In a very belated response to this joint Maryland/UNC effort, some D*ke fans try to fight back.

Unfortunately, they merely reinforce the message that they’re trying to respond to. And, why not strike up an alliance with the Hokies while you’re at it? Classic.

My friends over at ACCNation have their take on Virginia football based on the comments from Groh, Long, and Santi at last week’s ACC Football Kickoff in Pinehurst. Nice work, fellas.

But, Chris Graham follows that post up with one of those “Is Groh on the hotseat?” entries. Regular readers of The Good Ol’ Blog will probably guess my answer to this question – NO!

However, I’m going to cut Chris some slack — the body of the post itself is mostly about Groh’s answers about the criticism about his tenure at Virginia and about the pressure on him to right the ship next season. And, the traditional definition of the phrase “hot seat” is all about pressure and criticism. If that’s what they mean, okay — Groh’s seat is a little toasty.

But, if they are using the phrase how most football fans and reporters use — that Groh is in imminent danger of being fired — then we’re back in “myth” territory again (here’s a particularly egregious example of associating the getting-fired usage of the phrase to Groh this year).

Being under pressure doesn’t automatically put any coach on the hot seat, i.e., in imminent danger of being fired. I’ve argued why Groh isn’t under danger of being fired this year many times, and I won’t rehash them here. But I will drop some links for those that need the background:

Groh in the hot seat? Not really.
The “Hot Seat” Myth lives on
Another “hot seat” myth mis-analysis
Beating back the myth?
And we were making so much progress!

Anyway, Chris doesn’t utter a word about Groh getting fired after next season, so he’s in the clear in my eyes. But using those words certainly connotes a possible regime change, so let’s just say I’m not loving that title.

Man, it’s almost like I’m bucking a trend by not doing a preview. Anyway, another one — this time from MadduxSports, including this optimistic view of our team:

4) Virginia - After starting out the season 2-5, the Cavaliers finished with some momentum earning victories in 3 of their final 5 games. A big reason for the slow start and good finish was freshmen Jameel Sewell making good progress and showing nice potential as a college quarterback. Coming into last season Virginia had to replace 2 NFL draft choices, including D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Consequently, the offensive line was very inexperienced and labored to open holes for the running game. The unit also had trouble keeping opposing defenders out of the backfield and allowed 35 sacks for the season. This year the OL returns 6 players with starting experience and should be an asset instead of a liability. The defense is well-stocked, returning 10 of the 11 starters that allowed 17.8ppg and was 17th overall in total defense. Virginia’s defense is loaded and should keep the team in many tough ACC games. The Cavaliers are one of the most improved teams and will earn a post season bowl birth. Don’t be surprised to see Virginia occupy the 2nd spot if the ball bounces their way.

A prediction of fourth place, with an upside of second place, in the division. I’d caution, though, that others think we’ve got a downside of next-to-last-and-Al-Groh-gets-fired, so don’t get too excited.

Man, these guys really love their college, don’t they?

We want to see the number of alumni donors with undergraduate degrees grow by 5 percent each year for five years (a total of 6,300 new donors) to reach a total of 31,500. Every year that our challenge is met, we’ll send the University $100,000. By the time The Barber Challenge ends in five years, this will total $500,000 — the full second half of our $1 million pledge.

They really set the standard for pro athletes giving back. Hell, they set the standard for all alumni.

And what division of that conference? If you don’t know, you better ask somebody.

I’m just getting settled from being out of town until about an hour ago, so not much blogging this morning.

But, since you’re probably bored and want something to read, I’ll link to another blog I’ve stumbled across (actually, someone on the football board linked it) that’s also rolling out an ACC preview.

I’ll expect a memo on my desk by noon.

“Hiring Skip was probably the best move I ever made because he was a great coach and a great recruiter” — Pete Gillen, about given Skip Prosser his big break at Xavier by hiring him as second assistant.

Uh, yeah. We made the list.

Western Michigan 17, @ Virginia 10
Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with losing to a MAC team, but Virginia’s home loss — a week after the Akron win at State — only compounded the league’s damaged image.

At least Western Michigan had the sense of decency to finish the season 8-5.

They also had the sense of decency to keep us from going to a bowl. Thanks guys! And as the N&O sadly profiles, there were a lot of competitors for a list like this.

Okay, okay, I’m kidding. Did you really think that an article about Schaub from the AJC would be devoid of Vick references?

A little Sunday morning housecleaning: looks like the Daily Press Blog has folded its tents. (Here’s the old link: http://blogs.trb.com/sports/local/uva/blog/). So, they’re coming off the blogroll. However, the Daily Progress might be coming back on. After three months, Jay Jenkins has a new post up. I’ve got my fingers crossed that his blogging will pick up the pace. If so, I’ll be happy to re-up him on the roll.

The point of the blogroll is to give you readers a quick navigation station to relevant blogs. So, it’s counterproductive to keep up blogs on there that aren’t active — that’s a wasted click and wasted time for those of you who use the roll. It’s sad that each of the old media companies’ UVa blogs don’t stay very active (e.g., here’s the RTD’s blog, stuck in April, thought), but at least the fans bloggers are making up for it.