University of Virginia NCAA News

For Virginia coach Al Groh, watching the tape yesterday of a 52-17 loss to Miami was just confirmation of what he'd suspected.

For all of the revivals his Virginia football teams have enjoyed in the 10th month, coach Al Groh has never been known as Mr.

Saturday's game at Land Shark Stadium was a far cry from Virginia's last appearance in Miami in 2007, when the Wahoo's closed the Orange Bowl with a 49-0 win.

BKCVirginia-Sene Suspended,0195 Virginia center Sene suspended 3 games Eds: APNewsNow.

The last time Virginia coach Al Groh was on the sideline in South Florida, his Cavaliers ended Miami's era at the Orange Bowl with a stunning 48-0 romp over the Hurricanes.

On April 1, 2009, Tony Bennett was introduced as the 11th head coach of Virginia's basketball program ... in three seasons at Washington State, Bennett led the Cougars to a 69-33 record, including a 32-22 mark in the Pac-10 ... Washington State's 69 wins were the most in a three-year span in school history ... the 2007 consensus National Coach of ...

The Virginia football team has gone 26 years without consecutive losing seasons, but now finds itself in danger of seeing that happen.

As a passer, Jameel Sewell has been plagued by wildness at times, but opponents generally have had to his honor his running ability.

For better or worse, Virginia's football players are given a game plan for their upcoming contest on a weekly basis.

We'll begin today by trying to make you laugh, or at least smile. Because even though it hasn't been much fun to be a college football fan in this state the past few weeks, you've got to remember to laugh.

An offseason pledge to improve Virginia's special teams, one that included hiring former Kansas State coach Ron Prince to coordinate the unit, has not yielded results as Coach Al Groh had hoped.

Aside from place kicker Robert Randolph's impressive accuracy (he's made 12 of 13 field goal attempts), no other component of Virginia's special teams has positively swayed games. The Cavaliers are eighth of 12 ACC teams in both punt and kickoff coverage.

'The major thing is your specialists have to have an outstanding performance,' Groh said. 'That is, kickers and returners on two of the three units, let's say we're not shooting par, and we're looking for a much-upgraded performance in punting the ball and kicking off.'

Walk-on Nathan Rathjen took over as Virginia's punter Saturday, replacing sophomore Jimmy Howell, who had done virtually all of UVa's punting for the past two seasons.

Duke's players charged toward midfield at Wallace Wade Stadium when the clock expired in last season's 31-3 win over Virginia, reveling after they snapped a 25-game ACC losing streak. The image is ingrained in the mind of Cavaliers fullback Rashawn Jackson, who sounded as if he wanted to pound a blocking sled -- perhaps one adorned with a Blue Devils jersey -- while recounting the celebration earlier this week.

'We were embarrassed,' said Jackson, who has a chance to even the score on Saturday at Scott Stadium.

Virginia is making a defensive about-face this week, going from preparing for the Atlantic Coast Conference team that runs the ball best to the one that throws it most.

After the first weekend of the college football season, no one would have figured that come this Saturday Duke and Virginia would be playing for anythingA but pride.

To dream the impossible dream. Two ACC programs are on the verge of improbable, unbelievable endings to this season and these dreams come to a clash this Saturday.

Sometimes I get the feeling that UVA dreams to be Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, and MIT on Monday-Friday, and then aspires to be Alabama, Florida, USC, Michigan, Florida State and Texas on certain Saturdays in the Fall.

After rehashing the video from Saturday's crippling loss to Georgia Tech, Virginia turned the page.

Nate Collins feels as if his college football career has been a blur. The Virginia senior defensive lineman was the only true freshman to play for the Cavaliers in 2006.

Al Groh stood in the driving rain, his arms outstretched and his palms to the sky -- the waterlogged pose of a desperate man.