For Miami’s most productive defensive lineman, getting to school was quite the venture.

Yet a gold medal in the sport resides where Virginia’s Oday Aboushi sleeps every evening at the University of Virginia.

What Miami did in rallying past Wake Forest on Saturday for a 28-27 road win prompted Groh to rehash two painful losses, one of which was fresh.

Despite the woeful numbers and the apparent changes coming at the McCue Center, Virginia’s players will attempt to win for Groh and each other.

Quotes from Duke’s victory over Virginia

Quotes from Virginia coach Al Groh

Notes from Virginia’s loss to Duke

On an evening when ghosts sauntered the streets for treats, Virginia was haunted in a matter of minutes.

Duke 28, Virginia 17

Virginia’s victory train pulled out of the station with eight minutes to play Saturday night, but no one was aboard.

Quotes from UVa players after the loss to Duke

Virginia lost to Duke 28-17 at home.

Virginia lost to Duke 28-17 at home.

That matchup will be on clear display today as the Blue Devils (4-3, 2-1) and Cavaliers (3-4, 2-1) battle each other to stay in the ACC Coastal Division title race.

Regardless, Virginia (3-4, 2-1 ACC) and Duke (4-3, 2-1), the two teams from the conference to miss the postseason last year, are near mirror images on paper.

Duke’s Thaddeus Lewis is on the minds of Virginia’s defense for this Saturday’s game at Scott Stadium. Lewis, who has thrown for nearly 9,000 yards in his career, isn’t one of the three ACC quarterbacks ranked among the elite in the nation right now. Those honors go to Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor, Miami’s Jacory Harris, and Florida State’s Christian Ponder.

Virginia (3-4, 2-1 ACC) seemed to fail in that respect as the Yellow Jackets outscored the Cavs 21-3 in the final two quarters en route to a 34-9 victory that essentially left Virginia searching for a bowl berth to salvage another season.

Thaddeus Lewis will walk into Scott Stadium on Saturday with a heavy heart.

Don’t expect that from Duke — the Blue Devils rank 5th in the nation in passing, using the run sparingly.

After rehashing the video from Saturday’s crippling loss to Georgia Tech, Virginia turned the page.

“A lot of guys on the team were challenging me to go full speed and go all-out for the whole game and take every opportunity,” Dwyer said. “[Cook] was there and I was just trying to make a play to get the team fired up.”

Virginia coach Al Groh, who doubles as the team’s defensive coordinator, remembered the solid game that Nate Collins had as a nose tackle against Georgia Tech last year in Atlanta and decided, “Why not?”

Thanks to Georgia Tech’s time-consuming offensive prowess, however, the product of Mother Nature was the lone bright spot on a rain-soaked afternoon for Virginia.

When Virginia kicker Robert Randolph made a career-long 49-yard field goal through heavy rain late in the first quarter to tie No. 11 Georgia Tech — the ball took a carom off the top of the crossbar — Scott Stadium erupted.

UVa lost to Georgia Tech 34-9 at home.

Four weeks ago, few would have predicted what would be on the line at Scott Stadium today.

Matt Schaub has thrown for at least 300 yards in four of his last five games and leads the NFL with 14 touchdown passes.

In unexpected fashion, however, running back Mikell Simpson was not one of the 10 players listed on the injury report.

One of the most versatile performers in the nation, Josh Nesbitt spearheads the triple-option Yellow Jacket offense that has churned out yardage at a staggering clip.

The Yellow Jackets’ coach said he hasn’t had to mention their losing streak in Charlottesville to his team because they’ve been hearing about it all week. Tech hasn’t won at Virginia since 1990, an eight-game drought over that span.