UVa football had a dream season in 2007 -- 9 wins (5 by 2 points or less), arguably the best defensive player in school history (Chris Long), and its first New Year's Day bowl in a decade (Gator Bowl). But then came 2008. On January 1, 2008, the Hoos blew a 14-point lead in the last 6 minutes and lost to Texas Tech. Soon after, it was announced that starting quarterback Jameel Sewell had failed out of school. Then, highly recruited freshman linebacker J'Courtney Williams was kicked out of school for stealing another student's credit card. The best offensive lineman (Branden Albert) subsequently declared for the NFL Draft. Over the next few months, the program's two best defensive backs and its best defensive lineman (Chris Cook, Mike Brown, and Jeffrey Fitzgerald) were either kicked out or failed out of school. A senior starting linebacker broke his ankle in the first game and will miss the rest of the season. Last week, new starting quarterback (and highly recruited sophomore) Peter Lalich -- supposedly the future of the team -- got kicked off the team for numerous alcohol and marijuana-related offenses (ASIDE: he is rumored to be transferring to Oregon State). The squad lost to USC 52-7 (not surprising since USC is ranked #1) and 45-10 to UConn (surprising since the lowly Temple Owls had taken UConn to overtime the week before).
Just when things could not possibly get any worse for this embarrassment of a football team, the line came out for the Duke game this Saturday. Duke is favored by 7! Based on UVa's play so far this season, the line is about what I expected but it is still hard to believe. Duke has been the doormat of the ACC for the last 15-20 years. This week's line begs the question: when is the last time Duke was favored in an ACC football game? After conducting a quick Google search, it appears that Duke was last favored in ACC play in 2002 against UNC (favored by 3). I would guess that it has been well over a decade since Duke was favored by a touchdown or more versus an ACC opponent -- perhaps this is the first time since the Spurrier era in the late 80s.
2008 has been an embarrassment for the Hoos. Let's hope Al Groh is not around to see the program turn things around in 2009. The first piece of good news: QB Jameel Sewell will re-enroll in January and should be on the field in 2009. Most UVa fans are probably more concerned with the school's ranking in USNews & World Report than the football team's ranking, but while they're drinking Zima and eating brie, the real fans are ready for the program to get back to respectability.
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