Heart a big weapon in Hagans' bag
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 5, 2004

Last time out, Marques Hagans wasn’t even close to 100 percent. He was hurting. His hip had been injured in Virginia’s embarrassingly lopsided loss at Florida State.
Observers believe that something else was wrong with Hagans when he took the field at Duke the following week. He couldn’t throw the long ball and normally that’s not a hip thing.

Early detection
Coach Al Groh knew immediately that his quarterback was out of sync when Hagans had two receivers break wide open beyond the Blue Devils’ secondary and the injured passer couldn’t get the ball to them. Groh shelved the deep pass for the remainder of the game, focused squarely on the running attack and eventually integrated some short passes into the plan.
“It was apparent in the first series that [Hagans] just didn’t have it,” Groh said after the 37-16 win at Duke on
Oct. 23, the last time Virginia played. “It was obvious from the start that he didn’t have his fastball. He just didn’t miss [the two open receivers] ... those were ground balls.”
Hagans was a little anxious about what might happen after he saw those passes drop like wounded ducks.
“I knew it was going to be a long day,” Hagans said this week while reflecting on his last outing.
The rest of that game would tell Hagans a lot about himself. Playing injured was a challenge he had never faced. He was curious as to how he would perform under that kind of pressure, that type of scrutiny.
In the end, he delivered the way he hoped he would.
“Marques did what he was supposed to do,” Groh said later. “He brought his team home.”
The coach’s comments brought a meaningful smile of satisfaction to the junior from Hampton’s face.
“The main thing that I learned was that even when the game isn’t going the way that you planned, you have to be there for your team to give them the confidence that you are still their leader,” Hagans said. “I’m still going to play my heart out if the game isn’t going as well for me. The guys responded around me and I really appreciate that. That’s what a team is all about.”

Support
Several of his teammates came up to the quarterback and told him they had his back. When the Cavaliers opted to run railroad stakes down Duke’s collective throats, the linemen and backs were there to take the load off Hagans.
“That meant a lot to me, especially Alvin Pearman coming up and saying, ‘Whatever you need One-Eight ... whatever you need, I’ve got you,’” remarked Hagans.
Pearman wasn’t kidding. The senior from Charlotte played the game of his life when his team needed him most. Pearman rushed for a career-high 223 yards, one yard shy of the school’s all-time record.
“I love Biscuit to death,” Pearman said of Hagans, who is affectionately and inexplicably nicknamed for a small, soft
cake from leavened dough. Don’t ask. It’s a secret and if Hagans tells you, he’ll have to kill you. “I wouldn’t trade [Hagans’] leadership for anything.”
Leadership is exactly what Hagans is all about.
“I think that’s when it is most vital, when things aren’t going good and you’re not the player that everyone is expecting you to be or that the team knows you are,” Hagans said. “Other characteristics had to kick in and keep the team stable and focused. I think that’s the first time my leadership really came into question ... to see if I could still lead my team in a time when I really wasn’t at my best.”
Those who know Hagans, were keenly aware that he wasn’t himself because of the injury or injuries. But the young quarterback, who grew up in the shadows of Michael Vick, Ronald Curry and Aaron Brooks down in the Hampton area, lives with a no excuses policy.
He won’t talk about the injury. He won’t admit he was in pain. He won’t reveal if there was more than one injury. He will say that he’s close to
100 percent for this week’s showdown against Maryland.
Some of that mentality comes from playing for Groh, who is a no excuses kind of guy. But so was Mike Smith, the legendary coach from Hagans’ Hampton High School program. In fact, Hagans’ family instilled that attitude in him long before he began playing with a pigskin.
“They always told me to go out and work hard every day, so none of this is new to me,” Hagans said.
Sportswriters who cover the team are always kidding Hagans about how he sounds just like Groh. He is always careful about what he says. He doesn’t give the other team any bulletin board material. He gives media the company line.
In fact, a handful of writers playfully gave the quarterback some grief about it during this interview last Monday and Hagans eventually got in on the fun.
Writer: “Anybody ever told you how you sound like Al?”
Hagans: “Nah ... not really.”
Writer: “We think you’re his little quote box.”
Hagans: “Really?”
Writer: “Talking to you is like talking to Al.”
Hagans: Laughter.
Writer: “Do you live at Al’s house?”
Hagans: More laughter, shaking his head.
Writer: “Do you have a tape of Al you listen to when you go to sleep at night?”
Hagans: Uncontrollable laughter.
Writer: “We’re thinking about calling [Groh] Big Biscuit and you Little Biscuit.”
Hagans: Still laughing ... “I guess his personality is rubbing off on me. I sound like him that much? I think as long as I play quarterback, I can’t get too cocky ... I keep my comments humble.”
Writer: “Does that one game at a time mentality spill over into the rest of your life ... like, in school, do you say ‘One quiz at a time?’”
Hagans: Getting in on the act now, “Yeah ... or when I meet a girl and take it one date at a time. I really didn’t know I sounded that much like Coach Groh. I just don’t want to say anything crazy, that’s all.”
Eventually in the Duke game, Hagans went to the short routes. He hit Pearman on screens, and dinked a few to fullback Tom Santi, dunked a few to tight end Heath Miller as he nickled and dimed the Devils to death.
“I think my prayers started kicking in,” the quarterback said. “Somebody was watching over me and feeling sorry for me.”
But the running game was golden.
“You could look into the eyes of the offensive linemen and their eyes were just glowing,” Hagans said. “They were feeling it and AP [Pearman] was feeling it, too. With each run, their confidence was growing more and more.
“And if you looked across the line of scrimmage, you could see that Duke was bowing down. They were getting tired. I don’t think they were able to keep up with our tempo for four quarters,” Hagans said of the faster paced offense the Cavs went to. “As the game wore on, I think our offensive line was too much.”
Even though it wasn’t his best outing, Hagans remains the ACC’s leader in total offense, the first first-year starter to do so since FSU’s Danny Kannell in 1994. Hagans also leads the league in passing efficiency, where he ranks 10th nationally and is seventh in the country in completion percentage (he also leads the ACC in that
category).
Hagans proved that even with less than a healthy arm he can beat you one way or another. We knew he could beat teams with his arm. We knew he could win with his feet.
Now we know he can win with his heart.

A lasting impression
Groh pleased with Hoffman's performance
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 5, 2004

A number of players have stepped up this season for Virginia. Its 6-1 record proves that.
From offense to defense to special teams, players have continued to step up all season.
So, who is having the best season?
You could argue for quarterback Marques Hagans. Filling in for former signal-caller Matt Schaub is no easy feat.
You could also make a claim for the running back tandem of Alvin Pearman and Wali Lundy. The same can be said for linebacker Ahmad Brooks or safety and kick returner Marquis Weeks.
Virginia coach Al Groh has recently pointed to another player - nose tackle Andrew Hoffman.
When Hoffman’s fellow defensive lineman, Chris Canty, was lost for the season on Sept. 25 against Syracuse, Groh was quick to point out that despite the loss of the All-American candidate, the line would not be
“rudderless.”
On three separate occasions in the past two weeks, Groh has raved about Hoffman’s play this season.
“He’s made plays for us,” Groh said. “He hasn’t just taken up space in there, as is sometimes the case at that position.”
For the year, Hoffman has 33 tackles, six of which have been behind the opposing team’s line of scrimmage. Groh said Hoffman grabbed his attention in the season opener at Temple.
“On the third play of the season, he ran from one hash mark to the [far] sideline and caused a fumble,” Groh said.
Later in the game, Hoffman burst through Temple’s offensive line and dropped Temple quarterback Walter Washington for a sack that he shared with Weeks.
“I was really psyched for him,” defensive end Brennan Schmidt said earlier this season of Hoffman.
It was the first sack of his Cavalier career, which started under former coach George Welsh in 2000.
Schmidt was quick to point out after the season opener that Hoffman’s sack total, was misleading.
“He probably should have gotten one last year against Duke, but they credited it to me,” Schmidt said. “I felt bad about that one.”

Checking in on the rookies. Three true freshmen made their Virginia debuts against Duke. Fullback Kevin Bradley played on special teams, Bud Smith saw time at wideout and Chris Gorham played five plays in Virginia’s secondary.
That leaves only seven rookies from last year’s recruiting class, that have not played this season.
During his teleconference with reporters on Thursday, Groh was asked about the play of those rookies.
“This sounds like I’m evading the question, which isn’t the intent ... [but] every player in this class, I’ve been pleased with,” Groh said. “From what I have seen to this point, there’s not a single player that I’m disappointed in [or a] player’s less than what we thought he was going to be.”
Groh also singled out running back Cedric Peerman and linebacker Clint Sintim for their progression.
“Every player in this class, so far, has demonstrated the he has the ability to be what we thought he could be,” Groh said.
One of the true freshman that played in the season opener, defensive lineman Chris Long, returned to practice last week after missing four games with a bout with mononucleosis. Groh said on Monday that Long had a few more medical tests to pass, but he said it was “likely,” that the St. Anne’s-Belfield product would play against Maryland.

Not so fast. After several published reports surfaced this week indicating that plans had been made to redshirt offensive lineman Ian-Yates Cunningham, Groh said on Thursday that decision has not been made.
“He took the most plays [in practice Wednesday] that he has taken, which obviously should be the case,” Groh said. “That, pretty much, should be what we say every day. We are just seeing how he develops.”

Bulletin board material. “This is a real rivalry. When we came in here [Monday] you could feel with the way the coaches were acting and the other players seemed to be juiced up to play,” Maryland linebacker William Kershaw told reporters this week.
“I have learned not to like Virginia either, so I plan on going down there and hitting them in the mouth. Coach Friedgen doesn’t like Virginia and he talks about them with us. So, if he doesn’t like Virginia then we don’t like them.”

Quick hits. A pair of former Cavaliers are planning to be in attendance on Saturday. Defensive lineman Patrick Kerney and Schaub, who both play in the NFL for Atlanta, are expected to be in town. … Since 1957, Virginia has averaged 211.3 yards rushing in victories over Maryland and 117.1 yards in losses. … UVa ranks 10th in the country in scoring with an average of 36 points per game.

Novak quietly makes mark
The Maryland place-kicker is the all-time leading scorer in ACC football history.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

If Maryland wants a tour of the Scott Stadium premises before its football game Saturday with Virginia, one Terrapins' player is uniquely qualified to serve as guide.

On the other hand, Nick Novak will concede that the atmosphere has changed since he attended UVa games in the late-1990s.

"They have a band there now, right?" Novak, an Albemarle High School graduate, asked. "I used to go over there and sit on the hill with my friends. People don't dress up like they used to. They all wear orange shirts now.

"It was pretty conservative, not like some of the football environments I've seen. Now, [coach] Al Groh has changed things around and it's pretty wild now."

It was pretty wild in 2002, when then-No.18 Maryland came to Virginia and left a 48-13 loser, its hopes of a Bowl Championship Series bid dashed. Novak was 1-for-2 on field goals that day, his miss coming on a block that was one of the game's early turning points.

Since then, Novak has had few setbacks in a career that was capped earlier this season when he became the leading scorer in ACC football history.

"I think I only needed three points going into the season," said Novak, who has 380 points, 43 shy of the Division I-A record for points by a kicker, "but it never really occurred to me, nobody ever told me I was close until the beginning of the season.

"I didn't even know where I was on the list. When you think of guys like [Sebastian] Janikowski, it's hard to believe. It shows that sometimes it's better to be steady than spectacular."

It hardly merited notice in the winter of 2000 when Novak, then a senior at Albemarle, made an oral commitment to the Terrapins. Ron VanderLinden was the Maryland coach at the time and arranged for Novak to pay his way for a semester and go on scholarship when then-Terps kicker Brian Kopka graduated at the end of the first semester.

"I felt like I did a lot of my own recruiting," said Novak, an All-Group AAA selection whose 50-yard field goal as a senior came on the only 50-yard attempt of his career. "Most of the schools already had young kickers."

At the time, junior David Greene had just completed his first season as Virginia's regular place-kicker and the Cavaliers had three other kickers on the roster, one of whom, Bryan Smith was on scholarship.

Also, Novak's parents, who had been on the UVa faculty for six years, had taken new positions at Purdue in order to get closer to their Midwestern roots.

"So, there wasn't much tying me to Charlottesville anymore," Novak said.

If not for the patience of then-new Terps coach Ralph Friedgen, admittedly not a patient man, Novak's record-setting career could have ended before it began. After making only four of his first 11 attempts, he was 12-of-14 to finish the 2001 season.

Novak (6 feet, 186 pounds) kicked 24 field goals in each of the next two seasons, claiming first-team All-ACC honors in 2003.

He set such a high standard that his 12-of-17 performance during the first eight games this season almost seems like an off year. UVa place-kicker Connor Hughes, who is 10-of-14, has had a similar experience after making second-team All-ACC last year.

None of Hughes' misses has had an impact on a Cavalier team that has not played a game decided by fewer than 20 points, "but, with some of the problems our offense has had, it seems like every kick I've had has been an important kick," Novak said.

"I can't tell you I don't like the pressure because that's part of the job."

Novak is among a distinguished group of returning ACC place-kickers that includes Florida State's Xavier Beitia. However, Beitia has an ACC-high nine misses and this week was replaced by freshman Gary Cismesia.

"I'm not a coach," Novak said, "but that does horrible things to the psyche of a kicker. It's telling him that they don't have any confidence in him. I don't necessarily agree with that."

Is Peerman the next overachieving UVa tailback?
Hargrave coach raves about Albert
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Al Groh’s mention of Cedric Peerman on Groh’s weekly Thursday teleconference reminded me of an idea that originally crossed my mind several weeks ago.

If Virginia is not going to have a sports hall of fame -- plain and simply a case of laziness, in my opinion -- maybe it could look at a variation of an old Syracuse tradition.

At Syracuse, dating to the days of Jimmy Brown, the star running back always wore the No. 44. Based on the success enjoyed by Virginia running backs who have worn the No. 21, Tiki Barber and now Alvin Pearman, perhaps that number could be reserved for players with similar potential.

“Yeah, but the name would have to have two ‘E’s’ in it,” Groh said Thursday.

Could it be that Groh got his spellings mixed up? I know I had to think twice when writing “Pearman” or “Peerman,” especially when the Cavaliers had a commitment from Alvin’s little brother, Andrew, who eventually signed with Hawaii.

Every time I watch Alvin Pearman play, I am struck by the physical resemblance to Barber, still wearing No. 21 for the Giants, and having the best season of his eight-year NFL career. Neither was viewed as a back who could carry the ball 30 times in a game, but both players have changed that perception, and they’re both outstanding receivers.

Of the seven 2004 Virginia signees who have not played in a game, Peerman and outside linebacker Clint Sintim were two who were cited by Groh on Thursday. At a listed 5-10 and 185 pounds, Peerman has a build similar to Barber’s and Pearman’s, and he also arrived with something to prove, having come out of a Group A Division I program at William Campbell.

“This sounds like I’m evading the question, which I’m not,” Groh said, “but, every player in this class, I’ve been pleased with. From what I’ve seen to this point, there’s not a single player I’ve been disappointed in or a player is less than what we thought he would be.

“You would hope that would be the case [with every class] but, in reality, that’s one of the things you’re always concerned about, that within a short period of time, he’s less than what you thought he would be. That’s even the case with guys who play a lot during their careers.

“Every player in this class, so far, has demonstrated the ability to be what he thought he would be.”

The freshmen who have played, in approximate order of playing time, are cornerback Phillip Brown, tight end-fullback Tom Santi, safety Nate Lyles, defensive lineman Chris Long, cornerback Chris Gorham, safety Jamaal Jackson, wide receiver Bud Davis and fullback Kevin Bradley.

True freshmen who have not gotten on the field (listed alphabetically) are linebacker Devonta Brown, quarterback Scott Deke, place-kicker Scott Gould, defensive end Jon Kirchner, Peerman, Sintim and offensive lineman Zak Stair.

HARGRAVE MILITARY ACADEMY coach Bob Prunty was in the process of analyzing his team’s game with Fork Union at 1 p.m. Friday when he excused himself to take a call from Virginia’s football office.

An unnamed UVa coach was inquiring about the nature of Brandon Albert’s visit to Maryland last weekend, where he watched the Maryland-Florida State game with fellow Hargrave lineman Jared Gaither, a 2004 Maryland signee.

“The media got a hold of it,” Prunty said. “Weren’t no big deal, though.”

Albert, a 6-7, 310-pounder from Glen Burnie, Md., signed with the Cavaliers last February and apparently took advantage of the opportunity to leave the Hargrave barracks for a weekend. His commitment is unquestioned, which is a good thing for UVa.

“Hey, listen, I’m just being straight up with you,” Prunty said. “Brandon Albert, hands down, is probably going to be the best player I’ve ever coached. Ahmad [Brooks] was a great player, but he’s [Albert] got so much growth in him. He’s got more growth in him than any player we’ve ever had before.”

Prunty was referring to potential, not size, although Albert has plenty of the latter, too.

“He can be so good, it’s scary,” said Prunty, who uses Albert at offensive left tackle. “He’s big-time, trust me. If he does all the things that’s right, keep God first, he’s going to play on Sundays.”

It’s interesting to hear Prunty talk in such glowing terms about Albert when he has another Virginia signee, outside linebacker Olu Hall, who was rated the No. 1 prospect in Virginia last year.

“Olu is doing well, just playing in space,” said Prunty, referring to Hall’s background as a defensive end at Robinson High School in Fairfax. “He’s used to playing with his hand down; now, he’s standing up.

“The biggest thing with Olu Hall is, he’s got a motor that goes non-stop. All he’s got to do is gain weight.”

Prunty said Albert and Hall have taken the required standardized tests and are waiting on results that could make them eligible for the 2005 college season.

ODDS ‘N’ ENDS: Salem, N.J., linebacker Lamont Robinson, who committed to Virginia during the late summer, was in College Park, Md., for the Maryland-FSU game but was not on a paid visit. … After indicating on his radio show this week that offensive lineman Ian-Yates Cunningham was “likely” to miss the season after spring back surgery, Groh said Thursday that Cunningham has had more activity in practice this week than he has all season.

Nice Advice
Former Giants QB Jeff Rutledge opened the door for Santi to attend U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE Jeff Rutledge got a letter from Betty Ann Santi the other day. She'd written to thank the former NFL quarterback for bringing her son to the attention of University of Virginia coach Al Groh.

If the Santis are happy about the way things have turned out, imagine how the U.Va. football family feels.

Tom Santi, who played for Rutledge at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn., entered training camp in August as U.Va.'s No. 4 tight end. That's still Santi's natural position, but for now, with standout fullback Jason Snelling sidelined, the 6-5, 225-pound true freshman is lining up in the backfield. He's listed as the 12th-ranked Cavaliers' starting fullback heading into tomorrow's game against Maryland at Scott Stadium.

"They ask you to do something like that, it's a great opportunity," Santi said.

When Jonathan Stupar broke his foot in August, Santi rose to No. 3 on the depth chart at tight end, and he had a 7-yard reception in the Sept. 4 opener against Temple. Santi remained in the tight-end rotation until his coaches shifted him to fullback before the Oct. 23 game against Duke.

"It hasn't really been a long process," said Santi, who also plays on special teams. "I think we're all still getting used to it."

With Snelling out with an ankle injury, Virginia found itself perilously thin at fullback. The Cavaliers could have started fifth-year senior Brandon Isaiah against Duke, but they opted to go with the more versatile Santi. His blocking helped Virginia rush for 348 yards, and he had two receptions for 62 yards. Forty-six came on a play in which Santi caught a short pass and then broke free with a stunning burst of speed.

"I don't think people realize how in credible an athlete he is," U.Va. tailback Alvin Pearman said.

Santi, whose sister is on the track team at Princeton, ran the 100-meter dash in 11.1 seconds in high school and played center field on Montgomery Bell's baseball team.

"He can run," Rutledge said. "He's got some speed for a guy his size, and he'll do nothing but get bigger and better."

During the recruiting process, Rutledge asked Santi which colleges interested him. Rutledge then called those schools to recommend Santi. The list included U.Va., whose coach was no stranger to Rutledge.

"He knew how we operated," Groh said. "He knew what kind of players we liked. He knew what kind of player he had."

In the late 1980s, Rutledge played for the New York Giants when Groh was one of their assistant coaches. More than a decade later, Rutledge, then a Vanderbilt assistant, turned down an offer to become offensive coordinator on Groh's first staff at Virginia.

"The timing wasn't right for me," Rutledge said Wednesday, "but he's a great man."

Groh wasted no time in offering Santi a scholarship. Rutledge sent U.Va. a videotape of Santi's highlights, and as "soon as I turned that tape machine off, the decision had been made," Groh said.

Santi, an outstanding student whose father is a doctor, chose U.Va. over such schools as Tennessee, Stanford, Iowa, LSU and Auburn. At Virginia, he immediately won over his coaches.

"When they can contribute something to winning, we're ready to use them," Groh said, "and it was quickly apparent with Tom that he had a very good skill level and a little something special going on about him as far as how he picked things up and tuned right into the environment.

"At no time was it too much for him."

For the season, Santi has eight catches for 123 yards. Of U.Va.'s tight ends, Patrick Estes is a senior, and Heath Miller is a redshirt junior who may leave for the NFL after this season. Look for Santi's role to expand significantly in coming seasons.

"It doesn't surprise me what he's done and what he'll continue to do," Rutledge said. "The thing about Tom is, you're not going to outwork him."

Statham, Maryland offense finally receive passing grade
Maligned QB, unit turn a corner in upset of FSU, but Virginia test looms
By Kevin Van Valkenburg
Sun Staff
Originally published November 5, 2004

COLLEGE PARK - Florida State coach Bobby Bowden sounded a bit stunned Saturday after Maryland's 20-17 victory at Byrd Stadium. When asked what he thought of Terps quarterback Joel Statham, who had just thrown for 333 yards and a touchdown, Bowden didn't have much luck masking his surprise.

"He played probably 10 times better than they expected," Bowden said. "He looked like an All-American out there tonight."

It's debatable how well Maryland expected Statham to play - Terps coach Ralph Friedgen has said all season his quarterback has looked stellar in practice - but it was more obvious Statham played about 10 times better than Florida State expected. Against the Seminoles, the sophomore from Chatsworth, Ga., threw for more yards than he had in the previous three games combined, and Maryland looked like a totally different team.

At the end of the night, Bowden wasn't the only one shaking his head. Even Maryland fans trickled out of Byrd wondering: What the heck just happened?

"I thought we did a better job of protecting [Statham]," Friedgen said. "I think he hung in there and took some shots ... and showed a lot of poise in those situations. He has a little more confidence in how much time he has, and I think the game is slowing down for him a little bit."

Friedgen was quick to point out it was more than just Statham, however. Maryland's receivers were making tough catches, its offensive line was holding its own and its running game even showed a few sparks. An offense that couldn't muster 100 yards in losses to Georgia Tech and North Carolina State suddenly looked like a juggernaut.

"It helps when everybody plays better around you," Friedgen said. "You don't have to make every throw perfect. Some guys made some plays for Joel the other night. He made a poor throw to Andrew Weatherly and Andrew made a great catch [on a pass] that was behind him.

"I think he's growing. I think that game should give him tremendous confidence. There's not many quarterbacks in ACC history that can say they beat Florida State."

The question now becomes: Can Maryland do it again, this time on the road, against Virginia, a team that's giving up just 15.7 points a game? One thing is certain: The surprise factor has been eliminated.

"Maryland did a terrific job in the [Florida State] game," said Virginia coach Al Groh. "They were able to do some things against a team that we were really able to get very little going against. ... It surely got [our players'] attention."

Statham took more than his share of heat from fans during Maryland's three-game losing streak. After the Florida State game, he mentioned it was nice to have people back on his side again after the crowd booed him in losses to the Yellow Jackets and Wolfpack.

But Friedgen took some heat, too, including getting a small barb from Sports Illustrated, which said his reputation as an offensive whiz was taking a serious hit this season.

"People are entitled to their opinion," Friedgen said. "I never considered myself that anyway. I work hard, I prepare hard and I try to be successful. All that other stuff, people can say whatever they want to say. That's like worrying who's the fastest gun in the East. I want my team to win. I don't care if its Ralph Friedgen's offense."

If nothing else, though, Maryland's offensive players no longer had to feel like they were letting the defense down. Senior center Kyle Schmitt mentioned repeatedly over the past few weeks how frustrating it was to stand on the sideline watching the Terps' exhausted defense play its heart out, knowing the offense wasn't making things any easier by failing to move the ball or score some points. Against Florida State, Maryland's offense held the ball for almost 36 minutes.

"The last two weeks, our team has been tremendously unified," Friedgen said. "We come over for a TV timeout, we pull the team off to the side of the field, we have as many defensive guys in our offensive huddle as we do offensive guys. I think our defense is really encouraging our offense, supporting them and being there for them, and I think the offense wants to go out and be accountable and do their fair share."

 

Bad blood boils in rivalry with Terps
Matchup showcases heated battle between similar teams; Cavs look for win to stay atop conference standings
Walker Freer, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

It hasn't always been this way. Maryland hasn't always been an elite level football team able to beat Florida State and make annual plans to spend early January in Florida.

Prior to the 2001 season, the Terrapins were perennial ACC doormats, located just above Duke in the conference hierarchy. It's no surprise that their resurgence has coincided with the return of offensive genius Ralph Friedgen to College Park.

The homecoming of Friedgen to his alma mater has helped revitalize a previously suffocating Maryland program. So suffocating, in fact, that Virginia had beaten Maryland nine straight times between 1991 and 2000. Yes, nine straight times. So, preceding 2001, it was hard to even call the annual Maryland-Virginia game a rivalry.

Now rivalry is the only word to describe the annual matchup. The biggest reason for the ill will between the two schools is the short distance separating them. Only two and a half hours north on Route 29, Terps and Northern Virginia Cavalier fans share a common stomping ground in the greater Washington D.C. metro area. The two schools also happen to share the same recruiting grounds, only adding to the shared animosity.

Both schools have upgraded their programs' prestige in the last five years, leading to more competitive recruiting. Oftentimes, both Cavalier and Terrapin coaches find themselves going after the same players.

Virginia sophomore wide receiver Deyon Williams hails from Suitland High School in Upper Marlboro, Md., only 20 miles from the Terps' College Park campus. Of course no one can forget that Maryland stole All-ACC place kicker Nick Novak from local Albemarle High School, a short 10-minute drive from the University's Grounds.

The battle between the two renowned state schools came to a head last October. Following the release of the 2003 U.S News and World Report's annual college rankings issue, which had Virginia tied with Cal-Berkeley for the title of the number one public university in the country, Maryland President Dan Mote was quoted saying, "They [UVA] are highly overrated these days, but are placed at the top of the pile with Berkeley, which is ridiculous." He went on to say that students who pay higher out-of-state tuition to attend UVA "don't know any better."

The comment only fueled a growing hatred toward Maryland and has helped renew the rivalry in the eyes of many Virginia fans and alumni.

Despite the contrasts between the two schools, on the playing field they're more similar than different. Both rely on physical defenses, and while Maryland's offense is more complex than Virginia's with an affinity to run the spread formation, in the end, winning is all that matters.

"I think we're similar teams in some of our beliefs and the way we play," said Virginia senior tailback Alvin Pearman. "We both hate to lose, and more importantly we hate to lose to each other."

Before the game last season, which was held in College Park, an argument between Virginia coach Al Groh and Maryland wide receiver coach James Franklin led to a scuffle between the two teams at midfield.

"There was some bad blood between us," Virginia safety Jermaine Hardy said. "We've got to back up our coach."

The Cavaliers might have backed up their coach before that game, but they certainly didn't back him up during the game, getting steamrolled on the ground, giving up 261 yards to Josh Allen alone. The result was a 27-17 loss, one that has Virginia's players ready for revenge.

While Maryland holds a 39-27-2 overall advantage in the series, the Cavaliers would like nothing more than to help knock Maryland further out of bowl contention, as at 4-4 they need only two more wins to become eligible. In the process, a Virginia win would help put the Wahoos one step closer to making plans to spend January in Florida themselves.