Senior quarterback Sam Hollenbach led the Terps on all of their scoring drives, throwing for 153 yards on 9-of-15 passing.

With one minute, one second left in Saturday’s season-opening football game, a fellow football writer and I were discussing whether or not a victory for the home team could be safely assumed.

The situation is almost irrelevant to mention; the mere fact that we conversed about whether Division I-AA William & Mary still had a chance to deliver a monumental upset with 61 seconds remaining in the game should be scary for the Terps.

The game’s balance did not hang on every play up until then – in fact, the Terps looked relatively impressive in jumping out to a 14-0 lead. But when Sam Hollenbach badly missed receiver Danny Oquendo in the end zone and the Terps had to settle for a field goal, things turned batty. After that, the mighty Tribe outscored the Terps 14-10 to finish the game.

First, a special teams’ blunder gave William & Mary another chance. The Tribe swiftly marched 56 yards in 10 plays to score its first touchdown. As the Terp offense prepared to take the field, another strange thing occurred: Backup quarterback Jordan Steffy had his helmet on and was in the huddle, while starter Sam Hollenbach stood alone about 20 yards away on the sidelines.

Did Hollenbach injure himself? Is Steffy challenging for the starting spot? Was head coach Ralph Friedgen so upset with Hollenbach’s airmailed throw in the red zone to pull him? Did Chevy Chase Bank also acquire the naming rights of our starting quarterback? The Fridge did not mention any of these reasons in his post-game press conference, instead offering the following explanation:

“Steffy’s been playing pretty good in practice. I kinda wanted to see how he would be when the game was still on the line. – We put him in there and just see what he would do.”

While The Fridge had good intentions in trying to establish depth at a position where it’s necessary, the move sure left his No. 1 quarterback – who is, in my view, the most indispensable player on this team – in a daze.

“I didn’t know it was happening at all,” Hollenbach told reporters after the game. “I was ready to go back out, and then I saw Jordan warming up. So I went over to coach and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, [Steffy’s] just going in for a series or two.’ They didn’t discuss that with me – not that they had to, obviously – but it was a surprise.”

When Steffy’s second pass attempt was intercepted, Hollenbach likely knew he would be taking the reigns in the next series, whether The Fridge clearly communicated it or not.

After a beautifully thrown deep ball from Hollenbach to Isaiah Williams late in the second quarter, the Terps’ passing attack went into hibernation. Granted, with a three-touchdown cushion at halftime, the Terps did not need to unleash a vertical passing attack.

Even as the ground game was chugging along, the Terps still mustered only three points in the second half. Though it didn’t impact the final result, Hollenbach’s removal – to some extent – disrupted the game’s rhythm. Inserted into a 27-7 game in the fourth quarter, Steffy again struggled, forcing The Fridge to bring back Hollenbach back for the final possession to perform the unbelievably difficult task of – taking a knee.

The quarterback shuffle may have repercussions in the next few weeks. The lack of communication between The Fridge and Hollenbach is alarming, and if that persists against an opponent like No. 5-ranked West Virginia, then the Terps will surely have an unhappy drive back from Morgantown next Thursday night.

Should Hollenbach suffer an injury, you have to wonder where Steffy’s confidence is after going 0-for-5 with an interception and fumble. Steffy was not made available to reporters following the game.

And instead of leaving Chevy Chase Bank Field with a feel-good blowout-victory, the Terps own even less momentum than they did at the season’s outset.

Contact reporter Daniel Chiat at chiatdbk@gmail.com.