The night before the final home football game of the season marks an emotional time for the Virginia football team. Gathered at a hotel for a last supper to commemorate the senior class, the Cavaliers will forget about tomorrow’s on-the-field test for just a moment as, one by one, each senior addresses his fellow teammates.
“They get up there,” senior tight end John Phillips said, “and you see what’s on their heart and what’s on their mind. It’s real passionate; it’s real inspirational.”
As if Virginia (5-5, 3-3 ACC) needed anything else riding on Saturday’s home finale against Clemson (5-5, 3-4 ACC), winning one last game at home for the seniors will certainly be on the players’ minds.
“I’d love nothing more than to send those guys out on a win,” sophomore quarterback Marc Verica said. “They’ve had great careers here, and they really put everything they had into it. I’m really proud of their accomplishments and I couldn’t be happier to have played with them.”
While Verica and the rest of the team would like to send the seniors out in style in their last hurrah at Scott Stadium, they are also looking to put an end to their recent two-game skid, and heading into their final two games of the season, the squad is just one win away from being bowl-eligible for the second straight year. With their last test of the season against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg next weekend, however, the Cavaliers cannot afford to bide their time if they want to avoid being plagued by what senior linebacker Clint Sintim described as a brutally long offseason.
“There’s nothing like [the] college atmosphere,” Sintim said. “There’s nothing like college competition. To be fortunate enough to play a bowl game with your teammates and have fun with them is something that you’ll cherish forever.”
Virginia will not be the only team on the field Saturday in need of a win to ensure postseason life. After a whirlwind of a season, which included the firing of 10-year coach Tommy Bowden following a disappointing 3-3 start to the season, the Tigers are trying to find their paws under interim coach Dabo Swinney. Although Clemson currently sits at a lowly second-to-last in the ACC Atlantic Division, the Cavaliers are far from discounting their opponent.
“I’m not sure what all’s going down with their program,” Phillips said, “but they were ranked No. 9 in the country [preseason] for a reason. It’s a dangerous game when sometimes they play up to their potential and sometimes they don’t, so you never really know what team you’re going to get.”
In addition to the talent and firepower that the rivals from the south possess, Groh said, the Tigers will be an especially tricky opponent for another reason. Since the expansion of the ACC, teams face each other less often, and only five current Virginia players were on the Cavaliers’ roster when Virginia last faced Clemson in 2004. None of those five saw action in that game.
The Cavaliers have had extra time to prepare for this weekend’s game, coming off a bye week after their loss at Wake Forest two weeks ago. The breather has not only provided the squad with time to analyze game film but has also afforded the athletes some much needed rest from a physical standpoint.
“It really gave us an opportunity to kind of get our body back, our legs recuperated a little bit, and just recap on the season [and] what we’ve done well and what we haven’t done well,” Sintim said.
With fresh legs, the Cavaliers hope to make a statement early in the game against the Tigers, something the squad has failed to do so far this season. In four of the last five games, Virginia’s opponents have drawn first blood, and while the Cavaliers were able to come away with three victories in that span, their early game flat-footedness proved costly in the loss to the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest scored all of its 28 points in the first half, and although the Cavaliers put up 14 in the last quarter, they still fell 28-17.
The Cavaliers can only hope that the senior day atmosphere will provide them with enough momentum out of the blocks to put an end to their early-game struggles.
“It’s a long time coming,” Sintim said. “I’ve been around for a while, and you’ve heard a lot of seniors talk about their last game and how special it is and how you’ll miss it, and you kind of sit back, listening and thinking, ‘Well, I have so-and-so many years to think about that,’ but really, the clock’s just winding down. It’s going to be a special day.”
Read More
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | 7 hours agoJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | 11 hours agoThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
Men’s soccer, totally discombobulated, capitulates early to No. 5 Pittsburgh
By Michael Liebermann | 13 hours agoPittsburgh set a program record for the quickest cluster of three goals.
