ROANOKE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers find themselves in control of their own destiny in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division after a third straight conference win this past Saturday.
The Cavaliers' win over North Carolina moved them to 6-2, 4-1 in conference play, with three ACC games and a date with Liberty left on the schedule.
It also moved them into the national polls for the first time since 2011. The Wahoos are ranked 22nd in the coaches' poll, 23rd in the AP poll and 25th in the first College Football Playoff poll of the season.
Head coach Bronco Mendenhall had a colorful analogy--courtesy of basketball coach Tony Bennett-- on how to mentally handle the accolades.
"And one of the things that Tony, Coach Bennett, talks about is comparing kind of the accolades and those kind of things to cotton candy," Mendenhall said.
"Where it takes a lot of time to eat it and you get all sticky, it's not filling and (you) usually feel worse when you're done. So any acknowledging of that stuff does nothing for us," said Mendenhall.
Cavaliers receiver Hasise Dubois added, "Honestly, I wasn't surprised, and in the work we put in, we have been doing really well, and we have bigger goals."
"But being ranked wasn't one of them. I mean, coming from us achieving our goals, it was another asset as being ranked," said Dubois.
The Cavaliers host Pittsburgh Friday night, a team that sits at 3-1 in the conference after winning a shootout over Duke 54-45 this past weekend. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. from Scott Stadium.