The University of Virginia is retiring the jersey of former running back and current Forest resident John Papit on Saturday at Scott Stadium.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—University of Virginia women’s sports pioneer Barbara Kelly is retiring after 38 years.

Fresh off a triumphant weekend, the University of Virginia football program got more good news Monday morning. Tim Smith, a 6-0, 185-pound senior at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake, became the 21st player to commit to the Cavaliers for 2009. Thirteen of those players are Virginians.

When critics were blasting the University of Virginia football team, Al Groh didn’t want his players to listen. And now that people are praising the Cavaliers? UVa’s eighth-year coach wants his charges to tune that out, too.

Cavaliers coach Al Groh typically looks forward to devising a game plan for each opponent, but “I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy this one,” he said Sunday night. “I think I would rather take a pass on this exercise, but we don’t have that luxury.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE — From 2 yards out, Virginia tailback Cedric Peerman bulled across the goal line, and the celebration began as night fell on Scott Stadium.

Jubilant UVa students stormed the field as tens of thousands of other fans roared their approval from the stands. Such on-field chaos is something that university officials, for safety reasons, say they’d prefer not to see, but Cavaliers coach Al Groh wasn’t complaining.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Al Groh is known for his stern demeanor, but Virginia’s eighth-year football coach choked up for a moment during his postgame press conference Saturday night at Scott Stadium.
Cedric Peerman scored on a 2-yard run in overtime to lift UVa to a 16-13 victory over Coastal Division rival North Carolina. The senior tailback later presented the game ball to Groh.

Two Virginia players — Sean Singletary and Mamadi Diane — averaged double figures in points for the Cavaliers last season. Neither were on the floor during the final weekend of August, when UVa played three exhibition games in Montreal.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Football practices at the University of Virginia are closed to the public and the media, and so the only witnesses to the battles between Eugene Monroe and Clint Sintim are coaches, teammates and selected others.

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The 52-7 loss to Southern California was bad, as was the 45-10 defeat at Connecticut. For the University of Virginia football team, however, the unquestioned low point came Sept. 27 in Durham, N.C.

As much as other members of UVa’s offense like talking about Cedric Peerman, they prefer watching — and listening to — the senior tailback run.
Peerman, who missed Virginia’s Sept. 27 loss at Duke because of a knee injury, returned to run for 110 yards and one touchdown a week later in a 31-0 win over Maryland. He followed that up Saturday by rushing for 173 yards and two TDs in a 35-20 victory over East Carolina.

UVa’s offense and defense distinguished themselves Saturday against East Carolina. But the special-teams units struggled in Virginia’s 35-20 win at Scott Stadium.
“We have to improve with our kicking of the ball in all phases,” Groh said on his regular Sunday night teleconference.

Al and Anne Groh’s 39th anniversary was Saturday, and the happy couple had much to celebrate.

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina University football team will be without one of its top receivers when the Pirates play at the University of Virginia Saturday.

Skip Holtz, son of the legendary Lou Holtz, was on his father’s staff at the University of South Carolina for six seasons, the first five as offensive coordinator. So the younger Holtz, who’s in his fourth season as East Carolina’s head coach, appreciates better than most the challenges facing Al and Mike Groh in their working relationship at Virginia.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Smiles and laughter punctuated tight end John Phillips’ answers Tuesday. The same was true for quarterback Marc Verica and safety Byron Glaspy and the other University of Virginia football players who showed up for interviews at John Paul Jones Arena.

Where the heck did that come from? That question — or some variation — was asked by all who watched the Virginia-Maryland football game Saturday night.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — It took the Virginia Cavaliers more than four games, but they finally threw a touchdown pass.

The breakthrough came last night against Maryland, which surrendered a 51-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Marc Verica to junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree late in the first quarter.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — For one night, all was right at Scott Stadium.

Virginia’s football team silenced its many critics with a spectacular performance that was as improbable as the one tailback Mikell Simpson turned in last year at Maryland’s Byrd Stadium.

Nearly six weeks after the University of Virginia banned all signs at its sporting events - including football and basketball - the university abruptly switched course Thursday afternoon and rescinded its controversial no-sign policy.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — If he’d been a one-game wonder, a comet visible for only a few hours, the drop-off would not be so mystifying.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — By any measure, the Virginia Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in college football. And that’s not helping the approval rating of UVa’s beleaguered head coach.

Freshmen have played an increasingly large role for Virginia’s defense, and that’s likely to continue.

Virginia coach Al Groh did his best to sound upbeat after his team’s 31-3 loss at Duke on Saturday.
“The only thing that really counts is what’s up on the scoreboard. That’s what we play for,” Groh told reporters. “Despite what we see up there, in a lot of different areas we saw some positive movement with the team.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE — His listed height on the University of Virginia football roster — 5 feet, 10 inches — might be a bit generous. But if some may question whether Corey Mosley is tall enough to be a superior safety in major-college football, nobody doubts that he’s fast enough or strong enough or aggressive enough.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Former University of Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich appears headed to Oregon State.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - He showed off his chops in the days leading up to the Gator Bowl, tinkling the piano keys in the lobby of the Omni in Jacksonville, Fla., sometimes with teammates singing along. Hotel guests might not have recognized the young man at the piano, but they appreciated his musical ability.

Tuesday, for the first time since quarterback Peter Lalich was dismissed from the Virginia football team last week, his teammates fielded questions about his abrupt departure.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — He showed off his chops in the days leading up to the Gator Bowl, tinkling the piano keys in the lobby of the Omni in Jacksonville, Fla., sometimes with teammates singing along. Hotel guests might not have recognized the young man at the piano, but they appreciated his musical ability.

Al Groh said little publicly last week after troubled quarterback Peter Lalich was dismissed from the University of Virginia football team. The Cavaliers’ eighth-year coach didn’t say much more about Lalich Monday night.