CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Gone was the Maryland alma mater. So was the lingering of the players with their families on the field, and the smiling.
All three were staples of the ride the Terrapins football team had enjoyed over the past two months, covering eight straight victories. After a 48-13 loss to Virginia last night, there were no reunions, no singing. Just blank looks from a group that had no idea what had just hit them.
"They just played well and we didn't," said Scooter Monroe, one of several at a loss to explain how the Terrapins started so quickly, only to see the Cavaliers outscore them 34-3 during the second and third quarters, ending their hopes of a Bowl Championship Series berth.
Virginia took a 20-7 halftime lead on a Maryland team that had a possible share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title on the line, with the news of North Carolina State's victory over Florida State filtering to the Terrapins (9-3, 5-2 ACC). "By that point, we were trying to save our own hide," Monroe said.
But not even that motivation was enough as the Cavaliers (8-4, 6-2), behind tailback Wali Lundy's three touchdowns, continued to pull away and into second place in the league. The Terps' loss gave Florida State the ACC title outright.
Now, Maryland must beat Wake Forest on Saturday to secure a share of second place, which may still earn a bid over Virginia to the Gator Bowl, to be played Jan. 1 in Jacksonville, Fla. But given the lopsided nature of this loss, the bowl's representatives may choose to reconsider their preference for the Terps.
"I'm crushed," said Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, whose team was also looking for its first win at Charlottesville since 1990. "The door was open, and we couldn't get it. It bothers me, and it bothers me a lot."
There were dropped passes and missed tackles. In the stats, Maryland lost 93 yards to penalties and ran for only 138 yards - almost 70 yards fewer than its average. Quarterback Matt Schaub completed 23 of his 27 passes for 249 yards.
The Cavaliers answered everything Maryland had to offer, rebounding from recent losses to Georgia Tech and Penn State to supplant the Terps in second place in the ACC.
"This should be your M.O.," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "If you don't get any better throughout the year, then you'll get left behind."
Strangely enough, it looked as if that would happen to Virginia. Maryland, which usually struggles early, drove 80 yards in eight plays. The Terps got positive yardage on all but one of those plays before Chris Downs took a Scott McBrien dump pass 11 yards for a 7-0 lead with 11:36 left in the first quarter.
After that, Maryland domination seemed even more apparent when McBrien threw to Jafar Williams for 55 yards. Then, with the Terps at Virginia's 12 on fourth-and-one, Friedgen decided not to go for it, sending kicker Nick Novak onto the field.
Novak had made 82 percent of his field-goal tries, but this 29-yard attempt was blocked by Chris Canty with 4:18 left, and the worm began to turn in favor of Virginia.
"We wanted to come out with some points, but the kick was low," said Friedgen, whose decision was influenced by two missed fourth-down conversions last week at Clemson. "That changed the momentum."
From that point, Connor Hughes' missed 35-yard field-goal try a quarter later was about the best thing that happened to Maryland, which went from fantastic in the first quarter to feeble at halftime.
The transformation included Monroe dropping a sure touchdown pass. McBrien followed with a pass to Latrez Harrison that Virginia's Jermaine Hardy intercepted 13:51 before halftime.
Monroe offered no excuses.
"I just dropped it," he said. "I thought it was thrown further than it was, and it got in on my wrists. I saw it the whole time. It just came out."
Maryland's defense had been immune to the offense's foibles. But there was linebacker Leroy Ambush dragged by fullback Jason Snelling for the last third of a 27-yard touchdown pass from Schaub. The play, right after Hardy's pickoff, put the Cavaliers ahead 10-7 with 13:43 left in the half.
Virginia kept the chains moving on a 13-play, 59-yard drive that ended on a 27-yard field goal by Hughes with 4:48 left in the first half to make it 13-7.
Maryland hurt itself again after the field goal. Downs fought for extra yardage on third down when linebacker Angelo Crowell knocked the ball loose. The Cavaliers recovered with 3:10 left.
Starting at the Maryland 22, Virginia capitalized with a 7-yard touchdown catch by Lundy. His score at 2:03 came off a screen pass from Schaub, who juked Ambush before crossing the goal line to make it 20-7.
At halftime, Maryland knew that Florida State had lost, but it didn't help in the second half.
Early in the third quarter, wide receiver Billy McMullen took a handoff, slipped out of the grasp of Durrand Roundtree and found an open Michael McGrew for a 37-yard touchdown pass to make the score 26-7 with 12:59 left in the third quarter.
Lundy made it 34-7 with 7:13 left in the quarter on a 27-yard pass play from Schaub on a third-and-17 play.
In addition to a superior performance by Virginia, Friedgen said he'd been concerned by a subpar week of practices.
"This isn't to insinuate that our biorhythms were off - Virginia played pretty darn good," he said. "I'll tell you this much, they're not that much better than we are. But they were tonight."
ACC standings
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Florida State 7 1 8 4
Virginia 6 2 8 4
Maryland 5 2 9 3
N.C. State 5 3 10 3
Clemson 4 4 7 5
Georgia Tech 4 4 7 4
Wake Forest 3 4 6 5
North Carolina 1 7 3 9
Duke 0 8 2 10
Yesterday's results Virginia 48, Maryland 13 Wake Forest 30, Navy 27 North Carolina 23, Duke 21 N.C. State 17, Florida State 7 Clemson 27, S. Carolina 20 Saturday's games W. Forest at Maryland, noon Virginia at Virginia Tech, 3:30 Georgia at Georgia Tech, 3:30 Florida at Florida State, 8
Next for Terps
Matchup:Wake Forest (6-5, 3-4) vs. Maryland (9-3, 5-2)
Site:Byrd Stadium, College Park
When:Saturday, noon
TV/Radio:ESPN/WBAL (1090 AM)
Yesterday:Wake Forest beat Navy, 30-27.