Cavs still alive for title

In a way, it is exactly how Virginia’s football players wanted it.

While stumbles along the way were painful, the Cavaliers (5-5, 3-3 ACC) are once again playing meaningful football in November.

That could change today — Virginia needs a win over Clemson (5-5, 3-4) to remain a contender to win the league’s Coastal Division and play in the ACC championship game.

Virginia, mired in its second two-game losing streak of the season, can also become bowl eligible with a victory over the Tigers, which would be a nice send-off for a collection of seniors that will be honored prior to the start of today’s game.

“I think it will say something about the effort and the hard work we put in if we finish the season 7-5,” Virginia wideout Kevin Ogletree said. “Obviously, that is a lot stronger than 5-7 or 6-6.

“It’ll be something that we’ll be proud of. It will get us to a postseason game, and it will show that we have some fight in us and we are a good team.”

Clemson is attempting to do the same thing in a season swamped with controversy. Former coach Tommy Bowden was replaced by interim coach Dabo Swinney after the Tigers opened the season 3-3.

While numerous replacements for the job have been interviewed during the past month, the Tigers have tried to focus on becoming bowl eligible, too, which would require a win today and a victory over in-state rival South Carolina next Saturday.

“That’s the main thing — you don’t want these seniors to have to play their last game next week,” Clemson running back C.J. Spiller told reporters. “So we have to understand there’s no looking forward.

“We just have to execute and I’ve taken it upon myself to try and see to it these guys make it to postseason play.”

Clemson entered the season as the favorite to win the league crown, but has already been eliminated from ACC title game consideration. That does not, however, impact the way the Cavaliers’ players view a team they have not faced since 2004.

“They were ranked No. 9 in the country for a reason,” UVa senior tight end John Phillips said. “They’ve got a lot of great players on their team.

“It is a dangerous game when sometimes they play to their potential and sometimes they don’t. So you never really know what team you’re going to get.”

The same can be said about Virginia of late. After a season-saving four-game winning streak, Virginia collapsed in the final nine minutes and overtime during a loss to Miami and could not mount enough of a rally to win at Wake Forest two weeks ago.

Luckily for the Cavaliers, a long-awaited bye week allowed the program to rest and regain focus.

“The players were very focused, especially the first two days [after the break],” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “Our goal was just to not look at it like on an extended period of time, but just have a good practice each day. And to start with the attitude that usually is the foundation of those type of practices.

“The players responded as was requested and as was necessary, which was obviously a very positive sign that we could really have their attention on what the possibilities are coming up.”

With a loss today, Virginia will be forced to win on Nov. 29 at Virginia Tech, a risky proposition.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Ogletree said. “We need to take care of business against Clemson and go from there.”