Coach Al Groh said Sunday that he is planning to give the Cavaliers most of the week off, unlike their first bye week in early September. They practiced Monday through Thursday of that week, then took the weekend off. This time they will get a significantly longer break.

"Coming down the homestretch," Groh said, "it's important to give the players some rest so they can be as frisky as possible."

Virginia (6-3, 4-2 ACC) will need some fresh legs to compete against its final four opponents, who have a combined record of 28-5. The Cavaliers still need one more victory to become bowl-eligible, since Georgia Tech snapped their six-game winning streak Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

UVa travels to No. 20 Penn State (5-3) on Nov. 9, followed by home games against No. 10 N.C. State (9-0) and defending ACC champion Maryland (6-2). The last regular-season game is at No. 3 Virginia Tech (8-0).

"Obviously this is the homestretch," Groh said. "The goal is to put yourself in position to have a really good season. I think that's what we've done."

The Cavaliers stumbled against Georgia Tech, losing 23-15 after falling behind 23-0 in the first half. They had rallied from halftime deficits to win four games, but this time the deficit proved too large to overcome.

"We've done that too many times, falling behind like that," said defensive end Chris Canty. "It finally bit us in the butt. We have to play better the whole game."

With two weeks before the next game, freshman tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson said, "I think we'll have time to reassess our game and work on some things we need to improve."

Groh said it would be easy to justify practicing this week, but he is putting a higher priority on getting healthy. Among those who could use time to recuperate are right guard Elton Brown, who played just 13 snaps against Georgia Tech because of ankle problems. The bye week, Groh said, "should be a panacea for his ills."

Others who stand to benefit are linebackers Angelo Crowell, who made 15 tackles against the Yellow Jackets but is still slowed by injuries in both knees, and Darryl Blackstock, who recorded just two tackles and no sacks after hurting his lower back early in the game.

Three other freshmen - tailback Michael Johnson, safety Willie Davis and cornerback Marcus Hamilton - also have been slowed or sidelined by injuries and could contribute after the break.

Just about every player is banged up and bruised at this point. The Cavaliers have been practicing since the first week of August, so some rest is just what the doctor ordered before the final month of the regular season.

"It's going to be a tough four-game stretch," said quarterback Matt Schaub, who completed 41 of 58 passes, both school records, for a career-high 372 yards against Georgia Tech. "We need to come out refreshed and ready to go."

Virginia didn't look particularly fresh or ready to go Saturday. Asked about the injuries, Groh said he did not want to use them as an excuse for the loss.

"But the honest answer is there are a lot of players who will probably feel friskier in two weeks than they did [Saturday]," he said.

After staging five come-from-behind wins in their last six games, Virginia's magic went poof in the darkness surrounding Grant Field on Saturday night.

Undaunted by halftime deficits during that stretch, culminating in last week's rally from 21 down at intermission in disposing of crusty old rival North Carolina, the Cavaliers spotted a desperate Georgia Tech team 23 points and paid the price. Virginia stumbled and bumbled the entire half.

But hold on.

Could it be that Coach Al Groh had an endless supply of Get-Out-of-Jail-Free cards in his pocket?

The Wahoos stiffened up in the second half as the struggling Yellow Jackets understandably became more conservative in hopes of snapping a two-game losing skid. UVa, in spite of its bungles, still had a chance to win, or at least send the game into overtime.

Virginia's much-maligned defense played a hair-chested stretch in the second half, shutting out the Ramblin' Wreck and the offense staged another comeback that nearly wrecked Tech's chances for the win.

Groh decided to ditch the running game after falling far behind and went airborne, riding quarterback Matt Schaub's passing arm in hopes of a comeback. Schaub completed 41 of 58 passes, both school records, for 372 yards to engineer the rally. He threw 10 passes and ran the ball three

times, including an 8-yard run for a touchdown on a quarterback draw, followed by a similar run for the two-point conversion to get the Cavaliers within striking distance at 23-15 wth 2:58 to play.

After forcing Tech to punt, Schaub went to the two-minute drill, nickle-and-diming the Jackets' weary defense to death. The Cavaliers marched from their own 14 to midfield before Schaub threw his first interception in his last 103 attempts as another cardiac finish was dashed with 1:25 remaining.

"We let it get away from us in the first half," said UVa linebacker Merrill Robertson, who had 11 tackles. "I knew it was going to catch up to us pretty soon if we kept doing that."

While Groh became known as "Mr. Intermission" for his strategical halftime adjustments during Virginia's six-game winning streak, leading to miraculous finishes, most of the adjusting he had to do with his team this time was more mental than physical.

The coach had pointed the finger at himself for last week's deficit. He had told his team that he coached a bad half, took all the blame, then watched an inspired bunch of Wahoos fight back to win 37-27.

This time, the blame fell elsewhere.

Georgia Tech had simply outplayed Virginia in every phase of the game in building a 23-0 lead before a homecoming crowd. While a somewhat erratic Kurt Smith had frittered away an early Cavalier scoring opportunity by missing a 25-yard field goal, Groh was more disturbed about later occurances.

"We didn't play well to go down 13-0," said Groh. "What I didn't like was what went on between 13-0 and 23-0. That's when we fell out of character."

It seemed like the fight had been taken out of the Cavaliers for most of the second quarter and Groh wasn't going to stand for it. Normally, there isn't much emotion shown at halftime of these deficits. This time, Groh challenged his team to show some guts.

What drew Groh's wrath was an offense that sputtered the entire second quarter. On three possessions, the Cavs stalled and ran out of downs at the Tech 23, coming away with nothing; gave up two sacks and punted; then went three-and-out.

Meanwhile, the defense was even worse.

They allowed Tech, not exactly an offensive juggernaut coming into the game, to march 84 yards, almost at will in less than three minutes for a distancing touchdown. Then, the Jackets drove 77 yards on 14 plays to the doorstep of Virginia's goal line and settled for a field goal to go up 23-0, a deficit the Cavaliers couldn't overcome.

"Last week [against Carolina], was a game where we were behind because of some things that weren't going to happen again in the second half, like a fake field goal and some mistakes on our part," said Groh. "This week, we were behind because we were playing poorly and the other team was playing well."

Virginia came to Hot-lanta hoping to make bowl reservations after winning its seventh game in a row. All the Cavaliers got from this southern excursion was a chance to regain its self-respect with an admirable but futile rebound in the second half.

Groh said a bowl game was the last thing on his agenda, but rather a shot at winning the ACC championship was what he sought. Realistic or not, dropping to 4-2 in the league burst that bubble.

Now, winning seven becomes a crusade against perhaps the toughest finishing stretch in the country: Penn State, Maryland, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

With a week off to think about it, at least Groh and his Cavaliers can rest with the notion that they rediscovered themselves in the second half and perhaps finally learned a lesson about digging holes too deep.