The University of Virginia football team travels to Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams in the Thursday night (Sept 21) ESPN game of the week. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. (EDT).
Yellow Jacket’s senior quarterback Reggie Ball ran for 130 yards, setting a school record for a quarterback and Georgia Tech (2-1) scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Troy 35-20 Saturday. The Yellow jackets wore down the smaller Troy defense by rushing for 320 yards.
Virginia (1-2) returns to the field after being upset by Western Michigan 17-10 on Saturday in Charlottesville. Coach Al Groh used three quarterbacks in the contest including third-string freshman Jameel Sewell for the entire second half. The Cavaliers outgained the Broncos 258-to-179 but could not overcome the upstart Mid-American Conference team.
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Sewell was named the starter by Groh for Thursday night. "He's getting his opportunity to get some playing time," Groh said. "We expect that he'll progress along and we're willing to handle whatever goes along with that."
Sewell can depend on help from fullback turned tailback Jason Snelling. “Snelling is effective at moving the ball whether we’ve given it to him or throw it to him. He’s not your garden-variety battering-ram fullback anymore, who gets the ball twice during the course of the season,” Groh said. “ As such, in recognizing what his skills are, while he does do a good job at those conventional fullback tasks, we’ve tried to make sure he has gotten some background at tailback, so we can also utilize his running skills.
“This is big time, I told the players last night, national TV, everybody’s watching,” said Yellow Jacket’s head coach Chan Gailey. “You got a chance to go prove what kind of team we are. It still is the college version of Monday Night Football, I still believe that. The ACC has about six or seven games on and that’s great for the conference.”
The Tech offense, led by quarterback Reggie Ball, compiled a total of 500 yards against Troy. Ball has completed 35-of-69 passes for five touchdowns and three interceptions in 2006. After his 130-yard outing against Troy, he is also the team’s leading rusher with 194 yards and a 6.9-yard average. Tailback Tashard Choice has 176 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s a senior in his fourth year, he understands the game,” said Gailey speaking of Ball. “He doesn’t get rattled on the field. He’s going to make good decisions to get our team in position to have a successful play. Then we tried to not make it so complicated that it becomes burdensome. If you get him thinking too much, then you paralyze him to a certain extent.”
Writers Comments: Georgia Tech has been installed as a –17-point favorite versus Virginia for Thursday night’s game. The Cavaliers have gone 1-2 straight up this season but O-3 against the spread (ATS). The Yellow Jackets will win this football game. The question is by how many points will they win the game. I think this game could get ugly for Virginia. GT covers the spread.
