Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

Every year there is one game that comes out of nowhere and makes you scratch your head.  Actually it is usually more than one game.  There is the one we have no business winning, that we pull out, and there unfortunately is one we have no business losing that we cough up.  So far, we’ve had both.  Yesterdays win over Clemson, is in a word HUGE.  Now in all honesty, winning last year in Death Valley with that team and how we were able to take control of the Atlantic Division was in fact a bigger win.  But this one may very well have salvaged the season.

There is a lot of good to take from this one and I think the biggest factor is that as of today we are 1-0 in ACC play, and once again in the drivers seat for the Conference Title Game.  OK, maybe a tad bit early to be saying that, but having lost yesterday, I think we could safely say that all hope for anything would be lost in College Park. 

Another thing we can hang our hats on from yesterday was the play of the Defense.  Normally fodder for my frustration, they played their hearts out.  They were put in two bad situations and they rose to the occasion.  With 6:02 left, the Terps tried to convert a 4th and 1 to keep the drive going.  Chris Turner’s QB sneak came up short, and all of a sudden the Tigers were taking over within field goal range.  [Now a quick aside, I loved that call, it didn't work out, but for God's sake play to win the game, don't play not to lose, especially when we are already 1-3].  The Defense came out and held the Tigers to a 47 yard field goal attempt which fortunately sailed wide.

Then on the ensuing play, the Defense was once again called on to bail us out.  Davin Meggett fumbled the ball right back to the Tigers and Byrd Stadium went into “Here we go again!” mode.  But the Terrapin D rose to the occasion and forced a 48 yard field goal attempt which also missed. 

After failing to move the chains the Terps once again put the Defense back on the field after a Nick Ferrara punt (by the way, great job by Nick today, he was cool under pressure and filled in admirably).  Though bending, the Defense again stalled the Tigers at about the Maryland 30 until Demetrius Hartsfield hit Kyle Parker for an 11 yard loss which also appeared to jar the bar loose.  For perhaps the first time in Maryland history (at least that’s how it felt to me) the Terps actually got something good out of a replay, and the play was ruled a fumble.  Clemson never got to take their shot at the 55 yard field goal, and that was fine by me.  Where we were sitting, the Tiger’s kicker was hammering home his kicks, even if they were wide, and I definetly felt as though he had a 55 yarder in him.

So Congratulations to the Terps, and specifically Don Brown.  The attacking style finally paid off holding CJ Spiller to 72 rushing yards, and more importantly keeping the Clemson score board to only 21 points.  However the day was not all good news.  It appears Da’Rel Scott could be done for the year.  If there are any silver linings to this, it’s that this is one position we are deep at.  But don’t get me wrong, this is a big loss, and Scott has been playing his heart out for us for last few years.  He is definitely going to be missed.

Another Terp who may be missed (though per the Baltimore Sun, his status in undetermined as I write this) is Bruce Campbell.  We need his leadership on Defense and if he is out for next week’s Wake game, he is going to be hard to replace.

Finally I want to touch on one more thing.  We often try to analyize sporting events to death, but I think there is one tell tale sign that hardly ever gets mentioned.  During the MTSU loss, our bench looked stress, dejected, and basically like they were not having any fun.  Yesterday the bench looked 100% into it.  They were jumping up and down, and basically excited.  Now this was all before we knew we had this game in hand.  It was good to see, and though we’ll never know for sure, I think the attitude the Terps brought into this game played a big part in how they reacted.  Falling down 10-0 did not keep them down.  I guess you need to credit Friedgen for that, and I’m going to do that right now.

So the Terps finally got their big win.  We can only hope that this a spring board to a better second half and not one of those “Where did that effort come from games”.  You can never tell with a young team like this, but if we can put some confidence into this team, maybe the jitters and nerves will settle out and they will begin to gel.  We won’t really know until Wake, but for the first time this fall, I’m finally feeling like there’s hope.  Let’s hope I’m right!

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 6:41 am and is filed under Maryland Terps Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.