As the third quarter of Saturday's matchup against Maryland ticked away, the Virginia defensemen raised their arms and pounded their chests with excitement. The Cavaliers had rallied the crowd of 45,364 behind them as they clung to a narrow 23-21 lead, while Maryland faced a difficult third-and-14 situation. The momentum seemed to be in the Cavaliers' favor.
Moments later, that momentum disappeared. Senior linebacker Darnell Carter nearly intercepted a pass thrown down the middle of the field by redshirt freshman quarterback Danny O'Brien, but the ball deflected off the defender's hands and into the arms of Maryland senior wide receiver LaQuan Williams for a 26-yard gain.
Three plays later, the Terrapins scored a go-ahead touchdown and never looked back. O'Brien and the Maryland offense put 21 points on the board during the fourth quarter while the Cavaliers managed none to emerge from Scott Stadium with a 42-23 victory. The game marked only their second win in Charlottesville since 1992 and eliminated Virginia from bowl game contention.
"That actually changed the game, I felt," Carter said about the missed turnover opportunity. "I just dropped it. No excuse. If it hits your hands, you have to catch it."\nMissed opportunities were not the only thing that contributed to the Cavaliers' second consecutive loss, however. Virginia committed more than 10 penalties for the third week in a row. The 16 penalties for 145 yards were season highs for the Cavaliers, who claimed to have stressed mistake-free football during the practices leading up to last weekend.
"It's frustrating to have 16 penalties," coach Mike London said. "That's directed on us coaches - what we teach and how we teach it, getting it across to the players about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. You can't have that many penalties."
Several of Virginia's penalties came on pass interference calls on passes deep down the field intended for junior wide receiver Torrey Smith. The junior burned the Cavaliers' secondary for seven receptions for 157 total yards and one fourth-quarter touchdown. The speedy wide-out also helped set up Maryland's second touchdown on a 62-yard reception when he used his shifty feet to find open field.
Smith is "a star player for them," Carter said. "They got him the ball out in space, and he performed out there. Hats off to him. We just needed to tackle better as team."
Virginia's best play, meanwhile, came from its special teams unit, which scored its fifth touchdown of the season during the first quarter to give Virginia a 10-7 lead. On a fake field goal attempt, junior holder Jacob Hodges tossed the ball to junior fullback Terence Fells-Danzer, who rushed up the field for a 16-yard score. With the touchdown pass, Hodges - a walk-on who had previously served as a student manager for the team - became the fifth Cavalier to throw a touchdown on the season.
"We worked on it all week in practice because we had seen something we liked on the film," Hodges said. "I just kept telling [special teams coordinator] coach Poindexter that we had to run it. I just couldn't believe it when it happened. It was great."
The Cavaliers' special teams unit also managed to hold junior wide receiver Tony Logan to one yard on punt returns. Logan entered the game ranked first in the ACC and third in the nation in punt-return yardage.\nThe often-forgotten group did not stop there, as junior place kicker Chris Hinkebein knocked in a 52-yard field goal to end the first half and bring Virginia within one point of the Terrapins. Hinkebein's field goal marked the first three-point conversion of the junior's career and tied for the fourth-longest field goal in Virginia history.\nThe success of Poindexter's unit was not enough to keep Virginia in the game, however. Senior quarterback Marc Verica threw two costly interceptions during the fourth quarter that effectively killed any hopes Virginia had for a late comeback. As a whole, the Virginia offense only managed to tally 49 yards during the game's final quarter.
"As I told the players in the locker room, we've got two games left," London said. "You can take it and go south. All of those that want to do that can come by my office, and I'll excuse them from practice for the rest of the season. Anyone that wants to go forward and move forward can show up and we'll get this thing going and get it in the direction we want it to go."
The Cavaliers' next opportunity to redeem themselves comes Saturday on the road at Boston College. Kick-off is slated for noon.
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