The popular Christmas song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” is especially true for University of Virginia football fans this month.

For the first time in school history, UVA – following an exciting regular season that featured a streak-breaking victory over Virginia Tech and an Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division championship – will play in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

With the Hoos set to take on the University of Florida on Dec. 30 in Miami, here are 11 things to know.

The Game

UVA fans can buy tickets here. Those that cannot attend can also purchase tickets from UVA’s allotment to be donated to service members from the Homestead Air Reserve Base and youth and family members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade. That gives UVA fans credit for buying tickets – helpful in future bowl-selection deliberations – while doing some good for others. A win-win.

Kickoff is at 8 p.m. Those who can’t make it to Miami can watch the game on ESPN.

Bowl History

This will be UVA’s 21st all-time bowl appearance and third in a row under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who took the Hoos to the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2017 and the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, last season.

UVA’s first bowl appearance was the 1984 Peach Bowl, when legendary coach George Welsh was at the helm. Led by quarterback Don Majkowski, future All-Pro offensive lineman Jim Dombrowski and running back Barry Word, the Cavaliers defeated Purdue University, 27-24.

The Bryce Effect

UVA quarterback Bryce Perkins has been at the heart of the Hoos’ resurgence. After overcoming a career-threatening neck injury sustained when he played at Arizona State University, Perkins has turned into one of the most dangerous players in the country.

MUST WATCH ALERT
"Bryce took a risk on us. We took a risk on him."
AMAZING profile on @3_ToDaNeck by @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/l85IVmO0BB

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) December 14, 2019

Frog Giggin’

UVA receiver Joe Reed, who hails from the town of Charlotte Court House, Virginia (population roughly 500), has an interesting pastime: frog giggin’.

“My friends and I would always do it,” Reed explained to UVA Today in a 2018 interview. “We would always walk around the banks. When the sun goes down, there’s not much else to do, so we would be like, ‘Hey, let’s go catch some frogs.’ We’d skin ’em and cook ’em the next morning. They are really good.”

No doubt, Reed – one of the fastest players in college football, who has earned numerous All-America honors for his kickoff return skills – will be looking to do some Gator-giggin’ in Miami.

Get to know Reed better here in this video.

Giddy Up

UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall is an avid horseback rider and sometimes lets recruits and players ride horses at his home in Charlottesville.

Two of his three sons’ names have connection to horses. His eldest, Cutter, derives from “cutting” horses, while Breaker is the name of a famous horse trainer.

Hoos Ties

Former UVA quarterback Wayne Schuchts, center, with UVA President Jim Ryan, other members of the Orange Bowl delegation and UVA football players at a recent basketball game. (Photo by UVA Athletics)

The Orange Bowl Selection Committee, which includes about 350 members, features seven UVA alumni: John Crotty, Wayne Schuchts, Don Slesnick, Lettie Bien, Coleman Edmunds, Peyton White Lumpkin and Robert A. White. 

Payback?

UVA and Florida have only met one previous time, when the Cavaliers visited the then-No. 19 Gators in 1959. The Gators were victorious, 55-10.

In basketball, the two most lopsided losses under UVA head coach Tony Bennett in the NCAA Tournament both came against Florida. In 2017, the Hoos lost, 65-39, to the Gators. In 2012, they were defeated, 71-45.

The Punter

Hailing from Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis, UVA punter Nash Griffin — who spent last summer interning with State Farm agent and former Hoo baseball star Hunter Wyant – is best friends with former Hoos basketball star Kyle Guy.

The two still keep in close touch, with Guy, now a member of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings’ organization, often tweeting about his buddy during games.

Sorry to Nash Griffin’s family who traveled 9 hours watch him never punt because we are a very very good football team

— Kyle J Guy (@kylejguy5) September 7, 2019

Not Just Football Players

Some of UVA’s very best players are also some of the University’s most well-rounded students.

Recently, linebacker Jordan Mack was named recipient of the Jim Tatum Award, given to the top student-athlete among ACC football players.

Mack, a three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection, has a 3.47 GPA and is on track to graduate later this month with a bachelor’s degree in education, with an emphasis on youth and social innovation. 

Snowden, left, dressed as Frozone from “The Incredibles” when children visited a UVA football practice last season. (Photo by Elena Becker)

Fellow linebacker Charles Snowden is another Hoo who has made a big impact off the field.

Snowden’s teammate, wide receiver Ben Hogg, has been another service star.

Then there is Perkins, who has forged close relationships with professors, including this one with a women and gender studies professor, Lisa Speidel.

Engineers at Work

The burgeoning field of data science is at the heart of many important decisions made by Mendenhall and his staff on game day.

For the past two years, UVA engineering students have been giving the coaching staff input derived from unique data analytics models they have created as part of yearlong capstone projects.

UVA’s No. 1 Fan

Decked out in Hoos swag and a hard hat at home games, Som Patasomcit – who fled with his father to a refugee camp in Thailand from his native Laos when he was 12 – has become known as “#1 UVA FAN” over the last several years.

The 52-year-old machine operator, who works at a factory outside of Richmond, said he’ll be unable to make the trip to the Orange Bowl, but will cheer the Hoos on from his man cave.