Virginia Cavaliers NCAA Football News

Virginia has fired Al Groh after nine seasons as football coach at his alma mater.

It seemed that the happy ending would come true. In the first half of Saturday afternoon's showdown with in state rival Virginia Tech, the Cavalier football team came out firing on all cylinders.

Wlecome to the referendum on rah-rah, the ultimate indicator of how much emotion matters in college football.

Approaching his final game in a Virginia football uniform, Nate Collins spoke warmly of Al Groh, who undoubtedly is concluding his U.Va. career, too.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The seniors on the Virginia football team, most of whom have been on the roster for five seasons, do not need to be reminded that they haven't experienced a win over Virginia Tech. They volunteer the information on their own. It's the final -- and only -- part of their legacies that can be changed with just one game remaining in their college careers.

'I don't think you could give me any amount of money to trade for beating Tech,' said senior linebacker Aaron Clark, one of the Cavaliers' captains.

CHARLOTTESVILLE When Nate Collins heard some of Virginia's players start discussing their plans for Christmas, he gathered the captains together to address the team.

After last Saturday's unsuccessful trip to Clemson, Virginia's players started talking about how this weekend's game against No.

No, Virginia didn't switch quarterbacks. Al Groh has lined up running back Mikell Simpson in the Wildcat formation, taking the direct snap, and it's working.

C.J. Spiller scored a touchdown Saturday in his final game at Death Valley and No.

Joe Torchia has been looking forward to the moment for years. Given the Atlantic Coast Conference's odd revolving rotation between teams in the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions, no player on Virginia's roster has played in a game at Clemson.

The Palm Beach County Sports Commission has named Virginia sophomore Robert Randolph, a Naples High School graduate, as one of its 20 semifinalists for the 2009 Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award presented by the FedEx Orange Bowl.

The bowl representatives have quit visiting, but Virginia's football complex is still a hot spot for NFL scouts.

Mikell Simpson entered the season as Virginia's No. 1 running back and its top receiving threat out of the backfield.

BOSTON COLLEGE 14, VIRGINIA 10: Dave Shinskie's 1-yard sneak on fourth down gave Boston College the lead, and the Eagles beat the Cavaliers on Saturday in Charlottesville to hand Virginia its fourth straight loss.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Two plays, and only a few inches, separated the Virginia football team from victory over Boston College on Saturday.

On the Cavaliers' final offensive play, quarterback Jameel Sewell was stopped a few inches shy of the 11-yard line -- or at least that's where the officials spotted the ball. On a quarterback sneak by the Eagles at the goal line earlier in the fourth quarter, Boston College scored the go-ahead touchdown -- or at least that's where the officials spotted the ball.

Boston College is alive for another weekend in the Atlantic Division. It came down to the final 17 seconds of the game, and Virginia quartertback Jameel Sewell came up inches short of the first down in the Cavaliers' 14-10 home loss to the Eagles.

Virginia and Boston College have been virtual strangers since the Eagles entered the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2005, meeting only during that season.

Two weeks ago, the University of Charleston was unbeaten and seemed headed toward an NCAA Division II football playoff berth.

On the heels of releasing its offensive coordinator, Mike Groh, Virginia's football team expected instant results.

Coaches will argue how much of an advantage playing at home really gives one team on any given day, but those coaches and players will agree that playing in front of a jam-packed stadium full of fans that are behind their team is a great feeling.