Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Al Groh has coached against his previous employers before. He's had four stints in the ACC and two in the AFC East, among various other coaching jobs (including a year as Falcons special teams coordinator), so none of this is all that new for him.
Saturday will be his first game against the team he coached the previous season since 1997, when he went against the Patriots as the Jets' new linebackers coach. The Jets split the season series.
A defensive end at Virginia in the '60s, this is also Groh's first game against his school since a 30-28 loss to the Cavs as Wake Forest head coach.
When you've been around as long as Al Groh has, nothing ever really happens for the first time.
Comparing resumes: All three of Tech's wins (South Carolina State, North Carolina, Wake Forest) are better than either of Virginia's (Richmond, VMI), but the Cavs have better losses (by three to USC, by 20 to Florida State) than does Tech (by three to Kansas, by 17 to N.C. State).
Like your SEC neighbors, you are both fired.
Cavaliers to watch: Mo Williams, still sulking after Ras-I Dowling, second-team All-ACC last year and a Phil Steele ACC first-teamer this year, will be charged with shutting down Stephen Hill and thus Tech's entire passing game. Last year Demaryius Thomas broke loose for 76 yards on three catches against the 'Hoos, but Hill is no Bay Bay.
That sentence contains the words 'Hoos and Bay Bay, and yet it makes sense.
Senior quarterback Marc Verica has looked great against awful defenses and terrible against decent ones, so this week will definitely clarify where Groh's squad stands.
Vegas says: Tech by 8.5. That shouldn't sound like a lot, but it does.
More to come.