[dlk9s]

(Disclaimer: I'm a Virginia fan)

I think Virginia's true ranking is somewhere in between the computer and human polls.

I have no idea how the computer polls crank out their rankings, but the human polls are pretty easy to explain. Virginia was supposed to be pretty mediocre this year, a borderline bowl team. The horrible loss to Wyoming, in which they gained 100 total yards essentially made it so that voters would not even give them the time of day until they reeled off about four in a row (deservedly so).

Those two things, combined with most of the wins being by 5 points or less (the last 3 are by a combined 4 points) over unimpressive teams, cause people to think Virginia is just "lucky" and doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the top ten.

Now, I don't think Virginia is a top ten team. But, with a record of 7-1, I think somewhere in the 12-16 range is accurate.

Not that anyone looks at it, nor does it really matter, but Virginia pretty dominated most of the Duke, UNC, and GT games, only to let them make runs in the 2nd half (GT actually took the lead). Statistically, Virginia crushed Maryland, except for being able to get the ball in the end zone (Virginia's 4th string RB had more yards than the entire Maryland team). The UConn and MTSU were most definitely close throughout.

Virginia suffers simply from being unimpressive, despite the victories, and it doesn't help at all that there isn't a big marquee win on the schedule. Virginia has had problems on offense, but they have been improving (as evidenced by the large yardage totals against UMD, just not visible in the score). Plus, their #1 WR has been out all year, their #2 WR has been injured, their #1 RB, who was leading the ACC in rushing, has been out for almost three games, and against UMD, their #1 TE got hurt.

The defense, on the other hand, is quite stout.

So, long story short, the team has a really good record, but the wins have been close over sub-standard competition. Are they top ten? No. Top 15? Yeah, I think so. And ugly 7-1 is still 7-1.

The final three games (at NC State first, which sets up to be a trap game) will be the test. Wake, at Miami, Virginia Tech. All winnable, but all losable.