You know what they say about the best-laid schemes? Sometimes they work perfectly.
With his third win in three weeks and an undefeated record in the ACC, Al Groh has winning down to a science.
The plan is simple:
Start with a phenomenal running back, like Cedric Peerman, for example. Get a great game from him every week. Have him average 4.9 yards per carry and have him net 138 yards on the day.
Get solid quarterback production, like Jameel Sewell's 16 completions on 25 attempts and one touchdown. Get ahead early -- 21-7 at the end of the first quarter should be sufficient.
Now, whether it's Duke, Carolina or Georgia Tech, you're going to face an offense that can hold its own. And you probably can't stop the big pass. So get ready for the opposition to make the game close. Get ready to lose the lead.
But don't fret. Somewhere near the end, have a player step up. Make a game-changing, career-defining, crowd-shocking play to turn things back in your favor.
Peter Lalich can do it one week, like he did against Duke. Or Chris Long and Nate Collins can do it in another week. Or why not use a whole litany of no-namers, like Aaron Clark, Trey Womack and Staton Jobe?
Winning is just that simple.
"Usually when you win, it's because your guys stepped up and made plays," Groh said. His words seem obvious, but look back at each Virginia victory this season and you'll find at least one player to credit for making the catch, the pass or the stop that sealed the victory.
Saturday was no different.
Georgia Tech quietly erased the first-quarter 21-7 deficit and took a 23-21 lead in the third quarter.
With 9:02 remaining in the game, Virginia punted from its 31-yard line. Georgia Tech junior Andrew Smith was back deep to receive the ball. Virginia junior Aaron Clark was in on the coverage team. As soon as the ball landed in Smith's lap, Clark put a mind-numbing hit on Smith, jarring the ball loose. Then Virginia freshman Trey Womack was there to fall on the ball at Georgia Tech's 26 yard line.
"This is what you work for all summer," Womack said. "This is what we came together and worked as a team for."
Knowing Groh, I expected him to take it easy and settle for the field goal if needed.
Lucky for us all, I guess I don't know him as well as I thought. Groh went for the kill -- the quick and merciful defeat of the Yellow Jackets.
Sewell stepped back and shot the ball to Staton Jobe, who missed a tackler and walked in to the end zone. One play. 26 yards. Six seconds.
"The play developed perfectly," Jobe said. "Jameel threw the perfect ball, [There was] great blocking by the line and I just made the catch."
Perfect, huh? That seems to be the way everyone was describing it Saturday.
"It was the perfect coverage, and he was wide open in the perfect play called," Sewell said.
You've really got to hand it to Al Groh for what he did Saturday. He wasn't his over-conservative self. He knew what it took to win and he did it.
"We wanted to be pretty bold with our play-calling," Groh said. "I thought the game was called very well -- very aggressively."
And he's got plenty to show for the risks he took. Virginia is 3-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2003, a point the Cavaliers have reached from a humble beginning. Just about everyone was down after the Virginia opening loss to Wyoming and no one thought the Cavaliers could take on Georgia Tech.
And you know what? That doesn't bother me.
"It's really almost a double standard for a player," Long said. "When fans are up and fans think you're pretty good, you got to ignore it. When fans think you're no good, I like to pay attention to that, and I think that's what a football player should do. There were a lot of guys who came out angry [Saturday]."
So you want to keep hating on this team? You want to tell me they're pretenders and these three victories were a fluke?
Fine by me.
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