The Result: Virginia raced out to a 14-0 lead lead in College Park on Friday night but failed to score again, eventually folding for good in the fourth quarter en route to a 42-14 drubbing at the hands of the Maryland Terrapins. In the first meeting between the two since 2013, UVa suffered the worst loss to the Terps in 37 years. It dropped the Hoos to 0-3 on the season, their worst start since 2016 (also 0-3).

The Turning Point: There were a few obvious ones, so we’ll put them all here. First was UVa allowing a kick return touchdown immediately after taking that 14-0 lead in the first quarter. That score killed off some of UVa’s momentum, and once again, special teams spotted the other team a big score early in the game. The second turning point was when the Cavaliers allowed UMd to go 98 yards on the game-tying drive in the second quarter. UVa had the Terps in 3rd and 10 from their own 2 but couldn’t get off the field. As a result, the game was tied at the half. And the final turning point was early in the 4th quarter, when Anthony Colandrea threw an interception in the end zone on what could have been a game-tying touchdown pass. Instead, Maryland took the ball and scored 21 more points in the quarter.

The Stat That Tells the Story: We could have gone for the easy one here and said turnovers, but really, only two of the four really mattered. Instead, the stat that tells the story is that UVa allowed 42 straight points and was outscored 28-0 in the second half. In the Tony Elliott era, UVa has now had nine games where its scored just one touchdown or less after halftime, and in six of 13 contests the Wahoos haven’t crossed the goal line after the break with a total of 21 points in the second half of those games. Friday’s second half was also the fifth half of football in the Elliott era where they were shut out.

Wahoo of the Week: It’s Malik Washington, who continues to impress. Washington caught nine passes for 141 yards on Friday night on 13 targets. He had two huge plays, one on UVa’s first from scrimmage and the second late in the third quarter, when he converted a 3rd and 22 into a 1st down.

Offense: You couldn’t have come up with a better start for the UVa offense. They scored touchdowns on their first two drives, hitting some big plays in the process, and had a ton of momentum right out of the gate. Colandrea started for the second straight week and was once again strong to begin the contest.

Ultimately, though, UVa’s offense wasn’t able to score any more points and got blown out as a result.

The offense moved the ball pretty well throughout the game but it’s points that matter and UVa got in its own way a bit too much in College Park. For the evening, the Wahoos finished with 354 yards of total offense, with 263 through the air and 91 on the ground. They had 25 1st downs to Maryland’s 20 and did a nice job on 3rd downs, converting six of 13.

There were several plays throughout the game that proved very costly for the offense. In the second quarter, Eli Wood was called for holding on a 14-yard gain by Suderian Harrison that would have put the Hoos at the Maryland 26, up 14-7. Instead, they had to punt. Colandrea took a huge loss on 1st and 10 from the UVa 48 after a big pass play, getting sacked for a 16-yard loss trying to make a play. That killed UVa’s first drive of the half which had a promising start. Maryland scored the go-ahead touchdown on the subsequent drive. Malachi Fields dropped a pass wide open that would have gone for a 40+ into the red zone, down 21-14 in the third. Instead, they had to punt.

UVa had a disastrous four-turnover fourth quarter, though two of those didn’t really make a difference as the game was all but decided. Colandrea’s interception in the end zone early in the fourth was a killer, though, and his INT on UVa’s next offensive play down 28-14 ended any comeback hopes. Colandrea once again did some great things and made a number of impressive throws. He looked comfortable for the first three quarters and hopefully he’ll be able to shake off a tough finish on Friday night and not let it bother him.

UVa’s running game had some success but not enough. After halftime, UVa rushed 15 times for just 30 yards. Perris Jones did have a 13-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the game, which was a bright spot. At receiver, Washington shined, and despite the drop Fields finished with a solid night, catching seven passes for 70 yards on a whopping 15 targets. And the offensive line actually did okay against a pretty good Terps front, allowing just one sack (which was mostly on the QB) and five TFLs for 20 negative yards.

UVa does need to clean up the penalties going forward, after having six for 33 yards on Friday. The line was tagged for three false starts, two holding penalties, and Colandrea was called for intentional grounding.

The offense had a nice showing against JMU, mostly because they hit big plays down the field and either scored on those plays or successfully finished the drives. Outside of the first quarter of this game, UVa either didn’t convert big plays into touchdown plays, or couldn’t finish drives because of poorly-timed errors. It’s good that we saw the Cavaliers can move the ball against a pretty good Terps team, but they have to find a way to capitalize on opportunities and finish drives. Realistically, 14 points just isn’t enough to beat almost anyone, so we can’t really give a good grade here.

Grade: D+

Defense: While the offense struggled to finish drives and got in their own way a bit, the defense did very little to help them out. Like the offense, UVa’s D got off to a strong start, forcing stops on Maryland’s first three drives, with two punts and a long missed field goal. After that, though, UMd went touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Not great.

The backbreaker for the defense was the 14-play, 97-yard drive to tie the game in the second quarter. The Hoos had Maryland in a tough spot against its own goal line, but Taulia Tagovailoa was able to convert on 3rd and long and really flipped the game in an instant. If UVa gets off the field there, the offense gets the ball back with a lead, late in the half, around midfield. Instead, it was tied at the break.

The pass defense didn’t have a very good night. Maryland had nine passing plays of 15 yards or more, totaling 264 yards. That included a 64-yard go-ahead touchdown pass in the third quarter, that beat Malcolm Greene and saw him replaced in the lineup by freshman Dre Walker. Walker would later have a chance at what would’ve have been a huge interception in a one-score game, but wasn’t able to coral it. Maryland scored to go up 28-14 on the next play.

UVa has struggled to cover, which has led to big plays, and an inability to get stops when they need them.

The biggest issue for this defense remains the inability to force negative plays. UVa had just one sack, with Kam Butler forcing a 3rd-down stop on a long play. And once again, UVa failed to force a turnover.

They still have yet to force one on defense this season.

The bend-but-don’t-break style requires a negative play here or there to end a drive. There almost has to be one, or they need to be very good on 3rd downs. When they can’t create sacks or turnovers, opponents will take what’s given, which is either small chunks of yards that eventually lead to long scoring drives, or occasionally UVa will give up a big play because the quarterback has all day to throw. This is a problem that needs to be solved and fast, or the defense is going to continue to give up a bunch of points.

Kudos to the defense for a strong start and for doing a decent job bottling up the run. But just like the offense, the defense lacked the “competitive stamina” to come out on top in this one.

Grade: D-

Special Teams: The unit gave up a touchdown. Again. And it was a significant factor in how the game played out. Again.

For the second straight week, the special teams group spotted the opponent seven points in the first quarter, this time allowing the 98-yard kick return TD after taking a 14-0 lead and having all the momentum on their side. I don’t know if Matt Ganyard was intentionally laying the ball up short to set up returns or if he just didn’t kick it hard enough. Maryland’s first two return attempts got stuffed, but the third one was a house call.

Simply put: UVa’s special teams aren’t good enough to be getting cute and trying to allow returns to anyone, ever. Tennessee’s return game destroyed UVa’s coverage units a few weeks ago, and Maryland took advantage this week, too.

We’ll keep the positives short, as there weren't a lot of them. Daniel Sparks had a few really nice punts, including one that could have flipped the field position in the second quarter…if the defense hadn’t allowed a 97-yard scoring drive. He averaged 36.5 yards per punt, and put two inside the 20 yard line. Will Bettridge made both of his PATs.

And that’s all we have to say about that. As we wrote last week in this section, if special teams units allow points, we’re not giving them a passing grade.

Grade: F

Coaching Staff: Bronco Mendenhall went 2-10 in Year 1 at UVa, which was a disappointment at the time but a sign that the program was still far away from being competitive. In Year 2, though, UVa finally had its breakthrough moment, shocking Boise State on the road as a two-TD underdog to start the season 3-1. It was clear that while there was plenty of work to be done, the team was better than it was a year earlier and was headed in the right direction.

Friday night’s game was another opportunity for this coaching staff to show that the program is headed in the right direction. That opportunity was squandered, as several others have been over the past 13 games. UVa didn’t necessarily need to win outright as a 14-point underdog to show some improvement, but the team continues to have the same issues that have plagued them. They don’t force negative plays on defense and allow too many bad plays. The offense has shown some flashes, but on Friday couldn’t score over the final three quarters of the game and was -4 in turnovers by the end of it. And well, special teams continue to be a disaster that is actively costing this team games.

Special teams efficiency and the competency of a coaching staff are typically correlated. It’s about technique, soundness of assignment, putting players in the right spots, and either tackling or blocking. This team has had major issues doing all of that over the past 13 games, and something has to change, and fast. If the issues were just in kicking the ball, so be it, there’s only so much coaching that can be done there. But you simply cannot allow special teams touchdowns in back-to-back games, in two different ways, when you’re already underdogs.

Coaches can’t go out on the field and execute plays. And it’s hard to know if UVa’s coaching staff is doing a good job preparing the team to play and they simply haven’t been able to translate that to gamedays or not. But the longer this goes on without a switch flipping, the more it falls on the coaching staff to either coach guys up, replace them with players that can get the job done, or figure out a new way to move the ball, get stops, and take the ball away from opponents.

On Friday night in Charlottesville, UVa’s staff will once again have a chance to show things are heading in a positive direction, once again as underdogs against a talented opponent. Maybe they’ll capitalize on it and start to turn around a season already slipping away, or maybe they’ll continue to make too many key errors and fall short.

But for every opportunity missed, the belief in the long term plan for this program continues to erode.

Grade: D