The momentum Virginia had generated in its comeback victory at Wake Forest must have dissipated at some point during halftime of the game against Maryland on Saturday night. Anthony Colandrea had just scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown run with one second remaining to put the Cavaliers ahead of the Terrapins 13-7 at halftime.

Sure, UVA had missed some opportunities to build a bigger lead, but the defense was playing well, the offense was having some success moving the ball, and the Cavaliers’ outlook was generally pretty good considering they were set to receive the ball to start the second half.

Instead, Virginia went three-and-out to start the third quarter, beginning a chart of second-half possessions for the Virginia offense that looked like this: three-and-out, interception, three-and-out, three-and-out, fumble, turnover on downs.

30 frustrating minutes later, Virginia’s 13-7 halftime lead turned into a disappointing 27-13 defeat, the first loss of the 2024 season.

So, what went wrong?

It begins, as it so often does in college football, in the trenches. Virginia’s offensive line is in pretty bad shape right now. If you looked behind the south end zone during Saturday’s game, you would have seen a long line of inactive UVA football players sporting sweatpants, boots, crutches, casts, and slings. Many of those injured Cavaliers are offensive linemen.

Ethan Sipe and Drake Metcalf are the big ones, two transfers who were expected to provide important depth snaps, but who are now lost for the season. But there are others like Charlie Patterson and Noah Hartsoe whose absences are also notable. Most significantly, starting left tackle McKale Boley has yet to play this season as he continues to deal with an ankle injury. Terry Heffernan just doesn’t have as many pieces to work with as he was supposed to.

Anthony Colandrea was only sacked once on Saturday night, but he was hurried seven times and frequently had to throw the ball away. Though Virginia’s ground game wasn’t bad – 123 total rushing yards and 4.1 yards per carry – it wasn’t good enough to be leaned on consistently.

Virginia’s playcalling did not take the lack of protection into account nearly enough. With Colandrea having almost no time to scan the field, the Cavaliers needed shorter routes for their best playmakers, namely Malachi Fields, who had just four catches for only 36 yards. UVA hit on a few big plays – the 45-yard bomb from Colandrea to Trell Harris comes to mind – but Colandrea’s opportunities to give his receivers time to run long-developing routes like that were few and far between.

Even in the first half, when Virginia managed to drive the ball deep into Maryland territory, the red zone playcalling left much to be desired. The 45-yard pass to Trell Harris gave the Cavaliers first and goal from the 6-yard line. Kobe Pace ran the ball down for four yards to the 2 and then the Cavaliers attempted two passes, both falling incomplete, before settling for a 19-yard chip shot from Will Bettridge.

On their next drive, the Cavaliers again reached the red zone, but more immediate pressure on Colandrea forced a throwaway and another short field goal. It’s still early, but Virginia has scored touchdowns on only five of its 12 trips to the red zone this season. That’s not nearly good enough execution at the most important part of the field.

And then there’s Anthony Colandrea. One of the biggest keys we mentioned in the lead-up to Saturday’s game was Colandrea taking care of the football. His worst game from a turnover standpoint came against Maryland last year, when he threw three picks on consecutive possessions in the second half, turning that game into a blowout. This time around it was, unfortunately for Colandrea and the Hoos, not that much different. The Anthony Colandrea experience necessitates taking the bad with the good in terms of high-risk, high-reward plays, but when you combine his willingness to put the ball in jeopardy with the fact that he was consistently under pressure, the outcome is a three-turnover game for Colandrea, four turnovers for Virginia as a team, and a shutout in the second half.

Also contributing to that scoreless outcome was the fact that the Cavaliers converted on just three of their 15 third down attempts, while Maryland went 8/19. The disparity in third down conversions and turnover margin led to a significant advantage in time of possession for the Terrapins, who possessed the ball for 35:36 of gametime.

As for the Virginia defense, this was far from a bad game and it was really the turnovers/time of possession factor that was primarily responsible for Maryland putting up 27 points. The UVA offense was unable to sustain drives in the second half and turned the ball over four times. The Cavalier defense held the Terps to only seven points in the first half and did not allow any points off of the first three turnovers by the Virginia offense. It should also be mentioned that two of Maryland’s three touchdown drives started around midfield.

With that said, there are three things that are concerning for the UVA defense moving forward:

1. Despite knowing that Maryland’s offensive game plan was going to involve frequently putting the ball in the hands of Tai Felton, the nation’s leading receiver, the Cavaliers were unable to stop Felton, who had nine catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
2. After breaking through for six sacks against Wake Forest last week, the UVA pass rush reverted to being relatively unimpactful, sacking Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. only once.
3. Injuries. Namely, linebacker Kam Robinson missed the game after spraining his knee in the game against Wake Forest. We’ll see if Tony Elliott has positive news about a timetable for Robinson’s return at this week’s press conference.

This loss is by no means the end of the world for Virginia. But it does represent a massive missed opportunity to make a statement by defeating a rival and improving to 3-0 for the first time since the legendary 2019 season. It especially feels like a missed opportunity given the fact that UVA went to the red zone twice before Maryland had scored a point and came away with just six points and given that the Terrapins committed eight penalties for 66 yards.

What this frustrating defeat does mean, however, is that next week’s game at Coastal Carolina now becomes even more important than it already was. The Cavaliers cannot miss this opportunity to get to 3-1 and it might just be a must-win game with regards to Virginia’s aspirations to become bowl eligible this season.

By the Numbers: Breaking Down Virginia’s 27-13 Loss to Maryland

Virginia Shut Out in 2nd Half, Suffers First Loss of Season to Maryland

Virginia vs. Maryland Live Score Updates | NCAA Football

1. Virginia Tech’s Defense

The Hokies’ defense had an excellent night against the pass this weekend, only giving up 50 total passing yards and no passing touchdowns, along with an interception. The defense held Old Dominion scoreless in the first quarter and only 17 yards of total offense for the entire first quarter alone. The defense, however, struggled against the run in certain situations, giving up 240 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns with one coming in the final few minutes of the game. The defense outside of the final touchdown when the game was out of reach, held Old Dominion to a touchdown and a field goal for most of the game.

2. Virginia Tech’s Run Game

Virginia Tech ran all over the field the whole game, with nothing but fierce intentions. Quarterback Kyron Drones had a huge run for 53 yards where he stiff-armed and ran over defenders, runningback Bhayshul Tuten had a couple of similar runs as well, where he broke tackles for touchdowns. The Hokies offense ran for 289 yards and had 3 total rushing touchdowns from QB Kyron Drones and RB Bhayshul Tuten.

3. Offense Came Out Swinging

In the first quarter, the Hokies offense exploded with two touchdowns on back-to-back drives. The Hokies’ protection was the best this season allowing no sacks and giving the offense enough time to develop for both passing and running. Virginia Tech wide receiver Jaylin Lane had 106 receiving yards in the first quarter and a touchdown with his longest reception coming in at 46 yards off a wild pass play. Kyron Drones was able to get outside the pocket and make throws down the field, which led to a lethal rushing attack for him finishing the game with 117 rush yards and a rushing touchdown.

4. Offense And Defense Needs Consistency Through All Quarters

It was a tale of two quarters in the first half for the Hokies, the first quarter they came out on fire but then the second quarter are held scoreless. The offense only managed to get 80 yards of offense in the second quarter and the defense struggled against the run.

The defense allowed Old Dominion QB Quinn Henicle to get a 65-yard touchdown in the second quarter and gave up a total of 176 rushing yards in the second quarter. These two things cannot happen as the season progresses, or it will be a lot tougher to win games against ranked teams who can be consistent on both sides of the ball.

5. The Offensive Line Played Great

The offensive line was an underrated key to victory in this one, as they kept the backfield clean and a place to get things done. The offensive line for the first time this season gave up 0 sacks the whole game and were key factors for the offense as a whole being able to be as explosive as they were, having a total of 465 yards. The most yards this season by the Hokies through the first 3 games that they’ve played and the most points they’ve scored. If the line can keep up this consistency along with the rest of the offense, the Hokies could go far this season as the defense has proven they can play well enough through most of the game.

The Virginia Cavaliers (2-1) suffered their first defeat of the season with a 27-13 loss to the Maryland Terrapins (2-1) on Saturday night at Scott Stadium. 

Both defenses had the upper hand through the first two quarters. UVA was forced to settle for two early field goals inside the 10-yard line, which is not a recipe to win against quality football teams. In the postgame presser, Coach Tony Elliott spoke about how important it is to “come away with touchdowns” when in the red zone, but mentioned he was still happy to walk away with early field goals as the Hoos built a lead. 

The Virginia defense kept Virginia in the game early, applying strong pocket pressure on Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards, who couldn’t quite seem to find a rhythm out of the gate. Notably, the Maryland offense was also quite erratic with penalties. The Terrapins totaled seven penalties for 51 yards in the first half of the contest.  

The Virginia offense was quite lackluster themselves, despite amassing 288 total first half yards. Colandrea and Co. went just 2 of 8 on third down conversions through the first two quarters, and coupled with two bad turnovers from Colandrea (1 fumble, 1 interception) the Virginia offense was far from spectacular. 

The first sign of life from both offenses came at the very end of the half. The Billy Edwards – Tai Felton connection came to life, with Edwards finding Felton on consecutive 15+ yard passes, with the second being a 19-yard TD for Maryland’s first score of the contest.  

The Virginia offense responded with their most exciting drive of the game.  With less than a minute left in the half, Colandrea found tight end Tyler Neville for a 41-yard gain to set the Hoos up in the red zone with just nine seconds left in the half. Colandrea danced his way around the Maryland defense and rushed in for the Cavaliers’ first score of the game, giving the Hoos a 13-7 halftime lead.

The Terrapins took over from the jump in the second half. After a Virginia three-and-out, Edwards and the Maryland offense orchestrated one of the stronger drives of the game, finding the endzone on a 8-play, 68-yard drive capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kaden Prather.  

Poor offensive play compounded for the Hoos. On the next drive, Colandrea turned the ball over for the third time on the day, floating a weak pass down the sideline that was intercepted by Maryland’s Jalen Huskey. 

Fortunately for the Hoos, the Virginia defense continued to step up where the offense faltered. The Terrapins didn’t turn any of their first three turnovers into points on the other end, and the defense deserves to be recognized for said efforts. Chico Bennett Jr. led the charge, with 8 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss; including a huge third down tackle to stuff the Maryland offense after Colandrea’s second interception. Antonio Clary, James Jackson, and Jonas Sanker were all elite tonight as well, totaling 14, 12, and 11 tackles respectively. 

Elliot spoke in the postgame on Virginia’s inability to “establish a rhythm” offensively in the second half. The Hoos’ next three drives went three & out, three & out, fumble; after the Cavaliers fourth turnover of the game, the Terrapins found the endzone to extend their lead to 27-13 late in the fourth quarter, a lead that would hold as Saturday’s final. 

Up next, the Cavaliers (2-1) travel to take on the undefeated Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (3-0) next Saturday, September 21 in Conway, South Carolina.