Oh, how we hate the Hokies

Of course, if it wasn't for Virginia Tech, the Cavs never would have been in this bowl mess.

Had they beaten the Hokies last Saturday, the Wahoos would have clinched a share of the ACC title and probably would be on their way to the Peach Bowl, if not a BCS berth. Instead, the 24-10 loss at Lane Stadium dumped Virginia down in the bowl pecking order and send Virginia Tech to a de facto ACC championship game with Miami tomorrow.

It was a frustrating day for the Cavaliers, who squandered several scoring chances in the first half, then suffered a series of defensive breakdowns in the second. It was UVa's fifth loss in six years to the Hokies and put the Commonwealth Cup back in Blacksburg after a one-year stay in Charlottesville.

For a recap of the Virginia Tech loss, please click the link below.

Pearman nominated for Dudley Award

Each year the Virginia football coaches have to nominate one player for the Dudley Award, which goes to the top player in the state. Sometimes that's a tough decision. This year it was probably pretty easy.

Senior tailback Alvin Pearman has done it all for the Cavs.

Alvin Pearman, whose versatility and productivity have made him an indispensable player for the 2004 Cavaliers, will go to the Sheraton West Hotel in Richmond next Wednesday for the Dudley Award ceremony. The other candidates are quarterbacks Bryan Randall of Virginia Tech and Lang Campbell of William & Mary.

Randall probably will win the honor, but Pearman has had a superb senior season. In 11 games, he has rushed 186 times for 985 yards, caught 26 passes for 381 yards, returned 28 punts for 314 yards and returned four kickoffs for 164 yards. He has scored 11 touchdowns (nine rushing, one receiving, one punt return) and leads the ACC by a wide margin with 167.6 all-purpose yards per game. He even has four tackles on special teams.

Pearman also has carried the Cavalier offense in the second half of the season. Against Virginia Tech, he rushed 28 times for 147 yards, caught a 32-yard touchdown pass and added 64 return yards for a grand total of 243 all-purpose yards. If only Virginia had 10 more players just like him.

Men's basketball stays unbeaten

Elton Brown has four double-doubles in five games.

Rebounding and defense were the two biggest question marks for the Virginia basketball team going into the 2004-05 season. So far, those have been the Cavaliers' only constants.

In five games this season, the Wahoos have outrebounded every opponent and held each team to 60 points or fewer. Last season UVa grabbed an average of 5.3 fewer rebounds than its opponents and held just three of 31 teams under 64 points. Now that's progress.

Even though their shooting has been inconsistent, their effort has been outstanding. Elton Brown already has recorded four double-doubles, including 15 points and 12 rebounds in a 48-44 triumph at Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday. It was the fewest points the Cavs have allowed in Pete Gillen's seven years as head coach.

Having earned a No. 24 ranking, Virginia will try to keep up the good work tonight against Auburn (5-0) at the Siegel Center in Richmond. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

For a recap of Virginia's win over Northwestern, click on this link.

For more information on UVa men's basketball, please see the link below.

Another Gill, another Glading in men's lacrosse class

Conor Gill helped Virginia win the NCAA championship as a freshman in 1999. Billy Glading did the same as a senior in 2003. Let's hope their little brothers make the same kind of impact for the Cavaliers in the future.

Gavin Gill and Danny Glading are among the 10 recruits who signed letters-of-intent with the UVa men's lacrosse team. Both will come to Charlottesville with high expectations, if only because their brothers were All-Americans, but each is a highly-regarded player in his own right.

Gill is among the nation's top high school attackmen, having led his St. Paul's team in Baltimore to the MIAA championship as a junior. Glading, a midfielder, is the nation's No. 1 recruit, according to some analysts. He had 45 assists last season for Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md.

To read about the entire men's lacrosse recruiting class, please see the link below.

Men's soccer outlasts Lobos in NCAA third-round shootout

One penalty kick away from extinction, the Virginia men's soccer team survived to play another day.

The fourth-ranked Cavaliers hosted No. 1 New Mexico in the third round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday, and the 1,510 fans at Klockner Stadium witnessed a game that could not have been any closer. Jeremy Barlow scored an early goal for UVa, but the Lobos (seeded 13th despite their top ranking) tied it up later in the first half and the teams ended up going scoreless the rest of the way.

After two overtimes, a penalty kick shootout determined the outcome. New Mexico had a chance to win on the seventh attempt, but goalie Ryan Burke made the save. After Nico Colacula converted in the eighth round for Virginia, Burke stopped the next kick, giving the Cavaliers a dramatic victory.

Virginia (18-4-1) still needs three more wins to claim the national championship. Next up is No. 17 Duke (17-5) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Klockner. The Cavs have beaten the Blue Devils twice this season by scores of 3-2 and 3-1.

For more information about UVa men's soccer, please see the link below.

Greg Waters and Mike Andrews, the co-hosts of CavTalk, discuss Virginia's bowl situation with Ed Miller of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. Edge subscribers can listen to an archive of Tuesday's show at the link above.

Sabre Edge articles and columns from the past week

A converted tailback playing safety. Three young cornerbacks. Little experience and little depth. The secondary started the season as a potential problem for Virginia and, unfortunately, it proved to be just that. Though the defensive backs turned in some good performances, they were inconsistent and gave up too many big plays all season, despite playing in a scheme that specifically tries to prevent long passes. Virginia Tech managed to expose the Achilles' heel of UVa's defense on Saturday, resulting in a 24-10 loss that now has the Cavaliers going someplace even more remote than Blacksburg - Boise.

Quoting from last week's Absolutes and Desirables column: "Virginia cannot turn the ball over. It cannot obliterate drives or help sustain Tech drives with penalties, especially stupid ones involving personal fouls. Tech has shown a more diverse offense than in years past, so maintaining containment on Randall and playing good assignment football is a must. And finally, Virginia must avoid the special-teams breakdowns and turnovers that have driven Frank Beamer's teams for years. A short field is the Hokies' friend and a recipe for getting beat." The Cavaliers followed all of those recipes for getting beat, and that's exactly what happened at Lane Stadium. As a result, almost every unit gets a low grade, including the coaching staff.

Like Al Groh said early in the week, the pot doesn't get much bigger than it was for today's game. But if there's one thing we've learned from watching poker on television, it's this: Sometimes, to win a big pot, you've got to gamble. Once again, Virginia wasn't willing to do that in its last chance for a signature victory this season. Because of that, the 2004 Cavaliers may be remembered as a team that folded whenever the stakes got high.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week

Our resident recruiting expert, Chris Horne, provides updates for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please see the sign-up promotion below. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

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