Tony Elliott on ACC Preseason Poll: "All I'm worried about is where we finish"

UVA head coach Tony Elliott responded to his Cavaliers being picked to finish last in the ACC Football Preseason Poll

Virginia second-year head coach Tony Elliott didn't run away from the topic when it was revealed that his Cavaliers had been picked to finish dead last in the ACC Football Preseason Poll this week. Elliott also wasn't surprised at the result of the poll, citing that UVA's 3-7 record and 1-6 mark in conference play in 2022 hardly provided significant evidence for the media voters to have confidence in the Hoos. 

"Obviously, it got put out so I gotta address it with the team, but to be honest, where did we expect everybody to pick us? Based off of what we did on film last year and how the season ended," Elliott said after Virginia's first practice of fall camp on Wednesday. 

With nowhere to go but up, it would easy for the Cavaliers to use the perceived slight of the media voters picking them to finish last in the conference as motivation to prove everyone wrong through their play on the field. Elliott cautioned against that strategy, though, arguing that putting too much weight on such things as preseason rankings would serve to distract his team more than it would motivate them.

"I'm not thinking about that, not worrying about that. And truth be told, we can't be externally motivated," Elliott said. "So if our only motivation is where somebody picked us in the poll, then we're not going to have the proper competitive stamina because now all we're doing is working to the circumstance, the situation. As opposed to - what do we believe we're capable of? What's it gonna take? And can we, day after day, come out with the right mindset, the right commitment... can we perform to a standard play after play, day after day, regardless of what's going on. Then we'll have a chance to settle it on the field."

Elliott also noted that there is no real achievement involved in one's predicted order of finish. That's true - there's no value in hanging a banner as a preseason champion. But if the Cavaliers want to prove the doubters wrong, then they'll have to turn the many unknowns about their team, something that Elliott says he likes about his squad, into competitive advantages. 

"All I'm worried about is where we finish. That's all that matters. They don't give a trophy for that," Elliott said. "But I wouldn't expect anybody to say - because there's so much unknown about this team, which I like. Because we're going to go to work and eliminate that distraction. And we'll have a chance, 12 opportunities, come the fall."

The first of those 12 opportunities will come on September 2nd, when Virginia travels to Nashville to take on Tennessee in the 2023 season opener. 

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