Is there a better time to be a Hoo fan? Our football team has turned a 4-8 season into an 8-4 season, receiving a birth in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which is the best bowl for ACC teams outside the BCS. Coach London is ACC Coach of the year. We beat Florida State on the road for the first time ever, and also recorded wins over then #12-Georgia Tech on Homecomings and on the road at Miami. The Athletic Affairs Committee has been along for the ride from Game 1.
Pre-season: U.Va. picked to finish 5th in ACC Coastal Division. The Athletic Affairs Committee didn’t buy in. We worked with Hoo Crew to create a new Football Marketing Team whose goal was to promote home games through grass-root marketing strategies. The group named themselves Fill the Hill, and grew to over 750 likes on Facebook, been featured on the video board at each game, and been tweeted at by Coach London.
First Day of Classes: The team had the day off, so we worked with the Athletics Department to host Football 101 featuring Coach London, where one lucky student won free-tuition. The Athletics Department had run a similar event in the past, but was very small scale and few students had ever heard of such an event. We decided the event should be a much bigger deal, and worked primarily on the marketing side of the event while Athletics handled the logistics. The event was attended by over 1200 students, and the Athletics Department was so pleased that they then decided to host Inside Virginia Basketball, a similar event for the upcoming basketball season.
Game 1 (vs William & Mary): The heat index reached 90 degrees, which meant one thing: free Aquafina water bottles for every student in attendance. We gave out over 6,000 bottles as we enacted the program for the second time ever. The team gave us a great Week 1 performance as well, beating W&M 40-3.
Game 6 (vs #12-Georgia Tech): The 
football team is 3-2 heading into this week’s game, having beat Idaho by one point in OT the game before. But it’s Homecomings at U.Va., and spirits were high. Homecomings had been a tradition that had previously been largely ignored by the student body. A year ago, the committee discussed the lack of Homecomings among U.Va. students, and decided to do something about it. By the time Homecomings 2011 came around, we were ready to roll. Every Committee on both StudCo and UPC was involved in planning an event during the week. Highlights included a Sons of Bill Concert in the Amphitheater, a Cookout on the Lawn serving over 1100 people, and storming the field after beating the #12 team in the country.
Game 10 (vs Duke): The football team had become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007 in the previous week at Maryland, and was 6-3 heading into this showdown vs Dook. The Hoos won 31-21, reaching 7-3 heading into the final two games of the season. The Athletic Affairs Committee was also busy, hosted the Cavalier Combine on Nameless field the day before the game, featuring events such as the Boylan Boot (punt for distance), Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 40-yard Dash, and Precision Passing with three targets from the Virginia Athletics Foundation.
Game 12 (vs Virginia Tech): Coming off a spectacular 14-13 win at #25 Florida State, this game had tremendous meaning: the winner would go on to play in the ACC Championship game. We worked side-by-side with Fill the Hill, creating banners, and flyers, while helping spread Fill the Hill’s 16,500 view Youtube Video called “I Pledge.” Although the team lost, the fan response for the game was incredible. We filled the hill early, kept Tech fans out of the front row, and showed a nation-wide TV audience that Hoos fans truly care about our football team.
Game 13: The Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia is 8-4 and was invited to play against #25-Auburn in the Chick-fil-A bowl on New Year’s Eve, the greatest ACC bowl game besides the Orange Bowl, which is reserved for the ACC Champion. Virginia fans have made a statement by filling up the team hotel’s room allotment within 12 hours of the announcement and buying tickets in mass to attend the prime-time showdown in Atlanta. 
The Athletic Affairs Committee has decided to keep it up even through finals, working with Aramark to promote the game with a banner hung up by the Chick-fil-A in the PAV for students to sign, and a special spirit event in the PAV next Monday, Dec. 12th from 11-1. Members of the dance team will be there, and everyone who stops by will receive $1 off a Chick-fil-A combo, and dining will also be handing out some other Chick-fil-A Bowl prizes. We hope to see you there, and be sure to make the trip to Atlanta!
Huge thanks to the committee members who helped make all this possible: Blake Blaze, Ben Campbell, Elena Dennie, Phil Dormish, Brett Gazard, Lizard Joynes, Christina Mattaliano, Paula Mitchell, Mary Beth Mitesser, Julie Parent, Jay Patel, Alex Perrin, Matt Powell, Renee Siegel, and Chris Zapple!
