Virginia football’s toaster is the inanimate object ready to rival Miami’s turnover chain

At this point of the college football season, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the University of Miami’s turnover chain. You may not be as familiar with Virginia’s toaster, however.

That’s right. A toaster.

According to Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia’s second -year head coach, the Cavaliers started bringing a toaster into the locker room during spring ball, and the tradition carried into the season.

“What we remembered is ‘people don’t come to play us in our indoor facility, we play at Scott Stadium’,” Mendenhall said on his weekly coach’s show two weeks ago. “So, we were really comfortable in our practice facility, but we weren’t very comfortable playing the game in our own stadium.”

So, they did the only thing they could think of to make Scott Stadium feel more like home.

“We moved the team there [to Scott], but then we realized something was missing,” Mendenhall said. “It didn’t smell like home. That might not sound like much to anyone else, but for whatever reason ... we started making toast. So now, our locker room smells like toast. We know we’re home.”

Over the past five seasons, Virginia has only averaged three wins per season at home. So far this year, the Cavaliers are 4-2 in Charlottesville. Their most recent win — a 40-36 victory over Georgia Tech — earned the Hoos bowl eligibility for the first time since 2011. They’ll have their hands full this weekend as they hope to upset the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes.

He will be no doubt hoping Miami won’t be celebrating it often this week, but even coach Mendenhall has to admit he is a fan of the turnover chain.

While they are unlikely to keep the toaster or any toast on the sideline, this may be the best battle between inanimate props on the field we’ve seen this season.