption they've caused and not wanting to be part of the conference and appear very greedy and I think coming back to bite them a little bit and I think the rest of the ACC is somewhat delighted about that I mean they just

flat out got manhandled on the line of scrimmage both weeks. Georgia Tech, who I think Brent Key is a much better coach than he's been given credit for. Georgia Tech, 2-0, folks. Yeah, he was on Nick Saban's staff. He's been a pretty solid guy ever since he took the reins in that program end of the season last year when they fired their other coach. Bill O'Brien, people ought to know that he's going to put a solid team on the field.

That guy's for real. They just beat up the Seminoles. I mean, they took it to them in a road game. And every time that Florida State tried to get back in it, BC just simply ran it down their throat. I mean, that's been BC's preferred style of play for a number of years, going back to Tom O'Brien. Physical play, offensive line play, dominance,

big rugged offensive linemen, power running game, defense, stuffing to run. And Bill O'Brien, I mean, they just ran it down their throats. And there was nothing that Florida State could do about it. And Florida State knew what was coming and still couldn't stop it. On national television. Yeah, I mean, that was two national television embarrassments in a row. The whole nation is watching.

Maybe the whole world watching in Ireland. But DJ, whatever his name, Ungalole. Clemson quarterback, what, Oregon State quarterback? Yeah. Florida State quarterback. This guy's played for three big-time programs. He was just not very good. Non-existent he missed wide open receivers um time after time after time and they've got some they've got some issues I don't know if they can correct them or not because

when you're uh we've seen it even here um when you've got offensive line problems and you can't block people and you've got defensive line problems and you can't stop the run. You're in trouble. There's no way you're going to correct that. You can't go out and trade for new personnel or anything. You're stuck with what you've got. And I just don't see them turning that around. They're stuck with what you've got. I just don't see them turning that around. They're going to have some problems the rest of the season, especially if they don't get the quarterback situation straightened out.

I don't know if they're going to stick with DJ going forward. I know there was some chance in the stadium last night to bring out another guy, but they've got issues a lot of teams got issues right now and i know it's only been one week of the season florida state their case to georgia tech too because they started earlier north carolina starting quarterback out for the year that's a problem that's a big time problem for mac brown who's on the hot seat yep clepson gets beat like a drum by Georgia and Atlanta.

It was a good game the first half, I think. I didn't get to see any of it. The second half was a whooping. Yeah, they got dominated in the second half. Dabu Sweeney on the hot seat. Crazy to say, but that's expectations in Death Valley. Virginia Tech upset by Vanderbilt. Yeah, that one maybe shocked me more than all the others, actually.

Vanderbilt's not exactly a steamroller. And I watched that game on television. Vanderbilt, in regulation, had a kick in the fourth quarter as time expired. That's all I saw was that last couple minutes of regulation. Went wide right. Yeah, they should have won it in regulation because he had kicked a 53-yarder before. Virginia Tech should have lost it in regulation. Then the Hokies lose it in overtime.

They had a second chance there to make do, and the Hokies could not do it. Which storyline in conference play should we discuss and stood out to you the most? Was it Hokies drop into a Vanderbilt team that is, I don't want to call them suspect because we've seen a Vanderbilt team scare some people in the past, but this Vanderbilt team is, is, is, is the bottom of the SEC here. Oh, without question. They're the bottom of the SEC. That one shocked me.

I can't say that I was shocked that Boston College beat Florida State. I'm surprised. And I'm not shocked that Clemson got dominated the way they did because they're playing Georgia, who's solid. I mean, they're good. And, again, they fell apart in the second half. But to go to Nashville and get beaten by, like you said, a very suspect Vanderbilt team, you just don't do that

if you have designs on greater things. They've got some work to do if they lost that game. The top two teams in preseason polls, Clemson and Florida State, both take losses. Yeah. And the Hokies were up there pretty far, too. Hokies were what? Preseason fourth? I think fourth.

Preseason fourth. Now, a team, now, maybe fool's gold. Maybe fool's gold right now. A team that's looking pretty darn good right now is SMU. Now, they played Houston Christian, ladies and gentlemen. So we're not going to put much into Houston Christian right now. But was it the Mustangs? 2-0 overall, a scoring differential of 88-31 pro Mustangs right here.

SMU is not a team to take lightly. a scoring differential of 88 to 31 pro Mustangs right here. SMU is not a team to take lightly. We'll follow SMU as they get closer, but they're 2-0 to start the season. You've got Georgia Tech at 2-0, Boston College, SMU, Wake Forest, NC State, North Carolina, Duke, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Syracuse, California, Miami, and UVA all undefeated. Pitt loses its starting tailback,

ruled ineligible right before the season starts, right before the game starts. That's a shocker. On Thursday afternoon, the head coach was giving this man props, and then he can't play Saturday. Yeah. Got to wonder what happened there. I don't know either.

College football is so fun. I love college football. It's so unpredictable. Miami has been impressive so far. I'll have to give them credit. 41-17 win. I was wondering how they might be. They do have a good quarterback in Cam Ward who can put up some big numbers. It's going to be interesting to see what develops over the next couple of weeks if some of these teams that have gotten off to rough starts and had some big disappointments with personnel,

either through injury or, like you said, ineligibility, can find some decent replacements that they should be able to. But it's going to be fun to watch how things develop. And that's why I think Virginia, if they can go down to Winston-Salem and come back with a W in their pocket, they would have to be feeling pretty good about themselves. All right, 1,000%. I think your analysis on this season has been spot on.

You beat Wake Forest. You're 2-0. Then you got Maryland in a thousand percent. I think your analysis on this season has been spot on. You beat Wake Forest. You're 2-0. Then you got Maryland in a night game, a night game at 8 o'clock in Scott Stadium, where you would imagine the fan base is going to be rocking. A chance to go 3-0, heading into a Coastal Carolina game that is extremely winnable. And you got Boston College for a homecoming. I mean, we're not trying to get ahead of ourselves, ourselves folks but this is a team that's got some upside here we'll give the JMU football team some props they beat the 49ers of Charlotte it was not close a 30 to 7 victory over Charlotte

not always pretty but the Dukes left with a road win, a 23-point victory. The offense sputtered at times, but still JMU 1-0 to start for the Duke fans that are watching, including Rob Neal, who said the Hokies lost twice, once in regulation and once in overtime. Folks are highlighting the injuries to the North Carolina starting quarterback. He's out for the season. Now the backup in play. The fact that Florida State starts 0-2, Clemson starts 0-1, as who's the best team in conference play right now for the first week? Wow, I think a lot of people would probably say Miami. I'd say Miami.

But then again, I think BC, been impressive. Georgia Tech, been impressive. Georgia Tech, been impressive. I don't think either one of those two are going to take a backward step anytime soon. But Miami has recruited well, and they have a chance to do something. A lot of people have big expectations for that program, so we'll see. I'm still not totally sold on them yet. Rich Jones says he's enjoying watching you, Hootie Ratcliffe.

We appreciate you, Rich, watching the show. He's giving you some props over there. Thank you very much. Vanessa Parkhill in Earliesville is enjoying the program, giving us some love. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. A must-win game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Tony Elliott and the post-game

conference mood. That question for you, Hootie Ratcliffe. What did you see in the post-game conference people are wondering? I think he felt pretty good about the team and he was looking for improvement, and I think he expected essentially what – I think this game went pretty much the way I thought it would and probably the way he thought it would. I thought Virginia would dominate the game.

I thought Calandria would be more solid than he was a year ago, and he was. I thought the running game would be impressive, and it was. I thought the defense would take it to another level over what they managed to do a year ago. I think the only surprise of the whole night was the fact that Tyree. Tyree and special teams for me. Yeah, just didn't factor into the game.

And that's a shame because I think a lot of people came there wanting to see some magic from Chris Tyree and it never evolved. Well, the reason I wanted to see the magic is when you hear in camp from the head coach that he's the fastest guy he's ever seen on a football field, and the head coach was previously a coordinator in Clemson, your eyes are on the guy. When he's billed as monikered in the same category as the rocket and the Jet from Notre Dame, a guy who, what, returns a kick for a touchdown, catches a ball for a touchdown, and rushes for a touchdown while playing for one of the most storied, if not the most storied program in college football history,

Notre Dame, a kid who's got ties to Richmond, comes to Charlottesville as the Washington replacement. You want to see him have an impact. Absolutely. I mean, I expected him to have a big night. I thought he'd be getting 10 or 12 touches. At least. And he should.

And even if he did have a couple drops, I think you've got to keep going back to him. If nothing else, just hand him the ball off. Give it to him in a screen scenario. Give it to him anyway. Find some way. Calandria said after the game we've got to find a way to give him more touches and they do. I mean that's just not acceptable in my book, that you have a weapon like that and you don't use it.

I think that was the one shortcoming that I saw from the entire program the other night. Everything else was pretty much what I expected, but that was... Not more you put into the special teams, Hootie? With the blown coverage? Yeah, I mean, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect there because even though we had heard they had put more emphasis on it, at least we didn't see a punt blocked,

and we didn't see anybody return anything for a touchdown. So at least they didn't get punished. But they still got some special teams issues that they need to clear up going forward because a team like Wake Forest has probably got some guys that can take better advantage of it than Richmond did. Well said. Well said. Week two, guys, right around the corner for UVA. Week two right around the corner for much of the Atlantic Coast Conference. You've got some storylines to follow. Who's got the hottest seat right now in the conference?

I think Mike Norvell because he's... Norvell, Dave Busuini, or Mack Brown? They're all three feeling some heat. There's no question about it. I think this is a big year for Mack Brown. There were some rumblings last year. Big time rumblings.

Some people, yeah. We probably didn't hear as much about it up here as you would have down in Chapel Hill. And they were trying to keep it as quiet as they possibly could down there. But there were some major players who wanted to get rid of Mack Brown at the end of last season. And it didn't happen. They were able to squelch that movement but uh if they don't do something fairly impressive this year i i think he may be forced out and um dabbo you know the heat's on man there's there's no question about

the i think the their fan base is upset because he won't use the transfer portal. And obviously, I don't know how you can do that. I don't care how good a recruiter you are. Other teams are replacing losses with experienced players. You're replacing with high school players who still have to learn. And you're opening against Georgia. You're opening against Georgia. I mean, good Georgia. I thought they would lose that game, but I didn't think they would get dominated in a half like they did. I mean,

that fan base is somewhat spoiled. That fan base, I'm telling you, I'm not sure it deserves to feel like that it's one of the premier fan programs in the country, even though they were for a while. But they've fallen off the last couple of years. It's not like that they're there every year. They were for quite a long time.

But they've dropped off considerably and haven't even smelled the playoffs the last couple years. So there's high expectations. I don't know if you can remain at that level or not, and that's fair or not to Dabo, it's reality. And that seat's going to get hot. And Mike Norvell, you know, they were griping last year about being left out of the playoffs.

And, you know, here they are expected to be in the playoffs this time around and nothing's stopping them except themselves. And they stumble right out of the gates. I don't know if he can turn that thing around or not. It's going to be interesting to see what they do. One other storyline we haven't covered, a brand-new look and feel to the game, at least from a radio standpoint, with Matty Schaub and Ahmad Hawkins on the call. Ahmad Hawkins as the lead color commentator.

Matt Schaub, let's face it, one of the greatest quarterbacks in UVA history. He's going to call a handful of games, not all the games. I think four games. Four games. John Freeman on the call. Ahmad Hawkins, the ball hawk, and Matty Schaub. What do you make of that trio? Should be a solid trio.

I don't ever hear their games because I'm in the press box, but I would imagine that pretty experienced guys that know the program, I'm sure it's a pretty solid crew. I was disappointed that they dropped Tony Covington because he was outspoken. Maybe he crossed the line too far. I don't know. That's a fine line there. I was told that he knew after some comments he made against Virginia Tech last year,

or not against Virginia Tech, but in the Virginia Tech game last year about Virginia, that he probably knew that he had crossed that line. What is that line, Hooney? I'm not really sure because I'm not in that part of the business, but I wouldn't want to be paid by a university to where if you can't say what you feel, your job could be in jeopardy. So I don't like those kind of handcuffs.

But I guess if you get overly critical, and again, I don't hear the broadcast, so I don't know what he says and doesn't say. Sometimes people will pass that along to me, so I don't know what he says and doesn't say sometimes I some people will pass that along to me but I don't know what he said after that Virginia Tech or during that Virginia Tech game last year but obviously it touched a nerve somewhere in the athletic department or in the football offices and that's and that's just where we are in this day and time. I assume it's like that at most universities. I don't know that, but I'm assuming that's the case. I think that's the case at most universities.

Yeah. I think that's the case. Closing thoughts, my friend? I'm just looking forward to this coming Saturday. We'll learn a lot more about this football team and if it's ready to take that next step. Your season's certainly not ruined if you lose the Wake Forest because you have other opportunities,

but I think it's a setback if you go down and lose that game to a program that's really, at this point, no better than yours, I don't think. I think the talent level is probably somewhat comparable. I'm sure Wake Forest is a two-and-a-half point favorite because it's in Winston-Salem, although I haven't been to Wake in a while. Virginia hadn't played them in a while in Winston, but most of my memories throughout the last few decades is that the atmosphere at Winston-Salem is not intimidating at all. It's not intimidating at all. More cocktail party than football game.

Yeah, much like it used to be here once upon a time. Right. And if you're a two-and-a-half-point favorite, you get three for playing at home. Vegas has basically started the week saying this is a pick-up. Yeah, pretty much so. So, you know, I think if Virginia goes down and can be solid on both lines of scrimmage and shut down, again, shut down that inside running attack by Wake Forest and they don't do any silly things to beat themselves I think I

think they could walk out of there with a win and some strong momentum coming home to play Maryland well said hoodie what's on the hopper for the rest of the week well we'll be at the press conference at 1 o'clock today and have a full report on that. Still following up some on the Richmond win and some things that came out of the locker room. Be looking ahead a little bit at some basketball recruiting and the rest of fall sports and maybe even a look at the Solheim Cup

with Charlottesville's Laura Coughlin on the Solheim Cup team. How about Emma Navarro? Only 80 miles north of here. So, you know, I imagine some golf fans from Charlottesville might be up in Manassas when that rolls in. Only right around the corner, and Emma Navarro is still alive in the U.S. Open. She's having a heck of a year, isn't she?

Oh, my gosh, dude. Wow. She's amazing. I mean, are we looking at one of the next great tennis stars here, UVA's own? I think it could be. I mean, she's handled golf twice in a row now in major tournaments, and she's solid. She is solid. She is absolutely solid.

Does she play today? She does play today. Emma Navarro in the quarters, right? I believe so, yeah. She's got a 12 o'clock match. Yeah, she's in the quarterfinals right now. The UVA product, Emma Navarro, is on the cusp of some significant greatness at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, guys.

And she is young. Oh, yeah. I mean, she should still be in school. She should still be in school. Yeah. I mean, think about that. Yeah. An abundance of riches for this athletic department.

Hootie Ratcliffe, I'll give this man some props. His commentary, his analysis, his writing is award-winning. It secured a spot for a Hootie in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. His business acumen, momentum, ladies and gentlemen, with the welcome of Derek Bond and Moe's Original Barbecue, with the welcome of Alumni Hall and Berks Road Shopping Center.

Congratulations, Hootie, on two new partners for jerryratliff.com. I was very, very, very pleased to see this. Moe's Barbecue is absolutely fantastic on Ivy Road. And you're securing Alumni Hall, the newest retailer in the city. Big time moves, my friend. Yeah, I spent... You've been grinding, Hootie.

Last week was a long week. Look at the man smiling over there. Last week was a long week. Look at the man smiling over there. Last week was a long week. I spent an hour on a Zoom call with the marketing director of Alumni Hall. I think she's in Indianapolis maybe. They have a bunch of locations. They're all over the place. They have like 28 stores around the country.

Yeah. All the major colleges. And she does NIA. She was telling me about some NIA deals with a, I won't say where, but I think a defensive lineman somewhere that wanted $28,000 to show up and sign autographs for half an hour. What? But, yeah, that's the kind of stuff we're dealing with.

But we're so excited to have Alumni Hall. I dropped by their store. It's unbelievable. They've got incredible UVA stuff in there for fans. And Moe's Barbecue speaks for itself. You've been there. I'm sure Jude has been there. Absolutely.

Best barbecue in town, in my opinion. And I've had them all. So I'm not alone in that thought. So, yeah, we're excited about having both those sponsors for sure. Jerry Ratcliffe crushing it over at JerryRatcliffe.com. Judah Wittkower behind the camera. MVP. He is without question the most valuable player.

The Elmer's glue of the team, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. It's the Jerry and Jerry Show, a program we enjoy doing, folks. Anywhere you get your podcasting and social media content, jerryratcliffe.com for anything UVA related. And that's the Tuesday edition of the show that I very much enjoy doing. The I Love Seville Show, guys, in 50 minutes. Thank you kindly for joining us.

So long, everybody. Nice to meet you. for joining us. So long, everybody. Thank you.