CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Numbers will prevent Chris Gould from being remembered as one of the great place-kickers in Virginia football history.

He'll be remembered, though, especially by UVa head coach Al Groh.

"What Chris Gould did to elevate his game is as big a factor in changing the result of the season as anything else," Groh said earlier this month. "We had a new kicker this year. He just had the same name."

After converting only 11 of 19 field goals in Virginia's 5-7 season in 2006, Gould changed to a two-step approach and has gone 15-for-19 as a senior.

What's more, he's had a flair for the dramatic.

Gould's 35-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining at Middle Tennessee State was responsible for a 23-21 victory, but that's not all.

Gould, younger brother of Chicago Bears place-kicker Robbie Gould, earlier had tied a school record with five field goals in a 22-20 victory at North Carolina.

"If he had gone 4-for-5, it would have been a heckuva day for him," Groh said, "but we would have lost."

Gould also had one field goal in each of Virginia's three one-point victories -- over Connecticut, Maryland and Wake Forest.

Virginia (9-3) is one of two teams in ACC history to claim three one-point victories in a season and the Cavaliers are the only Division I team with five victories by either one or two points.

"Wake Forest, a year ago when they won the ACC championship, had a bunch of those kind of games," Groh said. "Our players have done a real good job of doing the little things, like not turning the ball over with high frequency [or] not going backwards with penalties."

It takes one other thing:

"If your field-goal kicker has a great year, you might win two or three games that you might have lost," Groh said.

In the eyes of the people who select the finalists for the Lou Groza Award, Gould did not have a good enough year to join six other ACC kickers among six semifinalists for the trophy that goes to the nation's top place-kicker.

You won't hear any complaints from Virginia, which also used Gould as a directional punter. Fifteen of his 21 punts were downed inside the opponents' 20-yard line.

He also had three tackles on special teams, more than one of the bone-crunching variety.

Gould was a punt, pass and kick champion in central Pennsylvania and actually began kicking footballs before his older brother, who now serves as a mentor.

"He's been the reason for all my success," said Chris, who worked out with his brother in Chicago this summer. "Any time you let your little brother come live with you and you're in the NFL ... I mean, I was only 20, so I'm sure that's a little hindrance to some of his plans for the summer."

Robbie Gould already had made a conversion to the two-step kicking method when his brother turned to that approach this summer.

"My whole thought process was to get better results," Gould said. "Eleven-for-19 doesn't cut it."

Gould ranks seventh on Virginia's all-time list with 26 field goals but he's been the Cavaliers' place-kicker for only two years. He was on track for a redshirt year in 2004 but made his debut as a punter in the ninth game of that season.

"Some people are here to break records," Gould said, "but I was only here to win football games."

That's another reason why the 2006 season was so demoralizing.

"The game that always sticks out in my mind is the Miami game, when I missed a 42- and a 41-yarder," he said.

Actually, that was a game the Cavaliers won, 17-7.

Gould thinks it's harder to kick at home than on the road and his numbers bear that out. Over the past two seasons, he is 15-for-19 on the road and 11-for-19 at Scott Stadium.

That's good news for the kids who like to collect wristbands and other treasure from players leaving the field.

"I guess my mistakes on the field get taken out on the equipment," said Gould when asked about superstitions. "If I'm wearing wristbands and I miss a kick, I'll throw those to the side. If I miss a field goal, I take the cleats that I was wearing and set them aside and put on a new pair."

Gould wants to kick as long as he can, while realizing that only the top 32 kickers in the world -- as he sees it -- can kick in the NFL.

He saw his older brother get cut by New England before catching on with Chicago and he has seen Virginia record-holder Connor Hughes waived in consecutive seasons after kicking 66 field goals at UVa.

The Cavaliers never asked Gould to become another Hughes and have never questioned his commitment.

"Give Chris a lot of credit," Groh said. "He completely changed his style to make himself a more effective kicker. That's a great lesson in life. A lot of times, people want to change their circumstances. They just don't want to change themselves."