Maryland football enters Friday night in its second consecutive primetime matchup as the Terps are set to host Virginia for the first matchup since the two teams squared off as ACC rivals.
Maryland enters the weekend leading the all-time series, 44-32-2, as they now look to win their eleventh non-conference consecutive game with Big Ten play around the corner. They’ll look to do so against a Virginia team still in search of their first win, but what should fans expect? To learn more about Maryland’s next opponent, we spoke with Matt Newton, the managing editor and publisher of Cavaliers Now.
Newton: Of course, when a team starts 0-2, there are usually a number of causes for concern and the Cavaliers are no exception. With that said, Virginia’s biggest issue is the offensive line, which comes as no surprise as it was the team’s biggest problem last season as well. UVA’s offensive line has been subpar in both pass protection and run blocking, with the Cavaliers surrendering four sacks in each of their first two games and totaling just 113 total rushing yards on 75 attempts so far this season. Virginia’s passing offense did well against JMU on Saturday, but if the offensive line doesn’t show serious improvement, there will be a low ceiling on what UVA can achieve offensively this season.
Newton: Tony Muskett’s injury forced true freshman Anthony Colandrea to make his first collegiate start against JMU and he delivered. Colandrea completed 20 of 26 passes for 377 yards and two touchdowns and was named the ACC Rookie of the Week. That performance has created an intriguing quarterback situation for Virginia. Tony Elliott said that his philosophy is that a player won’t lose his job due to injury, but it’s very difficult to send a player back to the bench after he throws for nearly 400 yards in his first collegiate start. Tony Muskett has returned to practice as a full participant and seems to be progressing towards being available to play on Friday. To answer your question, I’d give a slight nod to Colandrea as being the better option right now since he has the momentum and confidence of his performance against JMU and doesn’t have the injury concern of Muskett. But I wouldn’t be surprised if both quarterbacks got reps against Maryland depending on how the game is going.
Newton: The first two weeks have definitely been concerning for Virginia’s defense, especially coming off what was largely a successful 2022 season for that unit. Injuries have played a part, with All-ACC defensive end Chico Bennett missing week 1 and playing limited snaps in week 2, defensive tackle Olasunkonmi Agunloye suffering a season-ending injury in the opener, and a few other starters missing the JMU game with various injuries. But the overall performance of the defense has been disappointing, giving up a combined 85 points through the first two games. As the unit gets healthier, things should improve. Virginia will have pretty close to its complete starting defense for the Maryland game and the Cavaliers are hoping that will mean better production from their defensive line, which has just two total sacks this season. Chico Bennett and company will have to generate some consistent pressure on Taulia Tagovailoa if UVA wants to have any chance to win this game.
Newton: The biggest key for Virginia to pull the upset at Maryland is competing at the line of scrimmage. We’ve already mentioned both the offensive and defensive lines for the Cavaliers, as neither group has gotten the job done so far this season. There’s a little more faith that the UVA defensive line will be able to compete with Maryland up front with Chico Bennett coming back, but Virginia will need the big boys on both lines to hold their own at the line of scrimmage or else it could be a long night in College Park for the Orange and Blue.
Current spreads have the Terrapins favored by around two touchdowns against the Cavaliers and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. I think Virginia will give Maryland a decent fight (and I’m certainly hoping for as much so that this game can live up to the history of this great rivalry), but the Terps will ultimately defend their home turf and send the Hoos to an 0-3 start.
Maryland 34, Virginia 24
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