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MD at Clemson 2006

“Mortimer, we’re back”

By Bob W.

Overall:  Wow, I don’t know what to say.  What a great game.  And more importantly what a huge win!  This is incredible.  The one game on our schedule that I thought we had no chance of winning and what do they do, but go out and win it.  I will never doubt this team again, as rough as things looked after the West Virginia game they are no longer that squad that could barely beat FIU.  We are back, and that’s bad news for the rest of the ACC.  Now if you can believe this, we are tied with Wake for first in the Atlantic Division with 3 games left.  Though I have to admit, the 2006 Wake Forest Demon Decans are reminding me a lot of the 2001 Maryland Terrapins.  Anyway this is shaping up to be an extremely exciting season.  Miami next week looks like our most winnable game left, and that is never a good thing.  But the good news is that we control our own destiny and with Wake’s remaining schedule we could be looking at a huge ACC game in College Park over Thanksgiving. 

Game Highlights:  No brainer here.  The highlight of the game was Sam Hollenbach doing his best John Elway impression.  After we went down in the 4^th quarter, I got the same old here we go again feeling, a tough game in Death Valley that we just missed pulling out.  But Sam went out there and knifed through the Clemson defensive like it was no big thing.   It was easily the most important drive of his career and he not only got Ennis a chip shot for the W, he also had a huge carry on 4^th and 1. 

The second best highlight was the Ennis kick.  I think it’s safe to say that Ennis no longer has to worry about losing his job.  The kick wasn’t ever in doubt and as soon as he hit it, you knew it was good.   It was probably only halfway to the goal post when I started sprinting outside to celebrate the big W!

Game Lowlights:  What is it about Clemson, if it wasn’t for Sam Hollenbach’s great drive we would have lost this one again on a controversial play that went Clemson’s way at the very end of the game.  The Terps thought they had some breathing room when Clemson fumbled the ball into their own endzone, but after further review, the ball was ruled down at the 6 inch line.  Now I’m not saying it wasn’t recovered in time, but I’m also not saying it was.  Based on the replay it could have gone either way, but the idea that the replay showed enough evidence to over rule the call on the field is totally beyond me.  Of course seconds later Clemson hits their wide open TE who scampers down to the Maryland 30 leading to the go ahead field goal.  Luckily no ones ever going to remember anything but the outcome from this match up.

MVP:  This is lame, but I can’t justify it any other way.  This week we are going with 2 MVP’s.  On Offense Sam was the man.  If I had known that our rushing line was going to read 28 carries for 54 yards, I probably wouldn’t even have turned on the TV, but Sam was able to do it through the air.  The Offensive line did it’s job allowing Hollenbach to set his feet and pick apart the Defense.  Sam finished with 247 passing yards, 1 TD, and 1 int. 

Though we owe a lot to Sam from his performance on Saturday, let’s not forget about our defense.  The Defense looked terrible at times this year, so who would have ever thought that we would be able to keep the high flying Clemson Tigers out of the endzone?  Sure as hell not me!  Anyway, though others are worthy, you just can’t help but scratch your head at Erin Henderson’s numbers.  Henderson finished the day with 18 tackles.  Erin has certainly shown that he is a special player and is more than happy to pick up the LB torch from D’qwell and continue the tradition of solid LB play at College Park.

So there you have it, both Sam Hollenbach and Erin Henderson get the D-7 Tailgate MVP award for the Maryland-Clemson 2006 match up.

Random Thought-  As I am typing this, I am very happy I didn’t take the Bears in the survivor pool this week. 

Game of the Week

Wake Forest 21 Boston College 14-  And then there were two one loss teams in the Atlantic Division.  Wake got two sacks from Jyles Tucker plus a crucial 4^th quarter forced fumble to beat fellow first place team BC.  Wake held BC to 28 rushing yards, and improved to 8-1 for the first time since 1944.  I just pray we have the same conference record as them on Thanksgiving weekend.

Navy 38  Duke 13- Naptown only knows two things, Crab Cakes and Football!  The Middies are now bowl eligible, as for Duke, well there still 6 wins away.

Virginia Tech 17 Miami 10- Well so much for the Hurricane’s having a let down game against us.  Brandon Ore scored with just over a minute left to take the wind out of the Canes.  Miami now falls to 2-3 in the Conference and 5-4 overall. 

Florida State 33 UVA 0- I feel much better about our FSU win, not so good about our come from behind UVA win though.  Anyway, Tony Carter opened up the scoring early with a pick 6 and the Noles never looked back.  UVA is now one loss away from no December practices. 

Notre Dame 45  UNC 26-  I’m not going to lie.  I am impressed UNC kept this one so close, but in the end ND proved to be too much.  Brady Quinn had 4 TD’s and threw for over 346 yards. 

Georgia Tech 31  NC State 23- Reggie Ball threw for 4 TD’s and Calvin Johnson caught 2 of those as the Yellow Jackets edge closer to clinching their trip to Jacksonville.  NC State on the other hand got their 6 loss of the year, and if Chuck ain’t feeling the heat yet, he will be soon as the pack heads into an angry Death Valley with their season on the line.