Kevin Parks and the Hoos hope to stop a three-game slide.

We may look back Virginia’s 44-38 loss to Louisiana Tech as the defining game of the 2012 season. Not so much from a won-loss perspective, but from a wake-up call perspective. Even after posting 625 yards and a 7.81 yards per play average against the 122nd ranked defense in the nation, Virginia still could not win a game on its home turf. Why not? Missed tackles, no power running game, poor pass coverage, and coaching blunders. If Saturday’s game showed us anything, it shows that there is a drastic need for Virginia’s rah-rah head coach to get in the faces of coaches and personnel and make some changes in who and how his team plays the game.

Greg’s Grades

Let’s take a quick glance at the grades in a season-long table and a one-game snapshot. As a reminder, all 12 opponents have been assigned a rating. In response to many reader requests, I instituted an Opponent Strength Rating (OSR) number in the weekly grades. All 12 opponents have been assigned an OSR number based on where they rank among the 120 FBS schools. The top 15 make up Tier 5 and the bottom 15 programs make up Tier 1. The middle 50 teams are assigned a Tier 3 rating and the remaining 40 make up Tier 2 and Tier 4, respectively. So the breakdown looks like this: Teams 1-15, Tier 5; Teams 16-35, Tier 4; Teams 36-85, Tier 3; Teams 86-105, Tier 2; Teams 106-120, Tier 1.

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