Associated Press

Quarterback Jameel Sewell (10) is playing his final game at Scott Stadium, where UVa is winless this season against the ACC.

At least partly because of his inability to beat Virginia Tech, nine-year Virginia football coach Al Groh appears likely to lose his job.

He hasn't lost his team.

"Coach Groh's going through a lot, man," said Jameel Sewell, UVa's fifth-year quarterback. "There's nothing I want to do more than get Coach Groh this win against Virginia Tech."

Groh said he was touched by Sewell's "win one for Al" mentality.

"And, it's very reciprocal," Groh said. "I'd like to see us win the game for all these kids who have put so much into it for so long."

None of the UVa players has ever beaten Virginia Tech and Groh hasn't beaten the Hokies since 2003, when a Matt Schaub-led Cavaliers team defeated Virginia Tech 35-21 in Charlottesville.

Groh has lost seven times in eight games with the Hokies.

Seldom have the odds been greater. Fourteenth-ranked Tech (8-3, 5-2 ACC) started the week as a 13-point favorite over the Cavaliers (3-8, 2-5) and the betting line has subsequently risen to 16.

Virginia co-captain Aaron Clark said he feels there would be a void in his career without a single victory over the Hokies.

"That would be pretty disheartening," said Clark, a fifth-year outside linebacker from Rockbridge County, "I don't know if I could stand hearing that every day. I know it's No. 1 on my list and No. 1 on a lot of other people's lists, too.

"You couldn't trade me any amount of money for beating Virginia Tech."

Determination is one thing. When Groh was asked recently why his team was no longer winning at home, he responded in one word, "Talent."

The Cavaliers have lost seven of their last eight home games and have not beaten an ACC opponent at home in more than a year. Attendance has dipped into the low 40,000s at 61,500-seat Scott Stadium and a sellout crowd today is certain to include a large Tech following.

"It's always been like that," Clark said. "Growing up in Lexington, Virginia, you get that all time. Regardless of whether you're a UVa fan or you went to UVa or you played football there, they're going to get on you pretty good."

Groh's job status was in question after the 2008 season, when UVa declined to exercise the rollover clause in his contract following a 5-7 season. He was left with three years remaining on a pact that has escalated to more than $2 million per year.

Groh twice has been named ACC coach of the year, but, under his watch, UVa has now suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1981-82. This is the Cavaliers' third losing season in four years, but the last time they had as few as three wins in a season was in 1986, when UVa was 3-8.

Virginia's five-game losing streak is its longest since 2001, Groh's first season at his alma mater. The Cavaliers haven't lost as many as six games in a row since they lost the last three games of the 1981 season under Dick Bestwick, then lost their first five games the next year under then new coach George Welsh.

The 1982 season was also the last time UVa lost as many as nine games in a season. The Cavaliers were 2-9 that season.

Clark spoke recently of the players' awareness of the big picture and that coaches with families could lose their jobs, "but, we as players, choose not to get involved with that," he said. "Coach [Groh] is a grown man. He's schooled in this world of football. All we can do is play our hearts out for him."

Virginia has a core of fifth-year seniors who play critical roles. They include the likes of Sewell, Clark, linebacker Denzel Burrell, slot receiver Vic Hall, running backs Mikell Simpson and Rashawn Jackson, offensive tackle Will Barker, cornerback Chris Cook, safety Brandon Woods, and linebacker Darren Childs.

The constant speculation on Groh's coaching future has been hard for the players to ignore.

"It's difficult," Burrell said. "It's definitely difficult because, as much as you try to avoid it, [it's always there]. As a player, I turn on the television; I read the newspaper. We know how big of a win this would be, not only for us as players but for the coaches.

"We've all been hurting the same this year. We've put even more emphasis on winning this for Coach [Groh] because of what he's done over the years. It really kind of sucks to hear what might happen."

After a 34-21 loss at Clemson last week, co-captain and fourth-year UVa senior Nate Collins went so far as to say that the Cavaliers would look at the Tech game as their bowl game. That's probably not the first time that analogy has been used, but Collins went one step further this week.

"Beating Virginia Tech might be better than winning any bowl game we could end up in," Collins said. "Why not play every play like it's your last? And for some people it is."