Maryland Game Immediate Impressions: Gameday in College Park

Posted by hokieg

November 15, 2009

I for the second time this season made last second plans to attend a Virginia Tech football game on Saturday. Due to the rain in Northern Virginia this weekend, all my kids soccer games were canceled, so my son and I made a snap decision to get in the car and drive to around the beltway to College Park, Maryland to watch the Hokies play the Terps. I expected lots of Hokies to be there, but didn't expect as many as there were. Capital One Stadium at Byrd Field ended up being "Blacksburg-North" for an afternoon.

I don't got to many road games so it was an interesting experience attending one with so many other Hokies. Here are my thoughts on the Maryland game experience and the Hokies win itself.

Because of my last minutes plans to attend I didn't have time to sync up with friends to see who was attending (aka who's tailgate I could crash), so I fell for the link at the top of the TSL.com message board and found my way to the HokieFest Tailgate website sponsored by the Maryland Hokie Club.

This turned out to be a great decision as this tailgate was a winner especially for last minute planners. Everything you could want: food, beers for Daddy, games for kids (and Daddy), lots of Hokies to mingle with, parking right near the stadium, even cornhole! I also ran into old friends there, and some Golden Hokies who were glad to unload a few extra tickets for my son and I. If you are going to an away game, I'd definitely recommend checking out what the local Hokie club has going on.

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As far as the overall tailgate scene and stadium in College Park, my 2 main observations are 1) it was unbelievable how many Hokies were there and 2) Maryland is a basketball school. As mentioned, I expected lots of Hokies, but I literally did not expect them to outnumber Terps fans (I'm not sure if this is factually correct, but if not, it was real close).

Granted it was somewhat of a dreary rainy day, but University of Maryland's campus tailgate scene just has something missing. Maybe its the urban location, the sterile nature of the buildings, or lack of 'buzz' because of how bad the team is, but it made me appreciate the totally opposite aura we have in Blacksburg. Capital One Stadium at Byrd Field is not horrible, but its as old and mundane as I remember it as a kid.

In general you just get the sense that the University of Maryland does football half-ass. This is very different from how it feels when you attend a basketball game there at the Comcast Center, which is very nice and generally has a great vibe. Again, just tells you where their priorities are.

As far as the game, the schizo 2009 Virginia Tech Hokies continues, and this was an "up" week, maybe the highest. My son was at arguably the previous high performance point of the season, the BC game. I'm thinking Jim Weaver should send us 2 tickets from now own to make sure he's in attendance.

My main observation from the game was the mature, collected, superb play of Tyrod Taylor. I don't think we realize how much we are going to miss him once he graduates. Tyrod's VT career is starting to appear more and more like Bryan Randall's, who's progression and improvement happened while we watched. Tyrod looked so in control of this game, clearly the best player on the field, and a leader. His numbers aren't gaudy, but his passing was solid, his designed runs are deadly and underused, and his mobility in the pocket or when scrambling is a killer for opponents.

Ryan Williams and Tyrod Taylor compliment each other as the run game creates single man coverage which TT and the Hokies took advantage of in this game. I noticed lots of 4 WR sets by the Hokies in this game, and they both ran and passed successfully out of this formation. Dyrell Roberts got my attention in this game, he finally looked like a big time WR that can be counted on.

Frankly, Maryland was such an over matched opponent, especially on offense, that its hard to evaluate too much from this game. However the defense had one of its best games of the year I thought, though it was frustrating watching the Maryland young quarterback get yards on scrambles when it was clear it was the only offense they had.

Jayron Hosley is fun to watch return punts. He is going to make a lot of plays in his Hokie career, and I predict he'll score a lot of touchdown on punt returns.

I liked the uniforms but not the white helmets! Bring back the maroon ones!

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon of Hokie tailgating, football, and a great win! I'm looking forward to my next game being in Blacksburg and Lane Stadium.

Go Hokies!