Cavs at a November crossroads
The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff
Miami celebrated a 24-17 overtime victory over Virginia last season at Scott Stadium.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It is a catchy, yet commonly heard phrase in college football: A November to remember.
One way or another, that will be the case for Virginia.
Whether it leads to moving boxes or moving bowl tickets, that potentially tumultuous path starts today against No. 16 Miami (6-2, 3-2 ACC) at noon at Land Shark Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
While Virginia coach Al Groh is 12-17 in the regular season’s final month, it was just two years ago against the Hurricanes that the Cavaliers stunned the nation.
As the historic Orange Bowl was memorialized and graced for the final time, Virginia thumped Miami 48-0, propelling the team to the Gator Bowl.
It was the second November win for Groh that season, marking the lone time in his tenure at Virginia that the program finished above .500 in the month.
Groh said he had not reflected on the game recently, but “big smiles and warm memories” would have followed if he took the time to do so.
“It wasn’t just the last game in the Orange Bowl, but it was quite the big dog and pony show, and all the big guns were brought in to make this quite a celebration,” Groh recounted. “And that particular [Virginia] team really took that challenge and played as well as we could probably play, as well as we’ve ever played against a real quality opponent.”
Miami, despite boasting just six starters from that ’07 team today, also remembers how painful the experience was.
The loss “still lingers,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said.
The Hurricanes exacted revenge for the loss last year, mounting a late rally to beat Virginia 24-17 in overtime.
It was the first time the Cavaliers got an in-person look at Miami quarterback Jacory Harris, who led the comeback under center.
It was one that would rather be forgotten.
“There were a lot of players who made good plays last year against us, but it was the Jacory Harris drive that did it. It was his plays,” Groh said. “He made the kind of plays that the quarterbacks who elevate their teams to win a lot of games make.”
On the flip side, Virginia is expected to be without its starting quarterback today.
Jameel Sewell, a senior, was hit hard numerous times in last week’s loss to Duke — a recurring theme this season — and was listed as doubtful.
Sewell’s absence would place the onus on Marc Verica, a junior who has appeared in five games but has just 31 yards passing since the season opener.
Verica, who passed for 240 yards in the loss to Miami last year, could see his first start of the season coming in timely fashion — Miami has allowed 955 yards of total offense and 55 first downs over the past two weeks.
“We have got to play better and we know it,” Miami defensive end Allen Bailey said. “We know what we have done wrong and now we have to fix it.”
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Baddog, Hall did play on defense and a few plays at WR. But with a QB like Sewell, that was a waste.
to ITwasnotME, thanks for the clarification, was unaware that the university of miami had packed up and moved 49 miles north from coral gables to boca raton.
Well baddog. As it turns out you fine city has a higher rape, theft and assault rate than we have in Boca Raton. Thanks for taking my advise. Stay out.
OK, back when the Hoos had just beaten MD and the local press was gushing about being in 1st place in the division, i pointed out that the hard part of the schedule was still ahead of them, and that maybe, maybe they might beat Duke. for which i was dubbed a NAYSAYER.
turns out i was wrong, they can’t beat Duke either. was this game a surprise to anyone? maybe that they were still close at the end of the first half.
i disagree with Factfinder, Groh should have been fired long ago. allowing him to retire to save the buyout on his contract essentially says that we are OK paying somebody a couple of million bucks a year to be one of the worst coaches in college football. it also might allow the AD that should have already fired him to keep his job. no, i want the new AD to be the one that hires the new football coach.
to Cliff, i didn’t see any stats for Hall as a receiver, did he even play? leading me to something in the main article, that “Sewell… was hit hard numerous times in last week’s loss to Duke”. when you not only get beat by Duke, but they pound your QB so badly that he can’t play a week later, that would make you the new doormat of the ACC.
i reject outright the assertion i have seen here numerous times, that we cannot be competitive if we aren’t willing to recruit Neanderthals. how many Neanderthals do you think there are on the Duke squad? none would be the answer that comes to mind, they just had the good fortune to hire a coach that in less than 2 years has created from essentially scratch a viable football program where once there was none. al groh inherited a viable program and now there is none.
that is particularly important going forward because you now have the expectation that there will be no more blue chip recruits. why would they want to come here? if they want a good education too maybe Duke will sign them.
fire the AD and coach now, maybe you can salvage recruiting for next year.
and many thanks to ITwasnotME for the advice about staying out of S.FL. yes, we should stay out of the murder and obesity capitol of the US and instead stick with the hicks here in a city consistantly ranked the top place in the country to live.
for the record both winning teams had pulled the starters before the end of the game, so the results were more a reflection of how bad the losers were than a concerted effort to run up the score. miami was brought into the league to strengthen the football program. it would be nice to see them actually contribute in that regard…
today was a bitter reminder of the blackburn/randle/bestwick days. it was men against boys today.
It was just a matter of bringing back the SWAG and a bit of retribution for a 48-0 pounding. 52-17 will be a welcome feather in the recruiting game. Stay out of south Florida and stick with the hicks.
With today’s ugly loss 52-17, Groh should retire at the end of the season to avoid the stigma of getting fired.
How about Vic Hall at QB?
Bill Cowher for UVA head football coach!
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12-17 in November? I didn’t realize that, but it’s a sure sign that the team is being outplayed and out-coached when it matters. That’s a lot of late-season swoons, isn’t it?
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