12 seconds… 12 seconds is all that remained for Virginia football to win their biggest game in years. You have to go back nearly decade when Virginia beat #5 Florida State to find a bigger one. It definitely would have been the biggest win of Mike London’s career at Virginia.
Then it happened… Notre Dame scored on a 39 TD pass when Virginia’s coverage broke down in the waning seconds. There are no moral victories here. The Cavaliers had a chance at the kind of win that save a coaches job. It’s the kind of win that can jump start a season, but then Virginia football became Virginia football under Mike London. Last year there were 5 losses by single digits for Virginia. The year before the Cavaliers went 2-10. In 2012 there were 4 more losses by single digits.
Where do the Cavaliers go from here? Can Virginia continue to put their faith in a coach that is 23-40 overall and 11-29 in the ACC? Frankly I thought last year should have been London’s last in Charlottesville, but London was retained for this year.
To be honest though, the Cavaliers were probably a bowl caliber team in 2014 if you replace BYU and UCLA on their schedule. This year appears the same. The Cavaliers couldn’t control that Notre Dame was on their schedule, UCLA and Boise State didn’t need to be there. We’ve discussed this many times on the blog, Virginia has severely over-scheduled to the detriment of the Cavalier football program and Mike London. For that the administration can be blamed.
At this point you might as well let London finish out the season before making a move. Next is William & Mary which should be a win, and then Boise State. The Broncos should never be scheduled by any power 5 team, but that’s another story. What if Virginia beats them to start 2-2?
This is it though for Mike London. After 6 years, he’s had plenty of time to turn Virginia around. His administration did him no favors with scheduling, but there’s nothing he can do about that now.
If Cavaliers can’t reach a bowl game, even with another series of competitive losses, it will be time to pull the plug on London. He’s got 10 more games. Close won’t cut it any longer, and today was a huge missed opportunity.
