End of a Groh-ss Era at Virginia?

Following the 31-3 disaster loss to Duke Saturday, the future doesn’t look bright for Al Groh and his Virginia Cavaliers. Groh appears to be in deep trouble. If he can’t right the ship soon, there could very well be a new head coach in Charlottesville in 2009…

The Cavaliers solidified their spot as the worst team in the ACC by managing just three points — three — against a Duke program that had a 25-game losing streak in conference play. Heading into this season and following a one-year contract extension, it seemed as if it would take a monumental collapse for Al Groh to officially be on the hot seat. Well, he might want to duck, because the walls are caving in in Charlottesville. – ESPN

Virginia is somewhere in the area of where James Madison is right now, but the Cavs would be looking up at the Dukes after the six-turnover embarrassment in Durham today in a 31-3 loss that marks either the beginning of the end of the Al Groh Era in Charlottesville or the beginning of the end of both the Groh Era and the Craig Littlepage Era as well… I’ve been saying for going on three years now that Littlepage’s inability to pull the plug on the Groh Era was a sign that he and others in the administration had given up on football in Charlottesville, which is immensely sad to those of us who remember the hard work of guys like George Welsh and Jim Dombrowski and Don Majkowski and Shawn and Herman Moore and Terry Kirby and Chris Slade and Tiki and Ronde Barber and James Farrior and Jamie Sharper and Aaron Brooks and Thomas Jones and Matt Schaub and Heath Miller to take the program from doormat to perennial ACC contender. – Augusta Free-Press

There was the 23-3 loss at Wyoming in the 2007 season opener. There was the 17-10 loss at home to Western Michigan in 2006. There was the 52-14 pipe job at home to Virginia Tech in 2005. And then there was Saturday. Virginia’s 31-3 loss at Duke is arguably the low point of the Al Groh era. As dispiriting as those other performances were, this was worse. Duke had lost 25 ACC games in a row dating back to 2004, had a first-year coaching staff, had not beaten a soul, yet somehow was favored (example No. 348 why the Vegas smart guys know more than you and me). And the Blue Devils covered – comfortably… The question du jour: Where else does Virginia pick up a win? The Cavaliers don’t figure to be favored in any of their remaining eight games. Nor should they. They aren’t as collectively talented as anyone left on the schedule. The offense, as presently constructed, is a mess. Virginia’s worst season in recent memory was 3-8 in 1986, an early hiccup in the George Welsh era. Welsh had banked plenty of goodwill, leading a previously dreadful program to three consecutive winning seasons, and a bowl game, the previous three years. The ’86 season predated a streak of 13 consecutive years with at least seven wins. Groh hasn’t amassed a similar reservoir of brownie points, despite leading the Cavs to nine wins last season and at least eight wins in four of the past six seasons. Folks expect more, particularly given Chairman Al’s big contract. Said contract is a large impediment to swift change. – Daily Press