I still consider a chance meeting in 1977 as part of my football education as a sportswriter.

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering what Ralph Friedgen has in store for the Wahoos on Saturday ...

Hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since George Welsh graced the sidelines at Scott Stadium.

Fourteen years later, random Virginia fans still approach Anthony Poindexter on the street, in the grocery store, in restaurants and ask about one play in his illustrious football career.

As far as George Welsh was concerned, the practice field was hallowed ground, and you had darned well been ready to take care of business when you stepped upon it.

Shortly after becoming coach of the New York Jets on Monday, Rex Ryan made sure Mike Pettine came with him as his defensive coordinator. Pettine, who played at UVa from 1984-87, was on Baltimore’s staff as a defensive assistant for seven years, including the last four as the Ravens’ outside linebackers coach.

Regardless of what transpires over the next 24 hours in terms of Virginia football, there are a few things that need to be said.

Wahoo fans simply refer to it as “The Streak.” Tar Heel fans consider it more of a curse.

Virginia’s football season threatened to burst at the seams on Saturday when the Cavaliers committed the ACC’s version of the unforgivable sin. They lost to Duke.

There seems to be an attempt on Tobacco Road to rekindle the football rivalry between Virginia and Duke, two desperate teams that clash today at high noon in Durham.

Instead of retiring jerseys, Virginia coach Al Groh would probably have preferred to activate some from returning members of the 1989 Cavaliers on Saturday.

One hundred and twenty years of Virginia football and only one Cavalier team managed to win 10 games in one season: the 1989 squad.

Point is, football is a lot more fun when teams are competing against the best and that’s what this Saturday is all about. Southern California, the best college football program in the country this decade, comes to town for a 3:30 p.m. showdown with Al Groh’s Wahoos.

When Jim Dombrowski came to the University of Virginia in the early 1980s, he figured his future was in medicine and not on the gridiron.