Loss lingers for UVa seniors

It was a matter of just six or seven plays.
That small sample size, Virginia coach Al Groh said, kept Virginia from becoming victorious against Clemson on Saturday.
Those game-changing plays also left Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim gazing around Scott Stadium in disbelief long after the final snap had been taken in what proved to be a 13-3 win for Clemson.
Sintim debated internally how a season once destined for failure in September and was then salvaged with a perfect October could have turned so wrong for Virginia (5-6, 3-4 ACC).
“I lingered,” said Sintim, one of the team’s captains and seniors. “I just kind of looked around at my atmosphere and just kind of saw the whole thing.”
Without a win on Saturday at Virginia Tech, Sintim will see something else: his final collegiate contest. The Cavaliers must win at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg at noon to become bowl eligible, which still would not guarantee another contest depending on the events of the final weekend in league play.
Given what is at stake for both teams — Virginia Tech can clinch a return trip to the ACC title game with a win — Sintim said the contest with the Hokies should be deemed the team’s most important of the season.
“It has to be,” he said. “That’s the next game so it makes it the most important one, and that is a rivalry game for us. They are a good team and that’s an opportunity to not only beat them, which I have never done, but to go to a bowl game.”
Had Virginia won any of its previous games in November, the Cavaliers would have secured their bowl eligibility and remained a factor in the race for a bid for the Orange Bowl.
Against Clemson, Virginia’s players were all but certain that things would turn in their favor at point that varied from individual to individual.
“I actually thought that going into the fourth quarter that we would win,” Virginia freshman wideout Jared Green said. “We had a couple of exciting moments, a couple of exciting plays, and I felt like it was about to happen again. Everybody knew pulling games out late was what we were used to, but it didn’t go our way.”
Most of the plays that Groh referenced involved turnovers that spoiled Virginia’s opportunity to add to its putrid scoring utput.
Sophomore quarterback Marc Verica did his part, throwing three interceptions. Those miscues led to 10 of the Tigers’ 13 points.
Despite throwing 14 interceptions in the Cavaliers’ past eight games, Groh said he expects Verica to start against Virginia Tech. Fifth-year senior Scott Deke is the only other quarterback on the roster to have thrown a pass in a game.
“It’s not as if we have a lot of options there,” Groh said. “In the present timeframe it is what it is.
“Unless [former quarterback] Matt Schaub is available I think we will go with things the way that they are.”
Groh was quick to avoid placing blame solely on Verica for the loss to Clemson.
“I am not going down that road,” Groh said. “You guys will have to make that statement. That’s a divisive question and a divisive answer that only splinters the group, and we’ve gotten to where we are by sticking together and being unified to our commitment together.
“If we all had stepped up and done better today then the result would have been different.”
Virginia’s pass-catching options certainly defended Verica, a reliable passer in practices.
“I don’t feel any certain way about how the game went towards Marc,” Green said. “Marc is my guy, my quarterback, my captain and my leader on the offense. I could just expect that we will have great practice these next few days and a great game next week.
“I know Marc is going to get everything on point.”
Virginia senior wide receiver Maurice Covington added: “Marc has had a pretty good season. I don’t know what to say. Clemson’s players were in the right spots at the right time. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
Verica did throw a touchdown pass in the contest, a strike that would have tied up the game in the third quarter. That play, however, was negated by a pass interference penalty on wideout Kevin Ogletree.
“What’s done is done,” Groh said Sunday night. “I don’t have any commentary on the officiating. Any of that will have to come from Greensboro” and the ACC
office.