During his nine-year tenure as Virginia's head coach, Al Groh has defeated Virginia Tech only once. With "grohing" uncertainty surrounding his job security, Saturday's game at Scott Stadium may be his last chance to beat the Hokies.
For Virginia fans, it has been downhill since the two teams' 2003 meeting, when Wali Lundy, Alvin Pearman, Matt Schaub and company knocked off the Hokies 35-21. That game was Schaub's last as a Cavalier.
In their own final collegiate game Saturday, seniors Jameel Sewell, Vic Hall, Chris Cook, Nate Collins, Rashawn Jackson, Denzel Burrell and Aaron Clark, among others, would like nothing more than to walk off the field with the same satisfaction.
"I don't think you could give me any amount of money to trade [for] beating Tech," fifth-year linebacker Clark said.
No one on the current Virginia squad has tasted victory against its biggest rival. Not even the heroics of Hall - who ran for two touchdowns in his first career start at quarterback against the Hokies last season - could stave off the sting of last year's 17-14 loss in Blacksburg.
The image of former Cavalier Tom Santi's long face after his final game against the Hokies in Virginia's 33-21 loss two years ago is well-ingrained in Clark's memory.
"It's a dagger in the heart," Clark said.
To end the team members' collective drought against the Hokies, though, Clark and the rest of the Virginia defense will have to contain the most efficient passer in the ACC, Tyrod Taylor. The junior quarterback poses a dual threat to opposing defenses: Taylor has not only passed for 1,917 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, but has also rushed for 310 yards and four touchdowns.
"It's like playing against 12 players," Groh said. "The threat [Taylor] poses as a runner or just as a passer out of the pocket, sometimes it's more challenging when he's just out of the pocket, and it doesn't show up in passing statistics. But that's what distorts the structure of coverages, when the quarterback is out and moving."
When Taylor doesn't have the ball, redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams most likely will. Williams has rushed for more yards - 123.2 per game - than anyone else in the ACC, even in a conference that features dynamic upperclassmen running backs such as 2008 ACC Player of the Year Jonathan Dwyer and the all-time leader in all-purpose yards, C.J. Spiller.
Stopping Williams will be no easy task for a Virginia team that ranks 10th in the ACC in rushing defense and has allowed an average of 185.3 rushing yards per game in its last three contests.
Still, if anything can inspire a stronger defensive performance against the Hokies, it may be that very sense of urgency brought by stepping onto the field for the last time. Indeed, a win would be a fitting conclusion to the careers of two players who have battled injuries, uncertainty and numerous tough losses to stand where they are today.
It seems like academic ineligibility is the only thing that has kept quarterback Jameel Sewell off the playing field during his time at Virginia. Forced to miss the 2008-09 season, Sewell came back this year to a team full of question marks about who would start at linebacker, wide receiver and - most importantly - his position. Though set back by three demoralizing losses at the beginning of the season, Sewell led the Cavaliers to three straight victories in October while fighting a recurring ankle injury and shoulder problems.
"One of the most valuable things a player can bring to a team is to be a great teammate," Groh said. "The more of those guys you have, the more they feed off each other."
Another such player is Hall. This man of few words has filled in wherever and whenever Groh has asked him. From cornerback to quarterback, wide receiver to punt returner, the senior has proven to be a football player in every sense of the term.
"He's one of those kind of players - one of those kind of associations that make this a very fortunate profession to be able to be in," Groh said. "I just think about how many people my age get a chance to have this type of relationship with people that age."
Hall has dealt with a lingering hip injury all season, but has continued to play despite the physical pain and the mounting losses.
"It's a mentality," Hall said. "How can you not play if you can walk?"
Hall, like the Cavaliers' other senior players, will walk onto the field for one more game. He'll play for his team, his pride and his coach.
"I wouldn't want it to be my last game," Hall said, "and I don't want it to be his last game"
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