UVa Vs. Maryland Scouting Report: Maryland Special Teams

With Maryland on the schedule this week, there is an obvious special teams theme in the storyline: fumbles. After all, a mishandled attempt at fielding a punt last season against the Terps allowed them to rally from a 20-0 deficit and defeat the Hoos 28-26. If that had happened this season, the fated bobble would have plenty of company.

After all, the Cavaliers have lost 6 fumbles this season (15 total fumbles) and 4 of those have come on special teams. To make matters worse, all four of the miscues have led to points for the opponents. Most recently, Andrew Pearman ‘s fumble on a kickoff return set up a field goal for UConn – the same thing happened to Pearman against Duke when the Blue Devils also gained 3 points courtesy of a fumbled kickoff. Against Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh, Vic Hall had the hiccups. Two fumbles by Hall on punt returns led to touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets and Panthers.

That means 20 of Virginia’s 130 points allowed this season have come courtesy of special teams’ miscues. Fortunately for the Hoos, the mistakes have not cost the team in the victory column like last season’s bobble against Maryland did. But Al Groh said this week that the turnovers – like the kickoff fumbles and Jameel Sewell ‘s recent interceptions – need to stop because eventually it could be too much to overcome.

“We clearly have to get those out of our system. These last two games have been pretty hard fought games. Our players have done a good job of overcoming adversities and fighting back and not getting discouraged by them, but the reality is that we have given the other team the ball three times from the 13-yard line in. … We just can’t continue to do those things. It makes it too easy for the other team and too hard for us,” Groh said. “We just can’t continue to do that. Whoever is responsible for it and it’s been across the board, it’s been ball carriers, it’s been throwers, it’s been kick returners. There’s got to be substantial awareness that the ball isn’t a toy. It’s not a toy. When somebody has the ball, he’s carrying the aspirations and the dreams of everybody in the organization.”

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