The Maryland–Virginia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Maryland Terrapins and Virginia Cavaliers. The Terrapins and Cavaliers first met in 1919 and the series was played annually from 1957 through 2013, before Maryland left the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
Maryland leads the series 45–32–2, although Virginia is 15–8 since 1991. Maryland possesses the longest winning streak of the series, sixteen games between 1972 and 1987, while Virginia has the second longest streak with nine consecutive wins ending in 2000.
The schools jointly announced a home-home series in 2017 that would be played during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Background
Contributing factors
Several factors contribute to the intensity of the rivalry. The two states, and their eponymous flagship universities based in Charlottesville, Virginia and College Park, Maryland, respectively, share close historical and cultural ties. The schools are located in relatively close geographic proximity, separated by about . Due in large part to this proximity, the schools aggressively compete for recruits in the Mid-Atlantic region. Former Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen expressed the importance of the rivalry by stating, "It's a potential rivalry in every sport we play. They're border states. We compete for students, not just athletes."
The two are both long-time members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Maryland becoming a founding member in 1953 and Virginia joining later in that same year. When the conference reorganized in 2005, Maryland and Virginia were placed in separate divisions, but designated as cross-divisional rivals that continue to meet annually. The intensity of the rivalry is increased by a long history in the series of comebacks, shutouts, and spoilers that prevented one team from securing a conference championship or bowl game appearance. From the 1920s until 1945, the teams competed for the Tydings Trophy, named for former politician and Maryland alum Millard Tydings who had several friends amongst the professors at Virginia. In 2003, the schools discussed reviving the trophy tradition, but it was ultimately rejected by Virginia, due to concerns over the reorganization of the ACC.
Before and after their meeting in 2010, players from both schools attributed the importance of the game to the negative feelings the programs have for each other. Virginia center Anthony Mihota said "I guess it's because we don't like them very much. Something about them that gets under our skin". After Maryland's victory, Terp linebacker Adrian Moten commented, "This was a big win in the rivalry. They hate us. We hate them."
The high academic standing of the University of Virginia in a national publication has added to the competitiveness between the two. In 2003, University of Maryland president C.D. Mote asserted that, in academic terms, Virginia was "highly overrated these days ... U.S. News & World Report places them at the top of the pile with Berkeley, which is ridiculous." Mote further stated that students from the state of Maryland paying a higher tuition cost to attend the University of Virginia "don’t know any better." While the University of Virginia president, John Casteen, said such remarks can be taken out of context, Virginia board of visitors member, William H. Goodwin, responded in The Cavalier Daily, "I certainly think a college president should have more class, but you have to expect that from Maryland."
Relative importance
Former Virginia head coach Al Groh stopped short of calling the game with Maryland a 'rivalry', but said that "it is a very important game to our team and it is our annual game. So that certainly designates it as being different from the other games." Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen conceded that "[Virginia has] Virginia Tech as an in-state rivalry, but I think we're their out-of-state rivalry."
Maryland–Virginia is the second most played out-of-state rivalry for Virginia, after the longest standing rivalry in the ACC, the South's Oldest Rivalry between Virginia and North Carolina. It is the fourth most played for the Cavaliers overall, after North Carolina, Virginia Tech (Commonwealth Cup), and Virginia Military Institute. In contrast, Maryland–Virginia is the most-played historical series for Maryland.
