James Jackson and the Virginia defense held Maryland to 27 points. What did the grades say for the defense? ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

When it came to the Virginia football team’s Week 3 matchup, I didn’t have a really good feel for what Maryland would offer, especially after the Michigan State game. In the end, a deflated offense and an overextended defense cost the Hoos in a 27-13 loss.

UVA’s three-and-out on its first drive of the second half was a disaster. It seemed to totally deflate the offense, which already had left points on the board with some poor finishes on drives in the first quarter. Maryland wasted no time taking advantage of the situation, manufacturing an 8-play, 68-yard touchdown drive.

Another thing that caught my attention was in five of the Terps’ first six possessions, they had challenging field position. Of those drives, five started inside Maryland’s 26-yard line with three at the 9-, 12-, and 15-yard lines. For those six possessions, the visitors ran 28 plays, gained 58 yards and had two drives end with negative yardage and three-and-outs. The Terrapins’ next six drives, starting with their final drive of the second quarter, started at the UVA 47 and the Maryland 32, 42, 36, 42, and 48. The Terps ran 53 plays, gained 297 yards, and scored 27 points on those drives. That’s the difference between defending drives that start on average at the 20.3-yard line and drives that start 22 yards farther up the field at the 42.2-yard line.

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