After the season ended, coach Al Groh said he was not ready to "anoint" Sewell as the unquestioned starter for the 2007 season. McCabe transferred to another school and the other two returning quarterbacks had not taken a game snap, but highly recruited quarterback Peter Lalich joined the Cavaliers in 2007. In the season opening loss at Wyoming, Lalich replaced an ineffective Sewell. Lalich continued to be the quarterback in a few series for the next few games until Sewell led the Cavaliers to several narrow victories with fourth quarter scoring drives. Lalich temporarily replaced an injured Sewell in games against N.C. State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Texas Tech. Virginia lost three of those four games. Sewell was not allowed to enroll at the University for the spring 2008 semester due to his academic standing. He decided against transferring to a Division I-AA school which would have allowed him to play in the 2008 season and announced plans to return to Virginia for the spring 2009 semester.