The Path Forward for Mike London

Look, you have to understand that I was ready to see Virginia move on from Mike London after the 2013 season.  (Really, I wanted to see us fire him after the Ball State loss on October 5, 2013, in which the team very clearly quit in the second half of a game they could have and should have won, but that's neither here nor there.)

It was inappropriate for Virginia to bring London back for the 2014 season.

It was downright negligent to bring him back for 2015.

Yet here he is, still "coaching" the Virginia football team.

But look, as done with him as I am (and you know, I'm really done), there is a path forward for Mike London; a way for him to save his job and begin the long, arduous process of winning back lost fans and supporters.

That path forward, I believe, MUST begin with a win over Boise State tonight.

I say that, because the path forward has to entail a bowl game this season, bare minimum.  Virginia isn't going to go 5-3 in the ACC, just isn't going to happen.  4-4 is the most optimistic I'm willing to be, and it's at least somewhat realistic given the fact that we finally have an actual quarterback.

So a win tonight, under the lights, to get to 2-2... and then it's a long bye week, a chance to completely reconfigure the offense from the so-called "power running" format into a spread-style look built around gunslinging Matt Johns, the top-shelf receiving talent of Canaan Severin and T.J. Thorpe, and the unique skills of tailback/slotback Taquan Mizzell, zippy freshman receiver David Eldridge, and electric freshman tailback/receiver Olamide Zaccheaus.

Win tonight, gel things during the bye week, go 4-4 in ACC play, get to - and win - a shitty bowl game, get to the offseason and shit-can Steve Fairchild (and replace him with Chris Beatty) and Larry Lewis... and... who knows?  Maybe this is some sort of workable Frankenstein's Monster of a coaching staff that can shamble forward.

(Of course, we also need to find a pass rush if we want 2015 to end with a winning record, but that's a topic for another day.)

Anyway, tonight is a big game.  Boise isn't the best matchup for us.  They have made a living winning this kind of game against power conference teams.  I'm scared of what their offense will do to our defense, just like I was scared of Notre Dame continuing to run the ball in the second half.  We do have the better quarterback in the matchup, we're playing at home, under the lights, and I like how our DBs match up with their receivers (but we gotta have a pass rush for that to matter).

Heart says we can win, head says naw.  Vegas says Boise -2.5, and that seems fair, almost generous.

Anyway, it's a big night game, nationally televised, and it's going to be fun.

Go Hoos.