UVa responds to 31-3 loss to Duke with 31-0 win over Maryland

By Jeff White/Media General News Service
Published: October 4, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — For one night, all was right at Scott Stadium.

Virginia’s football team silenced its many critics with a spectacular performance that was as improbable as the one tailback Mikell Simpson turned in last year at Maryland’s Byrd Stadium.

The Cavaliers destroyed the Terrapins 31-0, a margin of victory that not even the most optimistic UVa fan would have predicted. Virginia (1-1, 2-3) entered this ACC game with the least potent offense in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision, but they stunned Maryland (1-1, 4-2) with a first-half barrage and never let up.

It led 21-0 at halftime and 31-0 after three quarters — utter dominance of a team had beaten two ranked opponents last month and was favored by nearly two touchdowns Saturday night.

“Honestly, I don’t think there was too many people in this world who thought we were going to win this game,” Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim said, “but that was fine with us. We knew as a team that we weren’t nearly as bad as everybody said we were. We weren’t depleted in all areas of the game. I mean, everybody made it seem like we were the worst team in America.”

Before a crowd of 50,727 — about 11,000 less than capacity — the Cavaliers collected their first victory over an FBS opponent since they hammered the Miami Hurricanes 48-0 last November.

The win was UVa’s most decisive in this series since a 48-13 romp in 2002, and it could not have come at a better time for embattled coach Al Groh. On a night when many expected to hear him booed, Groh basked in cheers and spent much of the game pumping his fists in the air and congratulating his players for their work.

“We took a little step forward tonight,” Groh said. “All four phases had a good evening: offense, defense, special teams, coaching staff.”

Indeed, the Cavaliers’ list of heroes was a long one. Start with sophomore quarterback Marc Verica, who was brilliant in his third start. A week after throwing four interceptions in a 31-3 loss to Duke, Verica completed completed 25 of 34 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, and he wasn’t picked off.

“We’re seeing him mature a little bit,” said junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, who caught both TD passes and finished with 100 yards on five receptions.

Virginia entered the game as the only FBS team that had not thrown a touchdown pass this season. But Verica and Ogletree teamed on scoring plays of 51 and 15 yards in the first half, and Verica ran 5 yards for another TD to send UVa into intermission with a 21-0 lead.

That Cedric Peerman (William Campbell) was back in good health helped the Cavaliers immensely. So did the stout play of UVa’s maligned offensive line. Peerman, a senior tailback who missed the Duke game with a knee injury, rushed 17 times for 110 yards and one TD before giving way to Simpson, who added 77 yards on 14 carries.

“Ced wears the defense down, and then I come in with a different style of running,” said Simpson, who’d totaled 271 all-purpose yards in Virginia’s 18-17 win over Maryland in College Park last year.

Maryland’s offense features two of the ACC’s most explosive players — tailback Da’Rel Scott and wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey — and UVa shut down both. Scott gained 36 yards on 11 carries. Heyward-Bey didn’t have a catch.

In all, the Cavaliers forced two turnovers and held the Terps to 79 yards rushing and 223 passing.

“I can live with that,” said Sintim, who recorded his fifth sack of the season.

Two years ago, Maryland trailed 20-0 at halftime and rallied to beat UVa at Scott Stadium. There was no such drama Saturday night. The Terps opened the third quarter with perhaps the worst onside-kick attempt in the history of college football. Obi Egekeze’s kick traveled only 4 yards, and Virginia capitalized on its great field position with a drive that ended with Yannick Reyering’s 32-yard field goal.

“To be in a situation like this and play a quality team like Maryland, when nobody thought we were going to win, it means a lot,” Sintim said.