Charlottesville, Va. – When last we saw UVA in competition, they were giving top-ten Florida all they wanted in the Orange Bowl.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2020. Multiple Cavalier stars are into the pro ranks, a new quarterback got no spring work,
then the Cavs were 12 week ‘Covid protocol’ holding pattern. A mixed bag for sure.
“It’s kind of a blessing in disguise, I mean all this time before our first game. It’s kind of more time for us to get more catches, more routes, more rhythm, just be in touch more I think as a team,” wide receiver Terrell Jana said.
The new normal leaves Bronco and his staff with plenty of question marks as game time approaches.
“I’m certainly expecting some mistakes. It always happens in game one. I don’t know where they’re going to come from, they’ll probably be more penalties then I would like. There might be a special teams thing that maybe there’s been a blindspot there, there might be a match up that’s more in our favor oor Duke’s favor that I hadn’t counted on. It’s all the uncertainties of any normal first game of the season in addition to now to all the other protocol challenges we have,” Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall said.
“We’re having to kind of step-by-step see what we have to do differently and to some degree having to learn on the run as to what’s going to be effective,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe explained.
UVA’s opponent is 0-2 Duke. But the Blue Devils aren’t lacking in talent. And thanks to some fortunate scheduling, they’ve been on the field twice-- while UVA hasn’t seen a stitch of game action yet.
Which team ultimately benefits remains to be seen.
“I mean, they’ve already had two game like situations and so they already know what playing in the era of Covid is like whereas we don’t,” Cavaliers linebacker Charles Snowden said.
The Duke-Virginia kickoff is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday from Charlottesville.