Jefferson-Eppes

The Jefferson-Eppes trophy is composed of an intricately wrought silver pitcher presented to the city of Tallahassee by Eppes in 1842 and set upon a wood base made of remains of the McGuffey Ash, which was once the largest tree on the Grounds of the University of Virginia but suffered a fatal tree disease in 1990. The trophy was designed by famed artist Ryan Parker.

After this, we aren't scheduled to play Florida State in a regular season ACC game until some point after the 2024 season. If the current rotation holds, it'll be 2025. But that's six years from now. So if we win on Saturday night, we get to hang on to the above-pictured bad bitch for a nice, long time. Let's bring that McGuffey Ash home!

But, look, we've only ever beaten them three times out of 18 tries since the trophy was conceived. The first of those times, in 1995, remains the fondest memory of my entire life -- and I'm happily married and the father to two wonderful children, and I witnessed the 2019 basketball national championship! But, nope, this night is the best memory of my life:

Okay, so for the first time ever (I think, but let's just go with it and not fact-check), we're favored against FSU. It's UVA -7.5, O/U 56.5 -- So Vegas thinks we'll win a 31-24 type of game. I do like Virginia to win outright, but we're giving too many points. I like Florida State with the points and I'm taking the OVER in this game.

My pick: Virginia 33, Florida State 28
(See what I did there?)

(My season to date: 2-0, 1-1 ATS, 2-0 O/U)

I put the cart before the horse in this post, but whatever.

I have a question to answer re: Mike London, after a little self-scouting as we head into this bellwether game against a desperate FSU team. But first, a quick bucket of cold water to dump over your heads.

247 Sports has this College Football Team Talent Composite thing they put together, based on recruiting rankings of the players on the rosters of the teams in the FBS. Take a look...

There's an awful lot to be said for coaching and leadership and systems and toughness and development and intangibles and all of that good crunchy shit, but the bottom line is FSU comes to town with 4 and 5★ talent, and we're countering them with 3★ talent. So if we lose this game - not saying we're going to lose, just saying it's possible - if we lose this game, please do not stress and do not turn on this team or program. 4★ QB James Blackman could catch fire or 5★ running back Cam Akers could explode or 5★ defensive end Joshua Kaindoh could single-handedly wreck our offensive gameplan or 4★ defensive back Hamsah Nasirildeen could snatch a couple of takeaways or 4★ receivers Tamorrion Terry and D.J. Matthews could kill us deep or anything else that happens when you face off against top-10 talent could happen. I think you get my point. We're well equipped to do so, but we're still punching above our weight class in this game.

Now, that being said, Florida State sucks. These fuckers almost lost on their home field to UL-Monroe this past weekend. I think we've got our proverbial act together while they are imploding in slow motion. Chief Osceola stabbed that flaming spear into the turf, and then four hours later the Semenholes needed UL-Fucking-Monroe to shank a PAT in order for FSU to win in overtime. C'mon.

Everything is not perfect with our team, though. Far from it. I'm sticking with my prediction of a 9-3 regular season. Here's a quick position-by-position [shallow] dive into why I'm merely sipping thirsty at the kool-aid and not chugging it down full-throat.

Quarterback
Bryce Perkins is nursing a knee injury and wearing a brace. His quickness and suddenness has clearly been affected. And he seems to be forcing some of his throws, specifically when Terrell Chatman is the target. He seems mortal. That scares me.

Running Back
After sitting out W&M with a minor injury, Wayne Taulapapa is back as our RB1 for FSU. I love him, and soon you will too. It won't/shouldn't be long til Mike Hollins is our RB2, or even RB1a. He's legit, and I've heard Thomas Jones and Emmit Smith comparisons. Still, this backfield is not settled or established. That worries me. In a game where controlling the ball will be important, that worries me.

Wide Receiver
I think we have something in Chatman. Joe Reed is looking like our WR1. Hasise Dubois is looking good and getting open. Terrell Jana is an outstanding tertiary target. And we haven't even seen the destruction TK and Billy Kemp can wreak from the slot. I'm excited to see more from the ensemble, and I think we'll need a few big plays from these guys this week.

Offensive Line
We seem to be settled with the Swoboda/Nelson/Oluwatimi/Glaser/Reinkensmeyer (L to R) line for now, and I like it. Let that unit gel. I think it'll look better week over week. But this week? It's still a weakness, overall.

Defensive Line
Fantastic. But they'll have their hands full trying to contain Akers and pressure Blackman this week. Controlling [dominating] the LOS is easier against W&M's guys than it will be against FSU's collection of studs.

Linebacker
Need more blitzing from the edge. So far, the OLBs only have 2.5 sacks (compared to 4 from the ILBs and 3.5 from the secondary). That number of sacks and pressures provided by Snowden, Brown, and Taylor has to rise, because we need Mack and Zandier home to defend Akers and the secondary home to defend these 4★ speed merchants FSU has at receiver.

Safety
Blount, Nelson, and Cross, wow. Major, major, MAJOR strength of the team right now. Could really use a pick against FSU, guys.

Cornerback
Okay, I like Nick Grant. He's getting the job done. Need some big Bryce Hall moments against the Noles.

Special Teams
Excellent. Keep it up. No fuck-ups against FSU, please.

GO HOOS!


Okay, one last thing. I got a question this week from a reader:

Why do you hate Mike London so much?

The answer is pretty simple. Although Littlepage and [especially] Jon Oliver deserve a ton of the blame, Mike London went 27-46 in six seasons as our head coach. That's a .370 mark. That is... fucking horrendous. And on top of that, he failed to land any good quarterbacks, negligently failed to properly stock the lines (especially the OL), fostered a destructive culture of lazy entitlement, and left the program in much worse shape than where he found it. So, yeah, I hate Mike London. He took something I love - Virginia Football - and drove it into a crater.

The 52-17 beatdown of William & Mary felt good, but my hunger for vengeance is not yet sated. We get the Tribe again in 2021 and 2023, and - if London survives as their coach that long - I look for us to pile-drive them in those games, too. Maybe then it'll be enough to satisfy me.