The story of the Boise State Broncos got more interesting on Friday night in Charlottesville, Virginia. A team with a new quarterback (Brett Rypien), due to an injury to the previous one (Ryan Finley), looked very strong in a road game played two time zones away from Idaho.
However, it’s a little too early to say what kind of team Boise State will be. The Broncos certainly played well, and they just as certainly took a big step forward in their season.
Yet, they merely beat Virginia, that’s all.
Is that harsh? You bet your George Welsh it’s harsh. Virginia’s football program could have moved forward this season, but decision makers at the school decided to keep Mike London around.
They’re paying the price.
That said, Boise State — by hanging 56 on the Cavaliers Friday — might have done the university a favor. The Broncos might have made it that much easier for London to be dismissed either during the 2015 season or immediately after its end.
It didn’t have to be this way, of course. Virginia had a face-to-face meeting with Santa Claus last November… but ignored the gift it was offered. The first month of a grim season — with Georgia Tech, Duke and Virginia Tech all looming in the future — is what happens when you turn down the perfect present in a moment of opportunity.
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Not much needs to be said about a 56-14 loss, such as the one Virginia suffered on Friday. The team’s pilot light was extinguished early in the second half. The Wahoos were battered at the line of scrimmage. Signal caller Matt Johns had trouble finding any sort of comfort zone — this, six days after former Cavalier quarterback Greyson Lambert completed 24 of 25 passes in an SEC game for Georgia. London’s record at Virginia is now 24-41, into his sixth season on the job. He is quickly headed for a fifth losing season just down the road from Monticello.
What you’re seeing from Virginia football right now is not surprising.
What you saw from the school in the final week of November last year? That was surprising.
Recall the backdrop to the season-ending Virginia-Virginia Tech game? Virginia had not beaten Virginia Tech since 2003. The Cavaliers had beaten the Hokies just that one time since 1998. With UVA and Tech at 5-6, the setup was perfect from a decision-maker’s perspective: London could win his way into a bowl game and earn retention, or he could lose, miss a bowl game, and make it easy for the program to move on.
Yet, what did Virginia do? The school retained London for another season BEFORE the Thanksgiving Friday contest with Virginia Tech. The school — in addition to removing a layer of importance and value from that game (“Win one for the Londoner!”) — conveyed the message that the relationship between results and consequences was minimal. It might not have been a conscious thought on the part of players and assistants, but it could have registered subconsciously: “We all want to win this game for ourselves and for our coach, but clearly, the stakes aren’t TOO high. Otherwise, this decision wouldn’t have been made.”
Not only did Virginia fail to fire London as a consequence of losing to Virginia Tech; it failed to make that game matter to the fullest possible extent. Keeping London despite the loss to Virginia Tech was bad enough, but making the decision before the game added another dimension of shortsightedness to the situation.
Losing again to Virginia Tech was a pre-Christmas gift. It was a clear sign that a struggling coach, with five full seasons under his belt (more than enough time to leave an imprint on a program), had to go. Yet, Virginia turned down Santa Claus’s big, wrapped box under the tree. The 2015 season has turned into a fat lump of coal as a result.
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Mike London not coaching well in 2015? That’s no shock.
The human mind still has a tough time understanding what a school and an athletic director were going roughly 10 months ago.
The effects of that decision, just before the 2014 Virginia-Virginia Tech game, are still being felt right now.
