Meanwhile, Know Our History

Entering the 2016 season, Virginia Football is...

-- 75th among the 129 FBS teams in overall win percentage, .522 all-time

-- 102nd in number of conference championships, 3 chips

-- 58th in number of bowl game appearances, 18 bowls

-- 38th in all-time number of wins, 643 wins

-- 77th in bowl record, 7-11 overall, .389

-- 50th in number of consensus All-Americans, 11

-- 56th in NFL draft picks, 156 picks

-- 52nd in number of weeks ranked in the AP poll, 167

-- We have an overall losing record against every ACC team not named Wake Forest, Duke, Syracuse, or Louisville

-- Our all-time win percentage against teams currently in the ACC is .425 (224-291-12 overall)

George Welsh's run from 1987 thru 1999 was the absolute high point of our program during the modern era. During that time, we went:

8-4 

7-4 

10-3 

8-4 

8-3-1 

7-4 

7-5 

9-3 

9-4 

7-5 

7-4 

9-3 

7-5

TOTAL: 103-51-1

I do not believe that 13-year run represents the absolute ceiling of this program. That said, it's the best that we can realistically and reasonably hope for.  That's what success looks like at UVA -- an average of 8 wins against 4 losses; a .655 win percentage.

I believe that on Saturday, against Richmond, we embark upon a 15-year run similar to Welsh's 15 years from 1985 thru 1999. Welsh went 6-5 in 1985 and then 3-8 in 1986 before blasting off on those impressive 13 seasons of success.

Welsh found a way to coax a winning program out of the primordial ooze, and I truly, sincerely believe that Bronco Mendenhall is about to do the same thing here at Virginia.