There were a lot of good things to take from Virginia’s road loss to the Terps. For the first time this season the offense, defense, and special teams played a collectively average game in terms of grades. The special teams were serviceable. The offense had its best game of the season. While the defense improved from the Ball State debacle, it struggled with giving up big plays that aided Maryland scoring drives.

Steve Fairchild’s offense had its best day of the season against a stout Terp defense, netting its second best rushing game and best passing game against an FBS team, its highest first down total, and second best third down conversion rate of the year. Were it not for only managing to score two touchdowns in six red zone trips, the Hoos likely would have won Saturday. Still, the offense was better than it has been all season.

Special teams did not perform as poorly as it has in other games this season and those units graded out above average, but the marks were certainly inconsistent. The units that played well graded out extremely high, while the units that did not graded out low.

The problem is that, despite the most consistent game of the year overall, the three to five issues that have plagued Virginia all season and that have been harped on here at The Sabre again cost the team a winnable game. With the exception of the turnover bugaboo, other key issues seem to still be in vogue for the Hoos: dumb, untimely penalties, execution at critical times, and head-scratching coaching decisions.

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