CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim would have preferred that the first three-sack game of his college career had not ended with an ejection

At first, Sintim did not even know he had been ejected after a late hit on Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon.

"He rolled out of the pocket and I hit him," said Sintim following the Hokies' 33-21 victory at Scott Stadium. "I saw the penalty [flag]. I didn't think much of it."

The next thing Sintim saw was back-up Aaron Clark coming onto the field and motioning to indicate that he was replacing Sintim.

"I thought Coach [Al Groh] was pulling me out," Sintim said.

It wasn't until later that Sintim learned he had been ejected. ACC official Mike Finn said the ejection would not result in a one-game suspension.

Only a fighting-related ejection results in a suspension.

"It wasn't intentional," Sintim said. "I'm not a dirty player by any means. I play with a lot of emotion."

Sintim went looking for Glennon after the game.

"I made it a point to go find him and let him know that I'm not that type of guy and I didn't do it on purpose," he said. "I wasn't trying to be malicious.

"I found Glennon after the game. He was very understanding. He accepted my apology."

Groh said after the game that Sintim told him he was confused because Glennon "was doing some funky stuff."

Funkmaster Glennon explained the situation in a trip to the Tech interview area.

"The play was for me to run around and wait for as long as possible and then take a knee," Glennon said.

"Then, about a second later, he popped me."

The postgame meeting was amicable.

"He said 'my bad' and that he shouldn't have done that," Glennon said. "I said, 'Apology accepted.' That was about it."

Sintim, who has eight sacks for the season, was credited with 10 tackles.

"I thought [the ejection] was unnecessary," Groh said. "It cast a player in an unnecessarily negative light."

Tiki, too

After Chris Long learned in a pregame ceremony that his jersey No. 91 was being retired, former UVa and NFL star Tiki Barber from Roanoke had his jersey No. 21 retired at halftime.

Groh said it was "fitting" for Long to be recognized as one of Virginia's all-time greats, "plus, it provides us the opportunity now to go ahead and retroactively do the same thing over a period of time for other players who deserve the same kind of recognition."

Virginia has retired the numbers of six former players, the last of whom was Shawn Moore, the ACC player of the year in 1990. UVa stopped retiring numbers out of fear that it would run out of numbers.

Personnel

True freshman cornerback Ras-I Dowling, a starter in the previous two games, suffered a concussion on Virginia's first punt and was not in the game for one play from scrimmage. Dowling entered play Saturday with a team-high eight pass break-ups.

n Groh eventually turned to Chris Gould for all punts after Tech's block of a Ryan Weigand attempt led to a first-quarter field goal. Groh said the snap was slightly wayward but that Weigand had an "unusually slow" approach. Before Saturday, Gould only had been used from inside the 50 or slightly outside of it.

Tech had blocked only one kick all season before Saturday.

By the numbers

Junior linebacker Jon Copper from Roanoke had a game-high 11 tackles, giving him a team-high 103 for the season. No Virginia player has had more than 103 tackles in a season since Ahmad Brooks had 117 in 2003. ... Virginia had a season-high six sacks, three by Sintim, two by Long and one by Jeffrey Fitzgerald. On the flip side, the Cavaliers allowed six sacks.

Odds 'n' ends

The game was attended by scouts from the Orange and the Champs Sports Bowl. The ACC champion goes to the Orange Bowl. The Champs Sports Bowl has the fourth choice of ACC teams to face the fifth choice of Big Ten teams.

n Athletic director Craig Littlepage's postgame reaction indicated that he was aware of allegations that a men's basketball assistant had offered Tech-UVa football tickets for sale on the Internet.