Last year Maryland became the midseason darlings of the ACC by winning five straight games by a combined 13 points; this year the fantastic finishes belong to Virginia—the "Cardiac Cavaliers" have won their last three games by a combined four points. Saturday the annual “Border War” saw UVa win in College Park for the first time since 1999 in—you guessed it—another last-second thriller.
VIRGINIA’s glass half-full--the Cavaliers marched 90 yards on 15 plays over 7 and a half mintutes for the gamewinning touchdown—and understudy Mikkell Simpson stole the spotlight by rushing for 119 yards and two touchdowns while adding 13 catches for 152 yards. Simpson was pressed into action due to a banged up backfield (Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearman sat with injuries) and got better as the game progressed, gaining 92 yards on the Cavs game-winning 90 yard march. Punter Chris Gould pinned the Terrapins twice in the second quarter with punts deep into the redzone. Jameel Sewell was sacked three times but avoided several almost-sacks more than a few times. Defensively, linebacker Jon Copper (12 tackles) and lineman Chris Long (10 tackles, two sacks and a safety) both contributed to shutting Maryland down after letting the Terps get out to a 14-3 first half lead.
MARYLAND’s glass half-empty—the Terps wasted a double digit lead for the fourth straight game and this time it cost them. A banged up offensive line got more mangled (guard Jaime Thomas out for the season with a broken leg), leaving 5 regulars from the start of the season. Coach Friedgen now has to decide which true freshmen’s redshirt seasons are disposable—he needs bodies up front. While one can’t fault the defense for not recognizing Mikkell Simpson entering the game (he had just 6 offensive touches for 22 yards entering the game)—they couldn’t stop him on the final drive when it counted.
VIRGINIA TECH had the weekend off-- the 8th ranked Hokies host #2 Boston College Thursday in a matchup of division leaders (UVa’s tied for the Coastal lead with Va Tech). After an early season where Virginia Tech was either quite a bit better than opposition (Ohio, William and Mary) or not up to the level of (LSU), the Hokies have five games left in the schedule to determine their destiny-and the Eagles behind Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Ryan will provide an incredible challenge.
Don’t think the Eagles are one-dimensional: Andre Callender averages just under 90 yards a game and five yards per carry. That translates to a big problem for a Hokie defense banged up bigtime--linebacker Vince Hall won’t return from his wrist injury in time; his absence more pronounced as fellow LB Cam Martin is sidelined with mononucleosis. Still to be determined: will quarterback Tyrod Taylor be at full-strength or will the Hokies rely on Sean Glennon?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment