Virginia-Miami: They Are Who We Thought They Were

This week, UVA did what UVA always does...blow it big time. To their credit, this Miami team is very underrated and very dangerous. UVA, when given the chance to excel and quiet the critics, gives the critics more to work with.

This team could win out, but it's gonna be tough with two of the three remaining games on the road. They play this week at Wake Forest (3:30 pm ESPNU), then a bye week, then Clemson at home, and finish up the regular season at Virginia Tech (which I will be at, although as I look back on it, I might regret that later).

This team could win out, or they could possibly lose the rest of the games and fall one win short of being bowl eligible.

I'm not going to take too much time breaking down this game, because in all honesty it made me sick to my stomach. I will, however, pose a few questions and comment on them, and then end with a comment from a poster on www.thesabre.com.

I didn't go to the game this week but watched on TV, and from the beginning I had a weird feeling. UVA started off with a botched reverse on the kick return that just seemed to start things off in the wrong direction. There were more trick plays in this game than we had seen all season.

Here's a word of advice for you, Coach Groh: You're not a magician, so stick with what had been working the previous four games (that, wow, you actually won). One of the three trick plays that UVA tried actually worked, but the others blew up in their face.

What baffled me in this game was why UVA strayed from the run in the second half. Sure, Miami is extremely fast and won the battle at the line most of the time, but Cedric was still able to run the ball pretty effectively.

Which Groh thought that it would be a good idea to pass the ball on 3rd-and-2? Really? That's something you do in little league and high school (maybe). This is college. When your running game is getting the job done, why stop? Peerman had 15 carries for 78 yards, averaging five yards a carry.

I'm not a mathematician or anything, but I'd say if you average five yards every time you touch the ball, you're not doing too bad. This made no sense to me, along with THROWING ON 3RD-AND-2!

Let's set this series of downs up. Fourth quarter, 1st-and-10: Peerman rushes for three yards; 2nd-and-7: Verica passes for five yards; 3rd-and-2: Verica gets sacked for a 12-yard loss, successfully taking UVA out of field goal range. Why Groh (either one) didn't rush is beyond me. Peerman just easily got three yards two plays earlier.

Something else that really didn't help UVA was two missed field goals in the third quarter that would have put this game away. Instead, they allowed Miami to hang in there (to their credit, they played a tough game and deserved to win).

With this loss, UVA drops into a five-way tie in the Coastal. This is now going to get interesting. I think that the Wahoos have the potential to win out, but I'm not sure if it's likely.

I want to now leave you with some thoughts from a poster from The Sabre, with their thoughts on UVA football that completely sum up how I feel right now.

UVa Cavaholic on Mon Nov 3 2008 11:20:55 AM

"As I was watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with my kids last night, we came to the scene where Lucy tries to get Charlie Brown to kick the football that she is holding for him. Knowing that Lucy is going to pull it away and he'll go flying and crash down on his back, he still allows himself to be talked into doing it.

"Then it hit me. Lucy represents Virginia football. Lucy's football represents prosperity. And Charlie Brown represents the Virginia football fan. Every time Virginia has the chance to do something special—get ranked or move higher in polls, play for an ACC championship, go to a big bowl game, etc.—they blow it. EVERY TIME.

"And EVERY TIME, I still allow myself to get sucked back in. And EVERY TIME they pull the ball away just as I try to kick it, and I go flailing through the air until I crash down right on my back. Will I ever learn? I doubt it. Stupid Lucy!"

Good Day.