They Are Scared

Friday, November 25th, 2011, 2:52 PM, Madison Heights Sheetz:

"Y'all gon' lose tomorrow."

But this phrase (uttered through the salt and pepper goatee of a true Lynchburg-style hilljack rocking the standard-issue dead leaves mix of maroon and orange) wasn't a statement of fact.  It was a question.

All through this week of consternation and hand-wringing (worry over the idea that a loss on Saturday renders this season's immense accomplishments hollow), it had finally dawned on me.

They're scared.  They are scared.

Hokie fans are scared of this Virginia team.  They are smart enough football fans to see the truth -- Virginia has a really good shot to beat Virginia Tech tomorrow in Scott Stadium.

But more than that, I think they are scared of this program, and that goes way deeper and is much more profound that the skin-deep shortsightedness of a win or loss in tomorrow's game.

They know Mike London has already laid much of the foundation for a program capable of finding success and then sustaining that success.  This extends further than blockers and tacklers; it's more than quarterbacks and cornerbacks.  It's a head-to-toe belief and confidence. It's a "run to the roar" mentality, where elusive hazy-smoky hope is readily traded in for the tangible granite of heightened expectations.  Virginia players now seek out the big stage, instead of shying away from it or suffering from big heads once they arrive there.  London has found a way to keep the team balanced and on point, a tightrope act Al Groh (and to some extend George Welsh) was never able to pull off.  Confidence without overconfidence.  The key to sustained success in college football, and the very essence of Frank Beamer's impressive regime.

London is building a competent, capable football program.  He is recruiting with a vigor and energy never before seen from either of the D-1A football programs within the Commonwealth.  He is making Virginia Football the sexy brand, not just in the state of Virginia, but in the ACC.

We might lose to the Hokies tomorrow.  Heck, we probably WILL lose to the Hokies tomorrow.  But it doesn't matter.  We've found enough success this season to validate the upward trajectory of the program and to prove that Mike London has the organizational and management chops to guide Virginia Football to new heights.  He's recruiting the talent he needs to build an important team, he is surrounding himself with the coaching ability to mold that talent into a game-winning machine, and he is reinventing the image of Virginia Football into that of a tough, scrappy, smart outfit that walks with a swagger and plays with a purpose -- confident without overconfidence.

The win against the Hokies might not come tomorrow.  It might not come in what is sure to be a half-step-back 2012 season.  But it's coming.  And when it comes, it will be the opening of the floodgates.

Hokie fans know this, even if they might not choose to acknowledge it.  And rumbling down in their guts with the Busch and Bojangles are angry little butterflies.  It's nerves about tomorrow's game, and it's worry about the see-saw of state dominance starting to dip toward Charlottesville.

I hope we win tomorrow.  But it's not necessary.  We're already on our way.  And I now know this to be true:

They are scared.

A Mikey-V original.

GO HOOS!