Virginia 31, Maryland 13
The Virginia offense had a big day in College Park, gaining 527 yards and blowing away Maryland in a game where the score could have been worse. In the first half, Virginia was up 7-3 and in the red zone close to going up 14-3 when running back Clifton Richardson fumbled and the Terrapins recovered and eventually scored a touchdown off the turnover. Virginia was unable to move the ball on its next possession and Maryland scored on a short field goal to go up 13-7. The Hoos made a terrific goal line stand which prevented Mryland from going up 17-7. Momentum was really on the side of the Terrapins at that point and that stop really helped Virginia get back on track in the game. On the Cavaliers' next possession, quarterback Michael Rocco was nearly sacked but got rid of the ball just in time to running back Kevin Parks, who was wide open and scampered for a 35-yard touchdown to put the Cavs up 14-13.
The second half was completely dominated by UVa, which outscored Maryland 17-0 (and probably should have been more). The Terps were really inept on offense as they continued to switch quarterbacks (they used both Danny O'Brien and C.J. Brown pretty much evenly). The Virginia offense played about as good as it has all year, with the exception of two turnovers -- David Watford was in at QB for one play and fumbled while Rocco threw an interception on another, which I thought was more of a fluke interception because he threw it out in the flats to Perry Jones and Jones got hit immediately and the ball was pinned to his chest by the Maryland defender who intercepted it.
Despite the turnovers, there was one point in the game where I thought UVa could do pretty much whatever it wanted on offense. Rocco looked as good as he ever has and threw for 307 yards (his first 300-yard game). And these were downfield, 15- to- 20-yard throws, too, not just lots of dump outs to the running backs. WR Kris Burd caught nine balls for 112 yards and WR Tim Smith had five receptions for 101 yards. Fullback Max Milien got in on the action as well, as he took an intermediate pass from Rocco on the sideline, made a great juke move, and scored a touchdown. The tight ends were also more involved as Paul Freedman and Colter Phillips combined to catch three passes for 26 yards.
Let's not forget about the running game. Jones once again lived up to his Superman nickname, gaining 139 yards on the ground while scoring two touchdowns, the first of which came on the first play from scrimmage when Jones showed great patience looking for a hole and then bursted down field for a 47-yard touchdown run. His other score was quite dramatic, too. On fourth-and-goal on the 1 in the second half, Jones found daylight around the left side of the line and easily scored a TD. As a team, Virginia rushed for 220 yards.
The defense, except for two possessions in the first half, was quite spectacular as well. Maryland's ineptness on offense I have to think was partially caused by Virginia playing solid defense. Brown, who torched Clemson with his running a few weeks ago, had just 24 yards rushing. Safety Rodney McLeod, who led the team with seven tackles, had an incredible three interceptions, the first time a UVa player has had three INTs in a game since Anthony Poindexter did it in 1996 against N.C. State. True freshman quarterback Demetrious Nicholson, who has been picked on all year, made a couple important pass break ups, one of which was in the end zone.
So, like I said, the score was 31-13, but I think it could have more like 38-13 or 45-3. It felt like UVa dominated just about the entire game. I have all these good things to say about the team and it still didn't play its best game. That has to be a sign of a team on the rise -- even when things don't go perfectly, the team can still easily defeat an opponent.
A couple weeks ago, when Virginia lost to N.C. State, a bowl game seemed unlikely. It is all but a certainty now as the Cavaliers have reached bowl eligibility with six wins. The Hoos also control their own destiny. Win out, and they get to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte. Saturday, Virginia hosts Duke at 3 p.m. and is looking to end a three-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.
Now for a just a few personal comments on actually going to the game. It was my first road game as a fan and it was a great experience (almost entirely because the Hoos won, haha). I had heard that Maryland fans were awful and mean, but I got barely any nasty comments thrown my way and in the second half, I was actually sitting among a lot of Terrapin fans. I think they were more concerned with how bad their team was and they were taking their anger out on new coach Randy Edsall. One time near the end of the game, there were even some "WE WANT RALPH!" chants, a reference to wanting their old coach, Ralph Friedgen.
In the first half, I was sitting in a designated UVa fan section in the upper deck of Byrd Stadium. The stadium does not seem architecturally correct and it certainly isn't aesthetically pleasing. On side of the field has stands that are similar in height to the lower bowl at Scott Stadium. On top of that are stacked luxury suites and those smaller sections of boxes you also see tucked away at Scott Stadium (I think they are 300-level there). The other side of the stadium, where I was sitting in the first half, reaches way up high in the sky, higher than any point at Scott Stadium I think. Sitting up there gives you a weird sense of falling into the stadium. My friend, Bret, who I was with at the game, said he felt like he was getting vertigo. That sense is one of the reasons we decided to move down close to the field in the second half. The stadium just feels unbalanced and it seems like it is going to fall over into the ground.
What I saw of the University of Maryland campus was nice. It is in College Park, Md. but the campus seems isolated from the other part of town. It wasn't as integrated with the town as UVa is with Charlottesville.
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Cowboys 23, Seahawks 13
Dallas did what it needed to in beating Seattle. It wasn't a great performance but it was a win. Kind of like in the UVa-Maryland game, the score doesn't dictate how much the Cowboys dominated the Seahawks.
The offense got down to the goal line three times and came away with two field goals and the other time, wide receiver Dez Bryant fumbled right before he scored a touchdown. The offense racked up 442 yards and rookie running back DeMarco Murray had another strong game, rushing for 139 yards. QB Tony Romo threw zero interceptions for the third straight game and accumulated 279 yards passing and eventually tossed two TD passes, one to Jason Witten and the other to wideout Laurent Robinson, who had really carved a niche for himself on a team that has had injuries and inconsistent play at wide receiver.
Miles Austin hurt a hamstring for the second time this season and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
The defense bounced back nicely from a horrid performance against the Eagles and was solid throughout, allowing just a late touchdown.
Dallas is now all even at 4-4 and hosts the 5-3 Bills on Sunday. It could be a critical game if the 'Boys hope to get on a roll. After hosting Buffalo, Dallas gets the Redskins, Dolphins, and Cardinals on back-to-back-to-back weeks. It is also an important game for the Bills, who are tied with the Jets and Patriots for first in the AFC East.
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NASCAR SPRINT CUP UPDATE
Tony Stewart won for the fourth time in the Chase on Sunday in Texas and points leader Carl Edwards finished right behind him in second. Stewart is now just three points behind Edwards in the Chase standings with two races left. It is looking like it could be the closest points finish in Sprint Cup history. The ninth race in the Chase is Sunday in Phoenix and then the season wraps up Nov. 19 in Miami.
I was also pleased to learn NASCAR banned Kyle Busch from racing in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup events at Texas after he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. the Trucks race Friday. Tony Stewart and other drivers have said NASCAR needed to step and do something about wreckless drivers, and they finally did.
The Virginia offense had a big day in College Park, gaining 527 yards and blowing away Maryland in a game where the score could have been worse. In the first half, Virginia was up 7-3 and in the red zone close to going up 14-3 when running back Clifton Richardson fumbled and the Terrapins recovered and eventually scored a touchdown off the turnover. Virginia was unable to move the ball on its next possession and Maryland scored on a short field goal to go up 13-7. The Hoos made a terrific goal line stand which prevented Mryland from going up 17-7. Momentum was really on the side of the Terrapins at that point and that stop really helped Virginia get back on track in the game. On the Cavaliers' next possession, quarterback Michael Rocco was nearly sacked but got rid of the ball just in time to running back Kevin Parks, who was wide open and scampered for a 35-yard touchdown to put the Cavs up 14-13.
The second half was completely dominated by UVa, which outscored Maryland 17-0 (and probably should have been more). The Terps were really inept on offense as they continued to switch quarterbacks (they used both Danny O'Brien and C.J. Brown pretty much evenly). The Virginia offense played about as good as it has all year, with the exception of two turnovers -- David Watford was in at QB for one play and fumbled while Rocco threw an interception on another, which I thought was more of a fluke interception because he threw it out in the flats to Perry Jones and Jones got hit immediately and the ball was pinned to his chest by the Maryland defender who intercepted it.
Despite the turnovers, there was one point in the game where I thought UVa could do pretty much whatever it wanted on offense. Rocco looked as good as he ever has and threw for 307 yards (his first 300-yard game). And these were downfield, 15- to- 20-yard throws, too, not just lots of dump outs to the running backs. WR Kris Burd caught nine balls for 112 yards and WR Tim Smith had five receptions for 101 yards. Fullback Max Milien got in on the action as well, as he took an intermediate pass from Rocco on the sideline, made a great juke move, and scored a touchdown. The tight ends were also more involved as Paul Freedman and Colter Phillips combined to catch three passes for 26 yards.
Let's not forget about the running game. Jones once again lived up to his Superman nickname, gaining 139 yards on the ground while scoring two touchdowns, the first of which came on the first play from scrimmage when Jones showed great patience looking for a hole and then bursted down field for a 47-yard touchdown run. His other score was quite dramatic, too. On fourth-and-goal on the 1 in the second half, Jones found daylight around the left side of the line and easily scored a TD. As a team, Virginia rushed for 220 yards.
The defense, except for two possessions in the first half, was quite spectacular as well. Maryland's ineptness on offense I have to think was partially caused by Virginia playing solid defense. Brown, who torched Clemson with his running a few weeks ago, had just 24 yards rushing. Safety Rodney McLeod, who led the team with seven tackles, had an incredible three interceptions, the first time a UVa player has had three INTs in a game since Anthony Poindexter did it in 1996 against N.C. State. True freshman quarterback Demetrious Nicholson, who has been picked on all year, made a couple important pass break ups, one of which was in the end zone.
So, like I said, the score was 31-13, but I think it could have more like 38-13 or 45-3. It felt like UVa dominated just about the entire game. I have all these good things to say about the team and it still didn't play its best game. That has to be a sign of a team on the rise -- even when things don't go perfectly, the team can still easily defeat an opponent.
A couple weeks ago, when Virginia lost to N.C. State, a bowl game seemed unlikely. It is all but a certainty now as the Cavaliers have reached bowl eligibility with six wins. The Hoos also control their own destiny. Win out, and they get to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte. Saturday, Virginia hosts Duke at 3 p.m. and is looking to end a three-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.
Now for a just a few personal comments on actually going to the game. It was my first road game as a fan and it was a great experience (almost entirely because the Hoos won, haha). I had heard that Maryland fans were awful and mean, but I got barely any nasty comments thrown my way and in the second half, I was actually sitting among a lot of Terrapin fans. I think they were more concerned with how bad their team was and they were taking their anger out on new coach Randy Edsall. One time near the end of the game, there were even some "WE WANT RALPH!" chants, a reference to wanting their old coach, Ralph Friedgen.
In the first half, I was sitting in a designated UVa fan section in the upper deck of Byrd Stadium. The stadium does not seem architecturally correct and it certainly isn't aesthetically pleasing. On side of the field has stands that are similar in height to the lower bowl at Scott Stadium. On top of that are stacked luxury suites and those smaller sections of boxes you also see tucked away at Scott Stadium (I think they are 300-level there). The other side of the stadium, where I was sitting in the first half, reaches way up high in the sky, higher than any point at Scott Stadium I think. Sitting up there gives you a weird sense of falling into the stadium. My friend, Bret, who I was with at the game, said he felt like he was getting vertigo. That sense is one of the reasons we decided to move down close to the field in the second half. The stadium just feels unbalanced and it seems like it is going to fall over into the ground.
What I saw of the University of Maryland campus was nice. It is in College Park, Md. but the campus seems isolated from the other part of town. It wasn't as integrated with the town as UVa is with Charlottesville.
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Cowboys 23, Seahawks 13
Dallas did what it needed to in beating Seattle. It wasn't a great performance but it was a win. Kind of like in the UVa-Maryland game, the score doesn't dictate how much the Cowboys dominated the Seahawks.
The offense got down to the goal line three times and came away with two field goals and the other time, wide receiver Dez Bryant fumbled right before he scored a touchdown. The offense racked up 442 yards and rookie running back DeMarco Murray had another strong game, rushing for 139 yards. QB Tony Romo threw zero interceptions for the third straight game and accumulated 279 yards passing and eventually tossed two TD passes, one to Jason Witten and the other to wideout Laurent Robinson, who had really carved a niche for himself on a team that has had injuries and inconsistent play at wide receiver.
Miles Austin hurt a hamstring for the second time this season and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
The defense bounced back nicely from a horrid performance against the Eagles and was solid throughout, allowing just a late touchdown.
Dallas is now all even at 4-4 and hosts the 5-3 Bills on Sunday. It could be a critical game if the 'Boys hope to get on a roll. After hosting Buffalo, Dallas gets the Redskins, Dolphins, and Cardinals on back-to-back-to-back weeks. It is also an important game for the Bills, who are tied with the Jets and Patriots for first in the AFC East.
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NASCAR SPRINT CUP UPDATE
Tony Stewart won for the fourth time in the Chase on Sunday in Texas and points leader Carl Edwards finished right behind him in second. Stewart is now just three points behind Edwards in the Chase standings with two races left. It is looking like it could be the closest points finish in Sprint Cup history. The ninth race in the Chase is Sunday in Phoenix and then the season wraps up Nov. 19 in Miami.
I was also pleased to learn NASCAR banned Kyle Busch from racing in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup events at Texas after he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. the Trucks race Friday. Tony Stewart and other drivers have said NASCAR needed to step and do something about wreckless drivers, and they finally did.
Interesting observations about Maryland's stadium. I wonder if that "falling into the stadium" feeling is due to bad architecture, or the terrain on which the stadium was built.
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