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Even with a defensive stop early in the fourth quarter Saturday, Virginia probably was not going to beat Georgia Tech.

The Cavaliers trailed 20-9 and would have needed a touchdown, a two-point conversion and a field goal to send the game into overtime, provided they also had made a couple more defensive stops.

Given UVa’s inability to score touchdowns against ACC opposition, that wasn’t going to happen, but an unnecessary roughness penalty against Ras-I Dowling took away any Cavalier hopes and drove up the final score in a game they would lose 34-9.
Because the referee’s microphone was not working – and, I’ve got to tell you, it invariably seems to happen when Ron Cherry is refereeing one of UVa’s games – nobody could say for sure what the penalty was or who was the culprit.

When I spoke to ACC supervisor of officials Doug Rhoads on Monday, he pulled up the officials’ report and reported that the head linesman (Greg Parman) had flagged Dowling because he head-butted a Georgia Tech player.

Virginia coach Al Groh had suggested that the media contact Rhoads but strongly implied that it was a phantom call.

“I've got the same questions you might have,” Groh said. “I guess Halloween was a week early. Ghostbusters, you know, whatever. Let's put it this way. It was not a part of the competitive part of the play. “

Rhoads had not seen the play when I spoke to him Monday. By Wednesday, he had seen the video.

“I also spoke with the official,” Rhoads said. “What happened was, those two players were jawing with each other, back and forth, a couple times on plays preceding [the third down].

“On this particular play, he stands in there and tells them again to knock it off. And, at the end of the play, No. 19 [Dowling] from Virginia drops his helmet down and butts the Georgia Tech player right in the facemask.

“Is it a vicious hit? No, not at all. It’s not flagrant. You wouldn’t expel a guy from a game or anything like that. But, it just adds to the antagonism of an already [heated] situation.”

When Groh complains about officiating, it generally involves violations that have no effect on the game. Early in the season, he complained about a celebration penalty levied against quarterback Jameel Sewell after he had scored a touchdown in UVa’s season opener against William and Mary.

Groh refers to them as “non-competition” penalties and, the truth be known, Rhoads doesn’t like them any more than Groh does.

“He’s right, but it’s the same way with everything else that happens during the dead ball – late hits, giving the finger to the crowd, player conduct, all of that,” Rhoads said.

“For us to be consistent, whether we like the rule or not, you’ve either got to call them all or call none of them. It’s hard on the officials. You know there are things you can excuse. If they’re just jawing at each other or a little close to being late, you say, ‘Hey, [No.] 48, that’s enough,’ and maybe you can officiate around some of it.

“There’s a point in time where, if you’ve had a lot of warnings, you finally say, ‘That’s enough [nonsense].’ Throw it. Throw the flag. I would not describe it as some egregious situation where you’ve thrown a punch at a guy, but it’s just enough that it creates a retaliatory act.

“So, you just nip it. You hate that it happens in the fourth quarter. We don’t like that any more than the coach or the player or the fans. We don’t have the ability to describe, ‘Well, this is a first-quarter foul,’ or ‘this is a fourth-quarter foul.’ “

IT OCCURRED TO ME that Virginia dropped more passes than normal on a messy afternoon weather-wise against Georgia Tech and, in subsequent days, I came across the name of fourth-year junior wide receiver Staton Jobe.

For those who might have forgotten, Jobe was a walk-on wide receiver from Austin, Texas, who started 12 of 13 games for a 2007 Cavaliers’ team that played in the Gator Bowl and finished 9-4.

It was also Jobe who caught the winning 26-yard touchdown pass from Jameel Sewell in Virginia’s 28-23 victory over Georgia Tech at Scott Stadium.

Two years later, Jobe never got off the bench against Georgia Tech this past Saturday and hasn’t played all season. He had one reception all of last season and no longer travels with the team.

A drop in playing time last year was understandable, given the return of Kevin Ogletree, who had missed the 2007 season, but Ogletree declared for the NFL Draft following the 2008 season and Jobe entered this season with more career starts than any other UVa receiver.

So, what’s happened to Jobe? I asked Groh today on a teleconference.

“Competition,” Groh said. “More players. More players at the position.”

Groh remembered there had been an injury. He said it might have been Deyon Williams, but that was 2006, when Williams was lost for six games. Ogletree missed the entire 2007 season.

“We had some other circumstances there that created an opening for [Jobe] that he did a nice job with,” Groh said. “Now, we’re deeper at the position, with more competitition.”

Since most newspapers (including The Roanoke Times) don’t run cumulative individual statistics for the teams they cover, here are Virginia’s leading wide receivers by reception: Kris Burd 20, Vic Hall 16, Jared Green 12, and Tim Smith and Javaris Brown with seven apiece.

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