CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Praise for Virginia football coach Al Groh came from an unexpected source Sunday at the ACC's Operation Basketball.

Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg made reference to New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick, at which point it was noted that Greenberg was beginning to sound like Belichick's buddy, Groh.

"Tell you what, Al Groh's a lot smarter than all you jokers gave him credit for about four weeks ago," said Greenberg, who shares a New York heritage with Groh.

"I don't know anything about football, but, at this juncture, he might have done the best coaching job I've seen anyone do in my five years in the ACC."

The Cavaliers, who entertain Miami at noon Saturday, were 1-3 before winning four games in a row. Their three losses were by a combined score of 128-20.

"When you're in a tough situation, the hardest thing to do is get your team back on point," Greenberg said. "To go from where they were to where they are and trusting and believing in themselves, that's a testament to their coaches.

"It's phenomenal, really. They barely beat Richmond! As a coach, you'd like to sit down and study, 'What did you do to keep the guys together?' "

On target

Virginia sophomore quarterback Marc Verica is completing an ACC-high 67 percent of his passes and thinks he can do better.

"In games, I'd like to complete between 70 and 75," Verica said. "Obviously, you want to complete every pass, but that's not the case. Sooner or later, you're going to have to throw it away or throw it at someone's feet, or maybe someone will drop a pass."

Remember, that's the games.

"In practice, I like to be in the 90s," Verica said. "There's practices where I'm like 20-of-21 or 19-of-22. And Scott [Deke], too. He's been really accurate in practice. It's kind of a fun thing that we try to do every day. We try to complete every pass and there's days when we try and throw 10 touchdown [passes] combined.

"They keep track of everything that we do in practice: completions, attempts and touchdowns and your quarterback efficiency. The numbers are a little inflated in practice, but it helps you get ready for the games."

Verica has completed 72 percent (103-of-143) of his passes for 929 yards and five touchdowns during UVa's four-game winning streak.

Leitao, too

Not to be outdone by Virginia Tech's Greenberg, Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao sung the praises of Cavaliers' running back Cedric Peerman after his third 100-yard rushing game in the last four games.

"He is as important a player as any team in America has," said Leitao, an avid football fan, particularly of the NFL's New York Giants. "Just talking to the coaches about him and his personality, hearing what he's overcome injury-wise, he's as natural and positive a leader as you'd want.

"If a guy makes a sack and he's jumping up and down like a fool, I'm like, 'What is that for?' If you're in the first quarter and down 13, that doesn't do anything for me as a fan or as a team. What Cedric does on the field or in the locker room is real. It's not contrived."

Stat of the week

When oddsmakers listed Miami as an early one-point favorite this week, it would have marked the 11th straight game dating back to the 2007 season in which Virginia had been the underdog against Division I-A opposition.

The Cavaliers have won eight games as an underdog over the past two seasons but may not have that opportunity this week. By Tuesday, early action supporting the Cavaliers had made Virginia a two-point favorite.

Showdown

Georgia Tech defensive end Michael Johnson, rated the No. 3 prospect on draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest "Big Board," had four tackles Saturday in Virginia's 24-17 victory over the Yellow Jackets. For parts of the afternoon, he was matched against UVa offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, whom Kiper now has at No. 4, down from No. 1 before the season.

Johnson was going up against Monroe when he sacked Verica in the third quarter and caused a fumble that was recovered by teammate Derrick Morgan. Otherwise, Monroe was pleased with what he was able to accomplish and told Johnson after the game that he expected to see him again.

Sack talk

Virginia outside linebacker Clint Sintim, who has moved up to 18th on Kiper's list, was given another half-sack following a review of Saturday's game film and has an ACC-high 10 sacks for the season. He has moved into third place on UVa's all-time sack list, supplanting Darryl Blackstock, the only linebacker ahead of him.