College football fans in the Triangle are no stranger to coaches on the "hot seat."

Just last year, after things again turned sour in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, the job status of North Carolina's John Bunting and N.C. State's Chuck Amato became a weekly topic, especially during the second half of the season. It's an incredibly draining process for any school, and a distraction for the coaches and players on the affected teams.

Entering the 2007 season, Virginia's Al Groh and Clemson's Tommy Bowden were the two ACC coaches most often associated with the "hot seat."

Bowden often jokes about the situation, even bringing up the term "hot seat" in interviews himself. Groh doesn't.

"That's college football, right?" Bowden said, laughing. "I'd say I'm on there every two or three years. That's the world we live in. If you want to do this for a living, you'd better be ready to deal with it."

Bowden took some pressure off this year by beating his father's Florida State team in the opener and helping the Tigers to a 2-0 start. Groh added to the pressure by losing his opener 23-3 at Wyoming, with the Cavaliers being out-gained 471-110. The Cavs bounced back to beat Duke 24-13 last week, but the game was close in the second half.

Groh is in the Triangle this weekend, with 1-1 UVa taking on 1-1 UNC at Kenan Stadium. Looking at both teams' schedules, it's very difficult to imagine either having a winning season without winning this game.

A losing campaign for the Tar Heels, 3-9 last year and playing with one of the youngest teams in America, wouldn't surprise anyone. A losing campaign for the Cavaliers, who often pointed ahead to this fall (with 10 starters back on defense) during last year's 5-7 season, would be met with howls in Charlottesville.

UNC's Butch Davis, like N.C. State's Tom O'Brien and other first-year coaches, will get the benefit of the doubt at this stage of his tenure regardless of his record this season. As always, there will be grumbling if things go poorly, but both Davis and O'Brien have 100 percent job security, and deservedly so. They inherited most of their problems.

Groh, now 43-34 (26-23 ACC) in his seventh season at Virginia, has no such luxury and no such excuses. By year seven, any problems a coach has in his program are HIS problems. There's no blaming the predecessor, no asking for patience during a transition. Those days typically are over by year four or five at the latest.

After the Cavaliers' ugly loss at Wyoming, the team returned to campus to see "Groh Must Go" painted on Beta Bridge, a campus landmark in Charlottesville. Someone created a website with the same words last year, and the site now lists its preferred candidates to replace Groh.

"You're the head coach," Groh said. "You know by the nature of the position that you're gonna take your hits. ... If you can't get hit and get back up, then you can't play the position."

Groh still has four years remaining on a contract that would require a hefty buyout if Virginia officials chose to terminate his deal. But UVa's performance against UNC this weekend is another important chapter in what could turn out to be a season-long drama for the Cavaliers.

ACC FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND

Thursday

West Virginia 31, Maryland 14

Saturday

Virginia (1-1) at North Carolina (1-1), noon, Raycom/LFS

Furman (1-1) at No. 20 Clemson (2-0), 1 p.m.

Ohio (2-0) at No. 18 Virginia Tech (1-1), 1:30 p.m., ESPN360

Florida International (0-2) at Miami (1-1), 3:30 p.m., ESPNU

Army (1-1) at Wake Forest (0-2), 3:30 p.m.

Wofford (2-0) at N.C. State (0-2), 6 p.m., ESPN360

No. 21 Boston College (2-0) at No. 15 Georgia Tech (2-0), 8 p.m., ESPN2

Duke (0-2) at Northwestern (2-0), 8 p.m., Big Ten Network

Florida State (1-1) at Colorado (1-1), 10 p.m., ESPN