CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The numbers were staggering.
Heading into Saturday, the Virginia football team ranked last in the nation in scoring (9 points per game) and second-to-last in total offense (251.2 yards per game).
Cavalier quarterback Marc Verica had scored zero touchdowns and thrown five interceptions. The Cavs converted fewer than one-third of their third downs.
But when the final whistle blew, the Cavs has scored 31 points, piled up 427 total yards (132 more than their previous season high), Verica had thrown for two touchdowns and run for another with no interceptions and the Cavs were 10-of-17 on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth downs.
It was the most yards the Cavaliers had gained since last season against the Terps. Virginia receiver Kevin Ogletree had his second-career two-touchdown game - his first came against the Terps - and his third career 100-yard game, two of which have also been against the Terps.
Virginia might have enjoyed its best offensive showing of the season, but the Terps said the Cavaliers didn't do anything they hadn't prepared for in practice.
"We did make an adjustment here or there, but it really wasn't about X's and O's," coach Ralph Friedgen said. "It was about who came to play and who didn't. That's what it was about."
The Terps again displayed the kind of inconsistency that has become their trademark - beating ranked opponents only to lose to teams they're expected to beat.
"I can't put my finger on it," senior cornerback Kevin Barnes said. "It's been like that since I've been here. The past five years, it's something I just don't understand. Not sure what it is, but it's something we definitely have to work out and fight through."
The meltdown was complete on both sides of the ball - the last time the Terps were shut out came in 2004 against, again, Virginia - but the defense's performance, making one of the worst offenses in the country look lethal, was the most perplexing.
The Terps were able to close running lanes up the middle, but continuously allowed Cavalier ballcarriers to reach and run up the sideline. Five minutes into the second quarter, defensive lineman Dean Mutahdi had Verica teed up, but the sophomore quarterback eluded Mutahdi and outran linebacker Alex Wujciak to the pylon for a 5-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
In the third quarter, Virginia had the ball inside the Terps' 10-yard line, when already up 24-0. The Terps had just held the Cavaliers to 1-yard gains on both second and third down, setting up a fourth-and-1. But the defense crumbled, and allowed running back Cedric Peerman around the left side of the line, and he darted into the endzone for the game's final score.
"That was our goal as a defense - to shut them out - and they completely turned the table on us," Barnes said.
The defense, while inconsistent all season, had been able to string together enough good quarters - the first three and a half against Cal, the last two against Clemson - to keep the Terps in games.
Saturday, the Terps were down 21-0 at half and needed a revival similar to the one two years ago, when the Terps came back from being down 20-0 at half against the Cavaliers to win 28-26.
But with the offense unable to sustain drives or score points, the defense was forced to endure as the Cavaliers held the ball for 18:11 and picked up 138 of their 201 rushing yards in the second half.
"No loss is classy, but they definitely destroyed us," Barnes said. "31-0? Honestly, this probably hurts more than Middle Tennessee State."
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