Virginia holds key to ACC Championship game

Virginia looked like anything but a potential ACC champion five games into this season. After dispatching FCS member William & Mary with ease, the Cavaliers escaped woeful Indiana with a three-point victory, lost at North Carolina and at home to Southern Mississippi, and managed to beat Idaho at home in overtime. UVa was 3-2, but the mood around Charlottesville was more like it was 0-5, and the apathy from the Al Groh era remained. Seven weeks later, and Mike London's team is in control of its destiny. If the Cavaliers win out, they will meet Clemson in Charlotte for the ACC championship. A loss at either Florida State this weekend or at home to Virginia Tech in the regular season finale and the Wahoos are out of contention. But don't expect Virginia to look any further ahead than the next game. "Sometimes you don't like to hear this, but we still have the one-game-at-a-time mentality," London said Wednesday. "This game is the most important game for us to lend any talk to what happens two, three weeks later. "We don't talk about that. We talk about the options that are presented to us right now." Virginia (7-3, 4-2 ACC) is in position to make the masses in the media look foolish because it has remained focused and stayed the course, building each day as if there was a collective understanding good times would eventually come. The thing is, it appeared more that those times would arrive some time after this season concluded. This fall was the bridge to the future. But when London made the wise decision to stick with Michael Rocco at quarterback last month, he gave the position stability and allowed it to align itself more with the rest of the team. Rocco hasn't been super, but his highs have eclipsed previous performances, and the lows haven't been nearly as damaging. "Just being able to be out there every series with the team and the offense keeps things rolling," Rocco told the Washington Times. Quarterback isn't the only area that has found its way. Overall, the Cavaliers are simply making fewer mistakes than they were early in the season. In the first five games, Virginia was flagged 31 times for 265 yards and turned over the ball 15 times compared to just seven by its opponents. In the five games since, the Cavaliers have been flagged 22 times for 156 yards, while turning over the ball nine times to 10 for its opponents. Four of UVa's gifts in that stretch came in a home loss to N.C. State. The Wahoos are playing cleaner football. "Well, I think what every coach hopes for is as the season goes on, whatever the players are playing if you can develop them as the season goes on and they become more game mature," London said. "I think that's probably the biggest thing "You put young players or guys in positions where you see the things that can cause you to win or cause you to lose. So as you become game mature, you go in and you win some close games, you see the difference." Fifteen freshmen and 12 sophomores mark the Cavaliers' 1-2 depth chart, so there's certainly a lot to what London is saying. And there's a lot to Saturday night's game at Florida State (7-3, 5-2). And that Virginia has won three times on the road already this season certainly should help going in. "With a team that hasn't won on the road before, it's always significant," London said. "It's always important to point out what can happen, what the possibilities are. All you do is say, Here we are with another road game with another very, very good team" And in the balance hangs an opportunity to win an ACC championship.