UVa hopes to sweat out victory in Miami

Virginia’s football practices this week were conducted in sweats, not because the temperature was low in Charlottesville, but rather to try to imitate the heat the Wahoos will face today in Miami.

“It’s hard to simulate, but we’re trying to get as close to it as we can here,” receiver Vic Hall said.

That said, it would be hard to find a player who gripes about a November trip to South Florida. The Cavs got their fun in the sun Friday, now this afternoon it’s down to business against a Miami team that dodged a bullet — in the form of a 60-yard field goal — last week against Wake Forest.

For the Hoos, it’s an opportunity to reclaim a season that has started to slide away from them in recent weeks. The road won’t get any easier, though, as today starts a stretch of four games against quick teams with a winning record.

“We’ve probably entered into the speed part of our schedule — the high-speed part,” coach Al Groh said.

This will be the first time the teams have met in Land Shark Stadium. The last time UVa invaded Miami, the team knocked off the Hurricanes 48-0 in the final game at the Orange Bowl.

“It was quite the big dog-and-pony show, and all the big guns were brought in to make it quite a celebration,” Groh said. “That particular team really took the challenge and played about as well as we could possibly play, as well as we’ve ever played against a real quality opponent.”

Today’s game will be played under less pomp and circumstance, though it is homecoming at Miami.

In recent weeks the ’Canes have shown signs of slipping after a strong start — they lost to Clemson, then there was last week’s nail-biter at the Demon Deacons, but Hall said that the Cavs won’t be making any assumptions.

“We can’t say that just because it happened to them, it will happen to us,” he said. “They’re very talented, with lots of speed, so we’ll have to match our speed and talent with execution.”

Part of that is the fertile recruiting ground that Miami occupies. Florida and Texas are regarded as the top places in the country to scout out high-school talent, and many out-of-state colleges have a presence there.

Virginia’s is minimal, and kicker Robert Randolph is the only starter from the sunshine state. Cornerback Mike Parker and tight end Paul Freedman are also from the area.

“There’s a lot of fish in that sea, and you have to know where to drop your hook,” Groh said. “It’s difficult to recruit there unless you do it actively.”

He said that when he was hired as Virginia’s coach, he wanted to put a stronger emphasis on recruiting in-state students.

Two of the more prominent offensive players, Hall and quarterback Jameel Sewell, fit that criteria, and today they’ll look to tame Florida’s finest and put UVa back on the right track.