Virginia and Texas Tech Set to Battle in Gator Bowl

Story Links

Virginia (9-3, 6-2) vs. Texas Tech (8-4, 4-4)

1 p.m. January 1, 2008 Jacksonville, FL

CBS Sports

CAVALIERS ON NEW YEAR’S DAY
Virginia is 0-3 all time on Jan. 1
UVa last played on New Year’s Day in the 1994 Carquest Bowl, a 31-13 loss to Boston College
The Cavaliers also played in the 1991 Sugar Bowl (Tenneseee 23, UVa 22) and the 1990 Citrus Bowl (Illinois 31, UVa 21)

NOTING UVA’S BOWL HISTORY
Virginia is 7-9 all-time in bowl games, including an 0-5 mark in Florida bowls
UVa won its last bowl game, a 34-31 triumph over Minnesota in the 2005 Music City Bowl
The Cavaliers last played in a Florida bowl in 1999 at the Micronpc.com Bowl in Miami

TIES TO TEXAS TECH
This is Virginia’s first game against Texas Tech, however, there is some history between the two programs
Head coach Al Groh was linebackers coach on Rex Dockery’s Red Raider staff in 1980
While in Lubbock, his second son, Matthew, currently a student in UVa’s law school, was born
The father and older brother of starting wide receiver Staton Jobe, a native of Austin, Texas, played football at Texas
Tech
His father, Jeff, lettered as a wide receiver at Texas Tech from 1972-74 and started against Tennessee the last time the Red
Raiders played in the Gator Bowl in 1973
His older brother, Taylor, lettered for Tech in 2003
UVa offensive coordinator Mike Groh was a freshman on UVa’s roster the last time the Cavaliers played in the Gator
Bowl (1991)

VIRGINIA vs. THE BIG 12
Virginia is 3-4 all-time vs. current members of the Big 122-0 vs. Kansas, 1-2 vs. Texas, and 0-1 vs. both Missouri
and Oklahoma
The Cavaliers have not faced a member of the Big 12 since 1996, a 37-13 home win over Texas
UVa has played one current Big 12 member in a bowl Oklahoma in the Cavaliers’ last trip to the Gator Bowl, a 48-14
loss in the 1991 bowl

A Look at the Match-Up
Here’s a look at the offense vs. defense statistical match-up between the two teams. The number in parenthesis indicates the NCAA rank for that category:

TT OFFENSE VS. UVA DEFENSE
TT rushing yards/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.42 (119)
UVa rushing yards allowed/game . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.0 (21)
TT passing yards/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .475.6 (1)
UVa passing yards allowed/game . . . . . . . . . . . 210.42 (33)
TT total offense/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.00 (2)
UVa total defense/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323.42 (17)
TT scoring offense/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41.75 (6)
UVa scoring defense/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.8 (T13)
UVa takeaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 (T77)
TT giveaways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 (T72)

UVA OFFENSE VS. TT DEFENSE
UVa rushing yards/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126.17 (93)
TT rushing yards allowed/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.0 (78)
UVa passing yards/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203.0 (80)
TT passing yards allowed/game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196.08 (17)
UVa total offense/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329.17 (100)
TT total defense/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367.08 (50)
UVa scoring offense/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.08 (86)
TT scoring defense/game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.8 (51)
TT takeaways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 (T88)
UVa giveaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (T24)