I guess what did you expect?

At some point, the offense was going to have to do something if Virginia was going to beat anybody above the middle of the ACC table. Saturday was not that day. While it’s possible that Virginia’s invulnerability against Georgia Tech in Charlottesville could’ve been maintained if a few breaks (particularly, two possessions that ended inside the Georgia Tech 10) went their way instead of a trio of field goals, it’s a little hard to argue that the better team did not win.

Is this the real identity of the 2009 Virginia Cavaliers? Among the best of the mediocre? Seems that way, as the gap between Virginia and Georgia Tech wasn’t exactly as big as the scoreboard indicated, though the difference was clear.

In the grand scheme of things, this was far from unexpected, as Virginia’s hold on first place was tenuous at best. Given the remaining schedule has exactly one game in which the Cavaliers are surefire favorites, Duke, and even Duke isn’t quite Duke anymore, I’d put the over-under on remaining victories at 2, maybe 2.5, meaning it’s going to be a race to the finish to see if Al Groh can get to 6-6 and perhaps keep his job.

Some observations:
• While Georgia Tech’s running game was every bit as awesome as advertised (71 rushes!) it’s hard to discern how much of its success was due to the cumulative effect of having the ball roughly 75% of the time. By that, I mean, was it that the Cavaliers coaches were unable to scheme or the players lacked the talent to stop a good option attack, or was it just a death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts situation? Some combination of both, obviously, but still, the inability for the offense to string together first downs was damning.
• Sewell did was Sewell, to me at least, offering a good sign for the future. He continues to be proficient enough to hold serve, but if he has a good game, Virginia is going to do well enough down the stretch to make Groh’s future interesting.
• Seriously, one drive of more than seven plays, one drive that lasts more than 150 seconds? How is this possible? I know there is not exactly a ton of talent there, and they’re not exactly bursting with gamebreakers, but at some point it’s not the players’ fault. I don’t think anyone is expecting anything more from Sewell or Simpson, who both may be hurt, but Simpson (6 rushes for 4 yards) can’t be effective, I don’t know, but there needs to be some issue with the playcalling at this point. Whatever issues the talent base might have, it is good enough to do more than have 44 offensive plays in a game, especially one with just one fumble. Georgia Tech’s defense had not established itself as anything particularly special before the game, particularly against the run, and for them to be that dominant at the line of scrimmage indicates to me that there’s some critical failure on someone’s part.
• Seriously, Virginia was terrible on third downs. Two-for-11. Ugh. Failure to convert three possessions that began at roughly midfield or better into touchdowns is in large part due to their inability to extend drives. Let’s look at the three third downs on the Cavaliers’ three possessions that began at their 47-yard-line or better. The first, a 3rd-and-18 due to a holding penalty, it’s easy enough to excuse, though a holding penalty at that point is silly enough. But to fail three times practically at the Tech goal line, then to fail at both 2nd-and-5 and 3rd-and-5 at the Tech 18, and settle for six points total of the aforementioned possessions, oh man, not so much. Of those five plays, three incomplete passes and two rushes for no gain is horrific.
• Okay, everyone has known all season and for however long Paul Johnson has been coaching that the option attack is pretty incredible in its execution. And while I don’t expect the defensive coaching staff to cook up some elaborate counterscheme a la Craig T. Nelson’s decision to go goal line for the entire Walnut Heights game in All the Right Moves, I don’t think that for a defense that had been pretty good at stopping third downs all year (best in the ACC), and somewhere between shaky and mediocre at stopping the run for the most part could’ve done a little better tactically. Then again, when you’re on the field for 45 minutes, it’s hard to assert yourself. Tech threw 8 passes, which is in line with their average for the season, so I guess it comes down to execution, which Tech was pretty awesome at. I mean, 18 plays, 82 yards, almost 11 minutes of clock time on that third quarter touchdown. Four third downs, three converted, one fourth down, converted, only one pass in all five of those critical plays. What a monster drive.
• Vic Hall will go down as arguably the most misused athlete in Virginia history. Obviously a tremendous weapon, obviously nobody knows exactly what to do with him.