Virginia football notebook

NO MORAL VICTORIES? Your freshman quarterback has a breakout game, your offense outgains the other guys by close to 100 yards, your defense gives up one sustained scoring drive - you assume that you're going to win.
So how did Virginia lose to Maryland on Saturday?
"We did so many more things better - but the result was fashioned around two of the same kind of plays that have been part of the other disappointments, and that was an interception return for a touchdown and a special-teams bungle," said UVa. coach Al Groh after his team squandered a 20-0 halftime lead in a 28-26 loss in Charlottesville.
The game turned on the third-quarter punt that was fumbled by wideout Emmanuel Byers inside the Virginia 5 that led to the Terrapins' first points and another special-teams error - a 16-yard punt off the foot of UVa. kicking specialist Chris Gould that gave the Terps a short field for their second score.
"Clearly, the game hinged on two plays that made it very easy for them to get back into the game - and then it was an even-steven deal," Groh told reporters after the game.
A 56-yard touchdown run by Maryland tailback Keon Lattimore gave Maryland its first lead of the day at the 9:11 mark of the fourth quarter. A minute and 11 seconds later, Erin Henderson returned an interception of an errant Jameel Sewell pass 45 yards for another touchdown to give Maryland a 28-20 lead.
Sewell connected with wide receiver Kevin Ogletree on a 44-yard scoring play at the 2:37 mark to make things interesting. The ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed when Sewell and Ogletree couldn't connect at the goal line.
The loss overshadowed a breakout game for Sewell, who was making his fourth career start after relieving former starters Kevin McCabe and Christian Olsen in the Cavs' last home game, a 17-10 loss to Western Michigan last month.
Sewell completed 13 of his 21 pass attempts for 243 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 92 more yards and a third touchdown on the day.
"He certainly showed those things of which he is capable," Groh said of Sewell, who entered the 2006 season third on the depth chart.
"He had a lot of positive plays. We had a conversation last Tuesday where we talked about things, and I think today showed what we were talked about last Tuesday. You've got to be able to run the ball well, which we ran the ball much better again today. But if you're going to score some points, you've got to get them out of your passing game. And our ability to upgrade our passing game today certainly resulted in our best offensive point production. So being the trigger man, he's part of that. So I would say it's a step forward for him," Groh said.
And despite the loss, Groh - who normally eschews talk of moral victories - came out feeling about as well as a coach who had just seen his team blow a 20-point lead could be expected to, given the circumstances.
"We made a lot of positive progress in a week's time. We did a lot of things today that we haven't done previously in the course of the season. It's very disappointing that a positive result didn't come out of all those things," Groh said.
"The players were very determined. We had a competitive toughness about us that was much more reminiscent of their predecessors. That all makes us feel that we're growing up a little bit," Groh said.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE PUNT? Groh said it had been his understanding that return specialist Mike Brown was going to be on the field for the punt that Byers eventually fumbled to give the Terps their first best shot at putting points on the board.
"They both do punt-return duty," Groh said of Brown and Byers, before adding, significantly, that "one of the things that we try not to do around here is point fingers. OK?"
"Sometimes teams talk about one of the most important aspects that they can have is loyalty and allegiance. And sometimes unfortunately it's difficult for me to answer your questions directly without giving somebody up. One of the things that I always try to do is internally we deal with our issues, we know what we have to do better, but I try not to give people up in public," Groh said.
Groh did say that he has a rule like many other coaches do regarding when it is appropriate to catch a punt deep inside his team's territory that basically puts returners on notice not to venture inside their own 10-yard line to catch a punt.
"It was an unfortunate decision," Groh said of Byers' decision to attempt to catch the punt. "We really had emphasized on a number of occasions during halftime to be alert to avoid all those situations that would let the other team easily get back into the game - you know, a long pass, special-teams plays. In fact, at one time during the coaches' meeting, I sent the special-teams coach out to talk to the team about those things that we wanted to be particularly mindful of not doing in order to let them come back in a hurry. So it's unfortunate that it came up - because it certainly did get them back into the game in a hurry."

QUICK TURNAROUND: For the second time this season, Virginia has to play a Thursday-night game on a short week.
UVa. is currently a six-point favorite over visiting North Carolina.
The 'Hoos lost to Georgia Tech 24-7 on Sept. 21 after losing 17-10 to Western Michigan five days earlier.
"We certainly drew the short straw on that one - to get it twice," Groh said. "I noticed that some conference teams are getting 11 days to get ready. But that's the way it is. It's the same thing for the other team. We'll just use the same plan that we used last time. We don't have any choice with this time frame."
- Chris Graham