Virginia regroups, moves on

After rehashing the video from Saturday’s crippling loss to Georgia Tech, Virginia turned the page.
The 362 rushing yards that the Yellow Jackets amassed with their triple option in the 34-9 victory are merely a teaching point.
The same could be said for the Cavaliers’ failure to convert on third down, the ability to reach the end zone in the red zone and the inability to create a viable running attack against a defense that allowed 564 yards to their past three opponents.
“We have to stay positive. We have to let this go,” Virginia senior quarterback Jameel Sewell said. “It’s done. We lost to Georgia Tech and it’s done. We have to look forward to Duke and finding a way to beat Duke.
“It’s not too difficult, we just need to keep looking forward and think about the next game.”
Virginia was not ready to turn the page on Georgia Tech until it was outscored 21-3 in the second half.
Due to that, the Cavaliers are relegated to scoreboard-watching mode — winning out over the final five games would still require a Georgia Tech (7-1, 5-1 ACC) loss against Duke or Wake Forest to play for the league title.
“We came into the locker room at halftime and we knew we were playing for the [ACC] championship,” said Georgia Tech running back Anthony Allen, who scored twice. “We had to come out in the second half and take it home. We had to play smash-mouth football, and that’s what we did.”
While the Yellow Jackets are jockeying for a trip to the title game, Virginia must find a way to score touchdowns.
The Cavaliers (3-4, 2-1) were held touchdown-less for the first time since losing 13-3 to Clemson last November, and the
offense has reached the end zone just once in their past eight quarters of play.
“When we got in scoring territory [against Georgia Tech], we hurt ourselves,” Virginia senior running back Mikell Simpson said. “And if you look at red-zone performance versus them, they scored touchdowns when they got down there and we settled for three points.
“That was kind of the biggest difference.”
Virginia’s defense, the best facet of the program’s operation of late, must also regroup. After limiting the Yellow Jackets to a pair of field goals and a touchdown in the first half, fatigue set in and tackles were missed aplenty.
“Not being able to get them off the field like we pride ourselves so much on [hurt],” Virginia linebacker Denzel Burrell said. “This week we knew it was going to be a different game on third down. It was less about the pass rush and more about assignment football.
“We just couldn’t get them done and get them off the field on third down. They kept moving the chains on us.”