The next time you’re watching a football game on TV and hear one of those brilliant talking heads make the observation that, “those coaches made some great adjustments at halftime,” beware.

Virginia’s October magic and its short-lived lead atop the ACC’s Coastal Division vanished in rain-soaked Scott Stadium on Saturday as Georgia Tech’s triple-option monster cut the Cavaliers to ribbons.

In most cases, time of possession is one of the most meaningless statistics in football.

Clearly an underdog to the 11th-ranked team in the nation this weekend, Virginia needs to take advantage of the opportunity.

Sometimes you smell like a nut. Sometimes you don’t. Let me explain.

Oddly, Tech hasn’t won here since in eight tries, four against George Welsh, four against Al Groh. Four Tech teams have come in ranked and lost, particularly the 1999 Yellow Jackets that were ranked No. 7 in the nation and were upset

If defense really wins championships, then Virginia still has a chance to make some noise in the ACC’s Coastal Division this season.

With Mikell Simpson officially listed as doubtful (at least a 75 percent chance he will not play) for Virginia at Maryland on Saturday, the burden of toting the pigskin falls into the capable hands of big, bad Rashawn Jackson.

Hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since George Welsh graced the sidelines at Scott Stadium.

Before the Cavaliers took the field at North Carolina, things changed in the pre-game locker room and only intensified prior to UVa’s homecoming game against Indiana last Saturday. While it would be premature to credit the rowdiness that fired up the players for back-to-back wins, the new attitude certainly didn’t hurt.

There’s absolutely no truth to the rumor that Craig Littlepage filed an application for Virginia to become members of the Big Ten late Saturday night.

Fourteen years later, random Virginia fans still approach Anthony Poindexter on the street, in the grocery store, in restaurants and ask about one play in his illustrious football career.

Yes, it might sound a little corny, but old-school Al Groh sat in the interview room at Carolina’s Kenan Stadium last Saturday and talked endlessly about how proud and appreciative he was of the efforts by his players in upsetting the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.

The Virginia coach had noticed something at times during the first three weeks of the season and just couldn’t take it any longer. This football team had to get tougher.

They call it the South’s Oldest Rivalry — 114 meetings in the border war between Virginia and North Carolina, predating the leatherheads of gridirons past.

At last glance, Virginia’s offense exited Hattiesburg, Miss., with its self-respect intact for the first time this season.

Virginia desperately needs to win a football game after a rocky 0-3 start and there’s no better time to start than Saturday in Chapel Hill. Groh has a 6-2 record against the Tar Heels and a win over longtime rival UNC could give the Cavaliers new life with a 1-0 record in the ACC.

A great friend of mine, Bill Millsaps, the retired sports editor and columnist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and my writing idol while growing up in the business, sent me a terrific story the other day about one of my other idols, Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

While much of the gridiron world is down on UVa’s immediate future, the players and coaching staff travel across the state border knowing that a win against the Tar Heels will make the Cavaliers 1-0 in the ACC, which would most likely put them only one back of Virginia Tech in the Coastal Division.

Al Groh’s offense was broken and he did his best to fix it.

After covering Al Groh’s football teams for eight-plus seasons, there’s one thing I’ve learned about the guy.

After a horrible start, an injured starting quarterback, an offensive line that hasn’t been able to adjust to the new spread offense, and heaps of criticism, this columnist believes there’s one thing that has to change for Virginia’s football team to win on Saturday at Southern Miss.

Certainly in his nine years at UVa, Groh has used up some of his nine lives.

Two weeks and two lopsided losses into the new season, Virginia fans are looking around wondering what is wrong with their football team.

TCU coach Gary Patterson is convinced he’ll face a different UVa team this Saturday when his Horned Frogs trek eastward to open their season at Scott Stadium.

Al Groh may need to put together the best coaching job of his career to get this edition of the Cavaliers back on track, while staring down the barrel at one of the toughest schedules in the country.

Virginia’s new spread offense laid an egg large enough to cover the Commonwealth in omelet Saturday night in a mistake-riddled, 26-14 home loss to William & Mary.

When Ron Prince left his cozy job as Virginia’s offensive coordinator to become head football coach at Kansas State in the wild and wooly Big 12 Conference in 2006, he searched his soul to determine how he could most contribute to the Wildcats’ program.

Hall, who graduated from the University of Virginia in May with a degree in anthropology, will complete a dream this coming weekend when he lines up as quarterback for the Cavaliers in their season-opener against William & Mary.

A few weeks ago, we penned a column about one of Al Groh’s coaching philosophies concerning the three things that a team must have to enhance its chances of winning: good quarterback play, a solid defense and a reliable kicker.