Maryland and Virginia will meet for the 80th time in the pair’s history this Saturday in a primetime matchup from Charlottesville. It will be the Terps’ first road game this season.
Maryland leads the all-time series with 45 wins — most of which came during its days in the ACC. The Terps also hold a 13 game winning streak against non-conference opponents entering the game.
This is the second consecutive season that the border rivals will play each other after not seeing one another since Maryland left the ACC in 2013. Maryland won last season’s game in College Park, beating the Cavaliers, 42-14, in what was Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s second career start.
In that game, Maryland scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and held Virginia without a point from the second quarter on. Maryland out-rushed the Cavaliers by 28-yards and took advantage of four Virginia turnovers, three of which were interceptions.
But, that was then.
This season UVA comes into the matchup as the undefeated team beating Wake Forest in its most recent game, 31-30. The win was Virginia’s first conference victory of the season.
The Cavalier pass rush dominated on Saturday, sacking Demon Deacon quarterback, Hank Bachmeier, six times via six different defenders.
Colandrea completed 33 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns to go along with two interceptions. The sophomore quarterback added 23-yards on the ground as well.
“This guy kind of has some Taulia Tagovailoa skillset,” said Maryland head coach Michael Locksley in Tuesday’s press conference. “He’s a guy that we have to contain. He runs around and he extends plays, he throws the ball really well.”
Virginia’s victory wasn’t without faults though.
The Cavaliers allowed over 500 yards in total offense to Wake Forest, including 141 on the ground. The Demon Deacons scored on all six of their red zone opportunities, half of them touchdowns.
Maryland’s defensive weaknesses were also displayed in its recent, 27-24, loss to Michigan State — especially in the secondary. The Terps gave up four passes of 20 or more yards as well as five runs of ten or more yards.
“I think that’s the part where we got to keep somebody over the top, we got to keep somebody in the middle of the field, or sometimes just play man coverage and let these guys, that they’re talented enough to run around and cover people,” said Locksley. “And you know, we’ve looked at the things that happened on Saturday and keeping the ball in front of us, the outcome of this game was dictated by who made the most big plays and they executed and created the bigger plays.”
The Terps had offensive struggles on the ground against the Spartans, rushing for only 86 yards a week after accumulating 248 yards on the ground the week prior.
Matchup to Watch:
MD WR Tai Felton vs UVA WR Malachi Fields
Felton leads all FBS pass catchers with 330 receiving yards, on a Big Ten best 18 receptions. Felton also has three receiving touchdowns thus far.
Fields had 11 receptions against Wake Forest for a total of 148 yards. Both marks were career highs for the senior receiver. Fields currently leads the ACC in receptions (16) and receiving yards (248) this season.
Tyler Lochte and Jack Bowman will be calling the game from Charlottesville for WMUC Sports.
