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One of the best attributes of second-year ACC coordinator of football officials Doug Rhoads is his accountability.

If you’ve got a question, he’s going to get back to you and try to give you an answer in a timely manner.

While listening to Al Groh’s coaches’ show Monday night (it wasn’t on “The Planet” in Roanoke so I had to pull up 1140 AM out of Richmond), I heard a female caller ask about Wake Forest’s first touchdown Saturday in a 28-17 victory over the Cavaliers.

On third-and-goal from the UVa 2-yard line, Deacons’ quarterback Riley Skinner found tight end Ben Wooster at the back of the end zone, one step ahead of Cavaliers’ linebacker Jon Copper.

Three plays earlier, on first-and-10 from the UVa 20, Skinner had found wide receiver Chip Brinkman along the left sideline. That pass initially was ruled incomplete by an official who thought Brinkman was not in bounds, then reversed for a Wake first down at the UVa 5.

I remember thinking at the time that the on-field reversal might have merited a review, but it did not. I did not really think much about the scoring pass until the caller to Groh’s radio show said the announcing crew said Wooster’s foot was on the line.

Groh had addressed both calls Sunday night on his weekly postgame teleconference:

“The one on the sideline was right on our sideline,” Groh said. “I thought it was OK. I had enough of a view it to go along with what the guy saw.

“The one in the back of the end zone, frankly, I didn’t realize it was as close as it was until I studied it [Sunday]. On the coaches’ copy, it’s impossible to tell, although the official is not obscured at all.

“He’s right there. He’s really looking at it before he makes a decision. This is an official who rates pretty highly with us. Until I have evidence otherwise, I’m going to assume it’s OK.

“The only question I had was on the touchdown because it was about points and it was apparently pretty close. What’s the harm in just taking a look at it? I ran it back and forth a lot of times and I couldn’t tell you.

“But [the replay official] up there, he could tell a lot quicker in 30 seconds than I could in five or six minutes.”

SO, WHY WASN’T it reviewed?

According to Rhoads, it was. Just because a game isn’t stopped doesn’t mean that the plays aren’t being reviewed.

“I spoke with the replay official on these,” said Rhoads, also addressing the pass to Brinkman, in an e-mail. “He did review both … just no stoppage.”

An earlier e-mail from Rhoads addressed one of the issues that is involved when a game is televised by ESPNU. Six of Virginia’s 10 games have been shown on ESPNU, including the Wake game.

Here was Rhoads’ answer when he thought I was talking about the Brinkman catch:

“We were on ESPNU and we had only two views [end zone and press box],” Rhoads said. “Replay official noted neither view gave him any indisputable evidence to change the call on the field so he didn’t stop it.

“He did note that, because of the lack of video evidence, he would have stayed with whichever way it was called on the field.”

Virginia fans may remember that television coverage was an issue last year, when the Cavaliers won at Middle Tennessee State, 23-21, on a last-minute field goal. There were several controversial calls in that game.

The UVa-Tennessee game was televised by Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast, a regional cable channel known as CSS.

"I was on a national committee last year that dealt with just that -- standardization,” Rhoads said last year. “Anything less than four [cameras] puts you at a disadvantage."

SO, WHAT IF the touchdown pass from Skinner to Riley had been ruled incomplete? The score could have been 3-0 instead of 7-0. It might have been 24-3 at the half instead of 28-3.

Maybe the game would have unfolded differently, but, in the end, Wake basically toyed (maybe that’s a little strong) with Virginia in the second half. UVa outgained the Deacs 225-75 over the final 30 minutes but almost everybody agrees that Wake basically “shut it down” offensively.

UVa’s only hope of stopping Wake quarterback Riley Skinner was to sack him, which it did three times, but the Cavaliers need to get better in coverage if they hope to beat Clemson on Nov. 22.

VIRGINIA RECRUIT Perry Jones, a linebacker for Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, has been named defensive player of the year in the Southeastern District for the second year in a row.

Bryan Black, who has coordinated prep coverage for the Virginian-Pilot for nearly 20 years, says that Jones is in the conversation for the best high-school player he has ever seen, along with the likes of Percy Harvin and DeAngelo Hall.

Jones would have to stretch to reach his listed height of 5 foot 9, but if he can’t make the transition to cornerback or safety, the positions at which Virginia projects him, no less of an authority than former Western Branch coach Lew Johnston thinks Jones could be a Division I-A running back.

Jones carried 27 times for 361 yards and three touchdowns for unbeaten Oscar Smith in its 34-17 triumph over Woodside in the first round of the Eastern Region playoffs. Jones’ UVa-bound teammate, wide receiver Tim Smith, had a 50-yard punt return for a score.

Jones carried 109 times for 882 yards and scored 20 touchdowns in the regular season, when he frequently was out of games in the second half.

IN CASE YOU missed it, would-be Cavalier running back Alex Owah carried 14 times for 200 yards and scored four touchdowns in Harrisonburg’s 47-14 victory over visiting William Byrd in the first round of the Group AA Division 4 playoffs.

Owah, the first member of Virginia’s 2009 class to commit, has not approached his lofty 2007 numbers (2,071 yards, 25 TDs) after missing all or part of four games but he is close to peak form. Owah had a high-ankle sprain that kept him out of three games and he missed a fourth for a violation of team rules (breaking curfew).

Another UVa recruit from the Shenandoah Valley, quarterback Ross Metheny from Sherando High School in Stephens City, underwent surgery Oct. 27 for a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Last year, Metheny’s season was ended by a broken ankle suffered in the Group AA Division 4 championship game.

Metheny hopes to be 100 percent by the spring, but, with the Cavaliers looking at Jameel Sewell returning in 2009 to challenge current quarterback Marc Verica, Metheny probably will be redshirted in 2009.

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