Column by Chris Graham
It’s come down to this – win or lose on Saturday against archrival Virginia Tech, Al Groh is done at Virginia. We all know that going in.
Interesting that his players even seem to have bought into the notion as well. Senior quarterback Jameel Sewell, talking with reporters on Tuesday, said he wanted to win the season finale Saturday at home for Virginia Tech for his coach.
Informed of the comment on a Wednesday conference call, Groh said the feeling is “reciprocal.”
“I’d like for us to win the game for all of these kids who’ve put so much into it for so long,” said Groh, whose ninth season at his alma mater comes to an end this weekend, and it’s likely that his tenure at the head of the UVa. football program will end after the final gun in Scott Stadium as well.
The ‘Hoos (3-8) are posting their third losing season in the past four years, a stretch including a 9-4 campaign in 2007 that has seen Virginia compile a 22-26 record overall, and dating back to the November 2004 game with Miami that Virginia entered with a 7-1 record and top-10 national ranking, the UVa. record is just 30-34.
If things can get worse, this number makes it much, much worse – a 1-8 mark for Groh against Virginia Tech, the lone win coming in 2003.
A loss Saturday, then, would be the sixth in a row for Virginia to finish out 2009 and the sixth in a row for Groh against the state’s other I-A ACC program.
The betting line has moved a bit in Virginia Tech’s favor since the start of the week. Tech began on Monday as a 13-point favorite. The latest line from USA Today oddsmaker Danny Sheridan has the Hokies favored by 16.
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Chris Graham
