Doug Doughty

Doug Doughty's UVa Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.

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It sounded like things might get ugly Saturday when a TV reporter from the Hampton-Newport News area asked Al Groh why he had made a move to redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell in the second half against Western Michigan.

"'Cause the other two quarterbacks had done so well up until that point and I just wanted to be stubborn," Groh said.

No, Virginia’s first two quarterbacks, Christian Olsen and Kevin McCabe, had not done well.

But, Groh was right about one thing. He is stubborn.

When Groh made the move to Sewell at the start of the third quarter, more than a few fans were probably interested to see what Sewell could do.

After the second or third series under Sewell, those same fans had seen enough. They wanted McCabe back in the game. If nothing else, hadn’t McCabe thrown the winning touchdown pass one week earlier in a 13-12 overtime triumph over Wyoming?

True, McCabe had been intercepted twice. Groh has made us fully aware of that. But, what had the other two guys done? Nothing.

On the first interception, the ball sailed on McCabe. Hey, didn’t Matt Schaub sail a few balls during his day? On the second, McCabe had assumed that Mike Robertson would “sit” on his route, instead of drift to the outside, as Robertson did and as the play called for.

However, there was something else that few of us -- Groh or the media -- have mentioned. On the play before the interception that Western Michigan returned for the eventual game-winning touchdown, McCabe had completed a 5-yard pass to Tom Santi on second-and-3.

An apparent first down was wiped out when wide receiver Kevin Ogletree was called for holding ahead of the play. To make matters worse, Ogletree turned his ankle on the play. He limped off the field and in came Robertson.

If Ogletree stays in the game, maybe he gets a little more separation from the defender on second-and-7. If Ogletree doesn’t hold on the play, maybe Virginia doesn’t call the same pass play on first-and-10.

Not blaming anybody, but that might have been the play of the game.

THE QUESTION I get more than any other is, “Is Al on the hot seat?”

My answer is no.

First of all, after four consecutive winning season and three bowl victories, Groh doesn’t deserve to lose his job because of one bad season.

Secondly, Groh has five more seasons on a contract that pays him $1.7 million per year and – GET THIS ! – has little or no buyout.

Didn’t Virginia learn its lesson with Pete Gillen? How does that happen?

People have left voice mails critical of athletic director Craig Littlepage, but I’m not sure Littlepage is to blame.

During the time when Littlepage and senior associate athletic director Jon Oliver were trying to fill the men’s basketball job, sources say that Groh cozied up to president John Casteen and got Casteen to sign off on the new contract.

If Casteen agreed to a new contract for Groh without a buyout, then they really do need to erect a monument to him in Blacksburg.

(By the way, have you checked out the Web site “dontfirealgroh.com?” It’s the work of some Virginia Tech fans and they’re proud of it.)

WHEN YOU TALK about Groh’s stubbornness, how about his decision not to offer a scholarship to current Virginia Tech starting quarterback Sean Glennon?

Granted, Tech really hasn’t played anybody, but Glennon currently is ranked first in the ACC in passing efficiency. You know where Virginia is ranked in passing efficiency? The Cavaliers are 108th out of 119 Division I-A teams.

Glennon played at Westfield High School, where the principal, the athletic director and the football coach are all UVa graduates. It’s one of the few schools in the state that ought to be a “Virginia school,” but instead of going after Glennon, the Cavaliers offered a scholarship to Californian Scott Deke.

Deke took the offer but now, three games into his third year, he still hasn’t played in a game and rarely travels to away games. I wish he were a player because he has some Roanoke ties and I could write upon him, but he’s fourth-string.

In passing on Glennon, the Cavaliers probably cost themselves a chance at Glennon’s top receiving target, Eddie Royal, who became a starter and Tech’s leading receiver as a true freshman. It still doesn’t make any sense.

WE ASK THAT you participate in this week’s poll, which is a slight variation on last week’s poll, without the temptation to vote for Vic Hall.