
On Friday, the Virginia Cavaliers (0-2, 0-0 ACC) traveled north to face the Maryland Terrapins (2-0, 0-0 B10) under the lights in College Park. It was the first time the two founding members of the ACC have played each other since 2013, when Maryland left to join the Big Ten and their 79th all-time meeting inside the gridiron. The Terps were coming off the heels of two dominant wins against mid-major teams, while the Cavaliers have had a rougher start to their season, losing a heartbreaking home opener to James Madison University last weekend.
Going into last night’s game, all eyes were on Anthony Colandrea, the Wahoos’ rookie quarterback who’s been forced to step up after starting QB Tony Muskett was injured during a week one game against Tennessee. Colandrea captured the hearts of UVA fans with a great performance against JMU, throwing for 377 yards on 26 attempts with a 77% percent completion rate, also logging two touchdowns and one interception. One of the big questions for the Cavaliers was whether the true first year would be able to do it again.
The Wahoos came out of the gate swinging, forcing a punt on Maryland’s first drive and setting an aggressive tone on offense immediately after. Receiver Malik Washington completed a huge 49-yard play from Colandrea, and Runningback Perris Jones immediately followed it up with a long outside run for a touchdown.
Taulia Tagovailoa, younger brother of star NFL QB Tua Tagovailoa, captained the Terrapin offense from the pocket, leading them into Virginia territory on the next drive. However, Maryland kicker Jack Howes missed a field goal from UVA’s 37-yard line, giving the ball back to the Cavaliers, who capitalized on the turnover, with a passing touchdown from Colandrea to Kobe Pace.
With 4:16 left in the first quarter, Virginia was up 14-0, but tragically for Wahoo fans back home, those would be the only points they’d score all night. Immediately after Colandrea’s touchdown, Maryland’s Braeden Wisloski received UVA’s kickoff on his own 2-yard line and took it all the way to the house. Virginia’s special teams failed to contain Wisloski, allowing him to break away and run 98 yards down the side of the field, scoring the Terrapins’ first points of the night.
That was only the beginning. The rest of the game was nothing short of a thrashing. Just before halftime, Roman Hemby capped off a Maryland drive by running the ball in for a touchdown. Then, early in the third quarter, Tagovailoa threw a deep, deep ball to Jeshuan Jones, leading to a 64-yard touchdown.
At the top of the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers were in the Maryland red zone, down only 7 points- we were totally in the game. So why does the final score look so one-sided? In 9 minutes, Anthony Colandrea threw the ball 3 times. All three of those passes were interceptions, and Maryland converted every single one into a touchdown. Then, with 3 minutes left, Colandrea turned the ball over again, fumbling as he was sacked. The final score of the game was 14-42.
Obviously, a huge share of responsibility for this loss rests on Colandrea’s meltdown. In less than 10 minutes, his constant turnovers turned the game from a close contest into a blowout. I don’t want to criticize him too harshly, as he is a true first-year starting his second game ever. However, an inconsistent O-line wasn’t giving him much help, and our defense, both on the field and in our playcalling, utterly failed to halt the Terrapin offense marching down the field. This loss was especially heartbreaking because of how competitively we played for three quarters, especially against a team so heavily favored to beat us. If UVA football wants to see any success this year, they’re gonna need to make some serious improvements to every part of their game.
This Friday night, the Cavaliers host the NC State Wolfpack (2-1, 0-0 ACC) in their first ACC matchup of the year. The game kicks off at 7:30 at Scott Stadium under the lights and will be available to stream online via the ACC network.
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