ATLANTA -- Well, that played out about as expected. Virginia's offense struggled mightily and Georgia Tech won handily. There were legitimate reasons that the Cavaliers came into the game as 17-point underdogs.
Football can be very uncomplicated sometimes.
One Virginia fan in the crowd was seen on the jumbotron showing his exasperation following Calvin Johnson's second touchdown by putting a paper bag over his head that read "Shame".
To describe Virginia's first half offense as atrocious would be giving it too much credit. The Cavaliers notched only two first downs and 54 yards of total offense. You're not going to beat a solid Georgia Tech team on the road putting up those kinds of numbers.
While quarterback Jameel Sewell will receive much of the scrutiny for Virginia's poor offensive performance, it was not entirely his fault. Virginia's weaknesses on its offensive line were only accentuated by the aggressive nature of Georgia Tech's talented defense. Any of Virginia's quarterbacks would have struggled due to the lack of protection provided by the line.
Virginia's wide receivers also dropped several catchable passes that could have at least made the margin of defeat smaller.
It was also not Sewell's fault that the coaching staff decided to give him his collegiate starting debut on the road against a strong opponent on national television.
Sewell looked out-of-sync from the first offensive series. After tailback Jason Snelling was tackled for a loss of two yards on first down, Sewell attempted to pass on the next two snaps, badly missing his intended receiver each time. That would become a recurring theme throughout the evening.
"It wasn't that I was nervous," Sewell said the poor throws. "I had no fear. I guess it was kind of a mental thing."
Sewell did right the ship a bit in the second half. Virginia's offense was still entirely mediocre, but there was at least a moment or two where it looked functional as it put up 112 yards and seven points. Sewell gave Virginia fans a reason to back away from the edge of the cliff when he hit Kevin Ogletree for a 17-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. That at least showed that Virginia might be able to beat Duke next week, which was beginning to look doubtful after the way the Cavaliers played in the first half.
For better or for worse, by keeping Sewell in for the entire game, Groh made clear that the redshirt freshman will be Virginia's starting quarterback this season. Virginia fans will have to learn to accept the mistakes he makes as he hopefully matures into an effective Division I quarterback.
Right before the second half, the Georgia Tech jumbotron showed a clip from the SNL "Cowbell" skit featuring Will Farrell and Christopher Walken.
That got me thinking. Virginia's offense has a fever. The question is this. Is Jameel Sewell the equivalent of "more cowbell"?
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