Cavs meet Canes in battle of red-hot teams

It took Virginia over a month and back-to-back victories over ranked opponents to climb into first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

At noon today inside of Scott Stadium, the Cavaliers (5-3, 3-1 ACC) will attempt to stay there.

Miami (5-3, 2-2) may have other ideas, riding a three-game winning streak and using last season’s 48-point loss to Virginia as motivation — whether the Hurricanes are willing to admit it or not.

“We are a different team,” second-year Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “Some of the older guys, you may talk to them and they will say, yeah, they remember it, but most of the guys were in high school trying to win state championships and playoff games.

“Revenge sometimes can hurt you, because it is all built up inside of you. You have to make sure you go into the game with a fresh mind. Most people make mistakes when they are tired or mad. You are going to say something wrong or you are going to make a mistake in those situations. So, we won’t be tired and we won’t be upset. We are going to be positive.”

Virginia needs just one win to become eligible for postseason play, something that would have seemed nearly impossible after falling to 1-3 overall following a disappointing loss at Duke.

The Cavaliers also control their own destiny in the pursuit of a berth in the ACC championship game on Dec. 6.

“We might not win another game. We might win them all,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “I can see where every one of them is going to be hard to win and I can see where every one of them, we’ve got a chance. I think the players see that, too.”

Virginia’s remarkable turnaround has gotten the attention of the ACC.

“They are playing a lot better than earlier in the season, but that’s typical of coach Groh,” Shannon said. “He does a great job of getting his guys responding later from earlier in the season. It’s always best to have the NFL mentality of late in the season is when you want to do your best, and I think they are doing a great job of doing that right now.

“They are not a team that makes a lot of mistakes. They are very well coached. They do a great job of getting guys in right situations — offense, defense and special teams. They execute what they want to get done to win games.”

It’s no coincidence that the Cavaliers’ current winning streak came with running back Cedric Peerman clicking on all cylinders. The senior has averaged 111 yards per game during the streak and reached the end zone six times.

Virginia quarterback Marc Verica has also helped spark the resurgence and currently ranks fifth in the ACC in passing.

“I’m just a small piece of the puzzle,” said Verica, who threw a pair of touchdown passes last week. “But I am so proud of the resolve and character of our team and how we came back.”

Miami has also won with a relative unknown signal-caller operating the offense.

Redshirt freshman Robert Marve has averaged just 118 yards per game passing, but has seven scoring passes and accounted for 209 yards of total offense in the Hurricanes’ 16-10 win over Wake Forest last week.

“I think the biggest thing is knowing when to be smart with the play,” Marve said. “Knowing when is a good time to force the ball and when it is not good to force the ball. That is probably the biggest thing I am still trying to get.”