Good news for lazy writers on the college football beat -- when they're putting together those "coaches on the hot seat" lists in the summer of '09 just to fill the time, they can put Al Groh on that bad boy ... like they have every year since, oh, 2003. This may sound counter-intuitive considering the good vibes permeating Charlottesville over the past three weeks, but mind you, in order to be on the hot seat, you need a seat to begin with. And after Saturday, Virginia has four wins -- even if they don't win another game all season (considering the schedule that awaits, it's not unthinkable), beating rivals like Maryland and UNC is likely enough to ensure that Groh will be back next year.
Like they have since 1981, Virginia got the better of North Carolina at home, and like they have since 2006 (at the very least), they waited until the last five minutes to pull it off. Before that, it was the same sort of archly conservative and unimaginative play-calling you've come to expect from a Groh team: inside runs on 3rd and 8, obvious dumpoff passes on 3rd and 8, runs up the middle that ensure it always feels like it's 3rd and 8. You get the drift.
And yet, the way things ended made you realize why UNC's Butch Davis is a former NFL coach. Up 10-3 with a little more than two minutes left against an offense that was pretty much crippled to that point, UNC called the dogs off and busted out a prevent defense as soft as Electric Circus. Marc Verica ripped off one first-down pass after another until Virginia fans were left to wonder if they somehow left too much time on the clock (UNC knelt with about 47 seconds left in regulation).
Oddly enough, by OT, it looked like a UVA win was only a matter of time -- you won't see it in the ESPN highlights, but before Cedric Peerman punched in the winning TD, Verica managed to complete a total balloon pass to a wide-open John Phillips for 19 yards.
So what does this mean for each squad? Well, Virginia is somehow two wins away from bowl eligibility, which, considering the turmoil of the offseason and first four games, has to be seen as something of a success (problem is, it's tough to see how next year will play out when Eugene Monroe and Clint Sintim could give UVA a second straight year of two first-rounders). Where those two wins will come from is anyone's guess (though Clemson at home is a decent one), but the fact is, Virginia has always been strong at home even during the leaner times, and the way they're playing now, who knows? They're far from being a finished product, but at the very least, they're not the automatic W of a month prior.
While a bowl game was arguably the goal for UNC as the season started, it can't help but sting that they're effectively donezo in the Coastal with two losses, one of them to Virginia Tech (who still has to be considered the front-runner). Either way, you figure that Carolina's going to be a true player in the ACC sooner rather than later.
