Florida
State Recap
27 35
Terps Push Seminoles to the Edge, but Not Over
My take on the game:
Overall:
Damn, Damn, Damn. I don’t know what to say. I am proud of our boys going toe to toe with the #10 Seminoles in Tallahassee, but the days of moral victories are behind us. The Terps came out flat, played brilliant and then flat again to let FSU come back and take the victory. Had we pulled this one out, not only would we have a victory over a top 10 team on the road, but we would have had a realistic shot at winning the Atlantic Division. We also would have been a virtual lock for post season play. The bad news is that we have to win 2 out of the next 3 to go to a bowl game. The good news is, if we play like we did against FSU, we could possibly even win out.
Game Highlights:
The highlight of the game was when Joel Statham found Joey Jo Jo Walker in the end zone with :47 left in the first half. Once we tied the game, I just wanted to keep FSU from scoring again. Low and behold the Defense stepped up big time and got us the ball back in great field position (thanks to a STUPID FSU interference call on the punt). At that point I was like “Ohhh maybe we can get a field goal and take the lead into halftime”. So when Jo Jo Walker made that catch to put us up 21-14 at half time I was stunned, but in a good way.
Game Lowlights:
When Maryland went down in the 4th quarter by a point, I still had a funny feeling about this game. I thought that it would be too strange of a story for Joel Statham to beat FSU back to back, that I felt like it almost had to happen. However after a great first down to get the drive moving, Joel made a horrible read that led to an Ernie Sims interception. FSU capitalized on the turnover AGAIN, and made the lead 8. Maryland still had a shot and drove the ball into FSU territory, but on 4th down, Statham some how thought it would be a good idea to tuck the ball instead of throwing it down field. Ball game.
Lowlight Extras and other Random Thoughts:
We hear about how well Lance Ball is doing all week in the paper. Anyone who has seen any ounce of Maryland football knows he is our best Running Back. He averaged over 5 yards a carry against a very stingy Va Tech Defense, yet to start the game, Fridge goes with Mario Merrills?
Speaking of Mario, the stats will say Mario Merrills had a fumble on the first drive yesterday but replay clearly shows the hand off was botched. I don’t think I have ever cussed anyone like I did Joel Statham after that turn over. By halftime though I had forgiven Joel for every error he has ever made in his life.
And speaking of turnovers, Maryland gave up 14 points off of turnovers and 7 points off of punt coverage. We play a little crisper and we don’t only beat FSU, we rout them.
And lastly good news for the J and Mary, had Maryland held on to win, those two would have had to spend every FSU game in Worcester County for the rest of their lives.
Game MVP:
There are actually a lot of candidates I could go with which is sort of unusual in a loss. Usually I am just cussing everyone. But I am going with Lance Ball as D-7 FSU MVP. He didn’t have any TD’s but man did he look powerful running the ball. Lance had 21 carries for 121 yards. If he gets shut down, FSU can concentrate on the passing game and we would have been dead ducks.
The UM Terps site doesn’t have defensive stats up yet, but those guys played their hearts out. Remember FSU had 21 points off of special teams and short fields. They weren’t so effective when they had to march 80 yards.
Around the ACC:
Miami 34 UNC 16- For a little while it looked like UNC might shock the Hurricanes again, but it wasn’t to be. Tyrone Moss had 3 TD’s in the second half to put UNC back where they belong. By the way, I am so pissed, the announcer in this game stole my bit. I was going to write “If you are a powerful football team like Miami who has had a lot of recent success, why do you wear throw backs to a season where you had 4 losses and played in a bowl that no longer exists?”. I still used it though so take that ESPN 2!
Georgia Tech 10 Clemson 9- I can’t help but wonder if other conferences have such odd scores as we do in the ACC. 7-5 last week, 10-9 this week. The ACC is pretty good in Lax and baseball, but this is ridiculous. Anyway, the Jackets held on to barely win in this under rated rivalry. Do you know that 9 of the last 10 Clemson-Tech meetings were decided by less than a TD? Since this one was on the same time as Maryland a half in the bag Tyson explained to me that Clemson tried to kick a 55 yard field goal to win, instead of going for it. Looks like more fuel for the anti Bowden fire.
Wake Forest 44 Duke 6- Chris Barclay lead off the game with a 68 yard run and never looked back. The Deacons rolled behind Barclay’s 204 yards. Barclay now holds the Wake Forest career rushing record. Duke has now dropped 4 straight games by 24 or more points.
NC State 21 Southern Mississippi 17- NC State just barely avoids embarrassing the ACC by rallying to defeat Southern Mississippi. Get the Laugh track ready, here is a stat for you. NC State got its first home win vs. a Division I opponent in over a year. Yikes!!
ACC Standings:
Atlantic
FSU 5-1 7-1
BC 3-2 6-2
Wake 3-3 4-5
Maryland 2-3 4-4
Clemson 2-4 4-4
NC St 1-4 3-4
Coastal
VT 5-0 8-0
Miami 3-1 6-1
GT 3-2 5-2
UNC 2-2 3-4
Virginia 2-3 4-3
Duke 0-6 1-8