Virginia hopes trend continues

The 16th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers (6-1 ACC, 9-2) haven't played since Nov. 17, which might bode well for their chances tomorrow afternoon against No. 8 Virginia Tech (6-1, 9-2) at Scott Stadium.

Under coach Al Groh, U.Va. is 9-2 when coming off a bye week. It's 7-0 at home in those situations. Groh is 3-1 in bowl games, for which he's also had extra time to prepare.

"I don't think it's anything too mystical," Groh said. "I think if you checked a lot of teams, they'd probably have a pretty good success rate after bye weeks. The team's rested, the team's had extra preparation, that's all I can think of.

"We certainly haven't done anything differently. We don't have anything we could go to clinics and talk about and have a good topic."

In Groh's seven seasons as coach, Virginia is 34-9 at Scott Stadium. Two of those losses were to Virginia Tech, which won 31-17 in 2001 and 52-14 in 2005 in Charlottesville.

An uncommon team

This is the fourth U.Va. team of which Jon Copper has been a part, and the redshirt junior linebacker believes it has some qualities the others didn't.

"I think everybody has bought in," said Copper, who leads the Cavaliers in tackles for the second straight year. "Not to speak negatively about past teams, but I think with any team there's always a danger of, you have a few guys that are maybe looked up to or need to be dependable and aren't.

"That's the case with 95 percent of the teams out there. I just think with this team, everybody that lines up on kickoff or on third down, on defense or is in the offensive huddle, we really believe in each other, and I think guys have earned that. They're just a lot of dependable guys."

Virginia finished 8-4 in 2004, 7-5 in'05 and 5-7 last year.

Groh salutes Carr

Early in his weekly press conference Tuesday, Groh brought up Lloyd Carr, who'd announced his retirement as Michigan's coach.

"Before we have the opportunity to do it personally, maybe the message will get to Ann Arbor," Groh said. "I'd like to say congratulations to coach Lloyd Carr and the wonderful ambassador that he's been to college football."

Groh also praised Michigan administrators for their support of Carr, saying they "decided that loyalty and high standards and integrity and caring about your players was an admirable thing to be associated with. That's what Lloyd has done for his players and his university."

Students fired up

Two shirtless members of the Hoo Crew, a student group that cheers at many U.Va. athletic events, interrupted Groh's press conference Tuesday to announce the launch of "Operation Orange." Their bodies were painted orange, and they encouraged their fellow students to show up in orange from head to toe tomorrow at Scott Stadium.

"I'd say that you guys have outdone the Blue Man Group," Groh said with a smile as the two young men left.

Groh opened his remarks by singling out the FIJI Run Across Virginia, an annual fundraiser conducted by Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers at U.Va. and Virginia Tech. It's expected to raise about $30,000 for the V Foundation for Cancer Research this year. For more information, visit www.fijirunacrossvirginia.com.

-- Jeff White