Here Come the Hoos

I've had the privilege of trading questions with Rob Mahini, writer of The Good Ol' Blog for The Sabre. His answers to my questions follow, and be sure to head over to his excellent blog to read my answers to his questions.

1. Chris Long is pretty much the best player ever, right? We've all heard that, so what I want to know is who's play might surprise us this weekend and why. If you want to brag on Chris a little, I'm okay with that too.

Rob Mahini: Long might be having the single most impressive defensive season I've ever seen at Virginia. And he's certainly one of the best -- if not the best -- player on the defensive side of the ball in college football right now. If he doesn't get invited to New York City in a few months, it'll show how disrespected both the ACC and defensive players are by the national media. (By the way, don't hold your breath on him getting invited to New York).

Setting Long aside, who I think has something to prove this weekend after last week's performance by the defense, I have a feeling that one of Virginia's running backs will have a breakout game. I think the team got away from the running game to its detriment last week, so the coaching staff likely will try and establish the run throughout.

2. How resilient of a team is UVa coming off a loss like last week? I recognize the team is banged up, but after the loss against Wyoming you came back to win 7 in a row...is another win streak in the cards?

RM: Man, I hope so. This is a very resiliant team with a number of leaders that won't allow a "let down" to happen. And even in the State game, the Hoos admirably battled back to take the lead in the fourth quarter. However, the difference between now and Wyoming is the other thing you brought up -- injuries. There's only so much bouncing back a team can do when it's lost the effectiveness of so many weapons. I'm hopeful that home field advantage helps a lot here.

3. What do you think UVa's biggest advantage is against Wake? Biggest disadvantage?

RM: Well, I guess I've already mentioned it -- home field. It's no secret that the Hoos play their best games at Scott (and their worst games on the road). Though Virginia has beaten back the road monkey a bit (with wins at MTSU, Carolina and Maryland), the loss last week was a painful reminder that the road is often unkind to the Hoos. So, having this game at Scott Stadium creates that comfort level -- as well as the crowd-fueled energy boost -- that could be the difference. I do know that without the crowd noise Virginia might have lost the UConn game, after which the Husky players noted that the noise disrupted their communication in the final drive that included a botched snap and a turnover-causing-sack.

Biggest disadvantage is our secondary against Wake's passing game. If NC State's once-benched-quarterback and buried-in-the-roster receiver can torch the defense for -- what was it? -- 1000 yards and ten touchdowns or something, then it's not hard to find the weak link in the chain.

4. What Wake player or players scare you the most?

RM: Whoever is throwing the ball -- be it your starting quarterback, a second-string wideout, a waterboy, Jim Grobe. The Hoos have made an art form out of making quarterbacks look like Heisman quality players. So, I think that Riley Skinner is probably liking his chops watching the game tape of how NC State's Daniel Evans played last week.

5. Time for the fun part...what's the final score going to be? And, out of curiosity, how will UVa finish against Miami and VT?

RM: I reveal my final score prediction on game day -- tradition, I guess (to the extent that a one-year old blog can have tradition). Check the Good Ol' Blog on Saturday morning for that. Generally, I think that Virginia will have a very tough time winning these next three games given the opponents and the injuries. The fact that the Hoos don't get a bye week until before the last game of the season is really starting to take effect. But, whenever I start getting down on this team, they surprise me.

Big thanks again to Rob for sharing his thoughts and his time with us! Don't forget to check out the Good Ol' Blog for more on the Hoos.