The Cavaliers scored a coup in the offseason with the hiring of Bronco Mendenhall from BYU. Mendenhall is widely respected and was very successful during his time in Provo and landing a coach of his caliber was much better than many suspected. He has a lot of work ahead of him, but Mendenhall is confident he can take the Cavaliers to their first 10 win season since the 1980s.
Virginia Cavaliers Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Cavaliers Over 4.5 -130
Cavaliers Under 4.5 +100
2015 VIRGINIA CAVALIERS SEASON REVIEW
Last season was a tumultuous one for Virginia. The Cavaliers were never great under Mike London, and it didn’t help that the athletics department gave him asinine schedules. Virginia faced off against three powerhouses in non-conference play, taking on UCLA, Notre Dame, and Boise State, and lost all three. The Cavs won three games in ACC play and with a typical non-conference schedule, may have made it into a bowl game, but instead Virginia lost eight games and London was sent packing.
Matt Johns was the starting quarterback last season in Charlottesville and he didn’t have a bad season with one of the worst teams in the ACC. Johns completed 61.3 percent of his passes for 2810 yards and threw 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He has the prototypical size of a pocket passer, but has found it tough to put it together at Virginia.
The defense had one of its worst seasons statistically, but a lot of that was due to the out-of-conference schedule. The Cavaliers allowed 36.5 PPG in non-conference play and that led to a spike in their total points per game allowed. The passing defense was especially bad, allowing quarterbacks to complete 62.4 percent of their passes and allowed 6.2 yards per play.
WHAT CHANGED
Without question, the biggest change was the replacement of Mike London by Bronco Mendenhall. London was never a great coach, but wasn’t a bad one either considering the constraints of Virginia football. There are going to be considerable expectations with the hiring of Mendenhall though and fans to be patient and know that a change like this takes time.
The Cavaliers are going to have to replace their entire starting front four on defense and that’s going to slow the learning curve for the new coaching staff. Most of the Cavaliers defensive linemen are underclassmen or undersized and this unit will be challenged in 2016.
2016 VIRGINIA CAVALIERS SEASON PREVIEW
How fast can Mendenhall turn Virginia around? Well, it won’t happen in one season. There isn’t a lot of returning talent and Mendenhall needs to install his own system anyways. Matt Johns is back to be the starter, but joining him this season will be Connor Brewer from Arizona. Brewer is finally eligible after transferring around trying to find a starting job, but he will likely fall short of that number barring injury.
Taquan Mizzell is Virginia’s leading returning rusher and receiver and he had a solid season in 2015. Mizzell ran for 671 yards and four touchdowns and also added 75 catches for 721 yards and four touchdowns through the air. It’s a bit concerning, and indicative of the state of the program, that Virginia had a running back with 20 more catches than anyone else on the roster. He will again be the go-to guy, but an actual receiver needs to catch the ball often as well.
The top four leading tacklers return from last year’s defense and that’s great news for a team that’s losing all of its big bodies on the defensive line. Virginia has some decent talent on defense and that gives Danny DeVito something to rebuild with.
The schedule isn’t as tough as last year’s nightmare, but it’s still bad for a team that’s supposed to be a Power Five squad. Road games against Oregon and Connecticut will be likely losses and although the Cavaliers should get to five wins, getting to six is a lot to ask with this roster.
College Football Odds: Virginia Cavaliers Over 4.5 Wins -130
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