William & Mary Tribe quarterback Jake Phillips gets tackled by Terps linebacker Trey Covington in the first game of the season. The Terps’ defense held the Tribe to 124 yards in the first half, but loosened in the second half, allowing 186 yards.
Drubbing a team like William & Mary would have emptied the stands by halftime. Keeping the Tribe close would have caused immense frustration.
But when the clock expired Saturday night, the 13-point win left members of the Terrapin football team with mixed emotions.
Yes, it was a win – one win closer to bowl eligibility. But, on the other hand, the Terps committed four turnovers and made enough blunders to reveal some uneasiness.
Upon judging their performance Saturday night, Terp players and coach Ralph Friedgen expressed a common theme of happiness with the win and a desire to repair and improve.
“I’m not satisfied, but I’m not disappointed either,” Friedgen said.
The positives of the win were measured on a wide scope. Senior quarterback Sam Hollenbach led the offense down the field with several long passing plays, the Terp backs ran all over the Tribe to the tune of 213 yards and the first team defense swarmed into the backfield.
But there were also negatives that reminded the Terps of their recent thorny past. An interception, a couple of fumbles and a late defensive breakdown guaranteed the Terp locker room wouldn’t be all smiles.
And though the 27-14 final score was a much smaller margin than many fans anticipated, the Terps talked about the positives outweighing the negatives. For most, the overarching positive was just leaving Chevy Chase Field at Byrd Stadium with the victory.
“A win’s a win, regardless of how you look at it,” junior linebacker Wesley Jefferson said. “People don’t ask how did they win or what the game was like, all they see is the ‘W.'”
Even so, after watching film of the game, Friedgen noted more positives than negatives in his team’s play from the first team defense to the grind-it-out running game and aerial attack.
In the first half, the Terp defense allowed William & Mary to amass 124 yards, but 56 of those yards came on the Tribe’s lone touchdown drive. Senior cornerback Josh Wilson blocked a punt, had four tackles and ignited the fans with a pre-game leap into Testudo’s Troops.
“On defense we always try to set the tone. We always try to come on the field and start off with a bang,” Wilson said. “You come out and take somebody on and take a three-and-out, that’s demoralizing to an offense.”
Demoralizing to William & Mary’s defense was the sharp running of backs Lance Ball, Keon Lattimore and Josh Allen, who combined for 200 of the Terps’ 213 rushing yards. While each offensive series featured a different back, the Terps controlled the pace of the game on the ground, and compiled big yards in the air.
To set up the first Terp touchdown, Hollenbach connected with tight end Joey Haynos on a 42-yard pass down the left sideline and would later hit receivers Isaiah Williams and Danny Oquendo with similar long-range bombs.
But even though the Terps led early and used the passing game for deep cuts into the Tribe defense, things were far from perfect when Hollenbach – and back-up Jordan Steffy – threw the ball.
With another touchdown seemingly in reach, Hollenbach missed a wide-open Oquendo and the Terps had to settle for a Dan Ennis field goal. It wasn’t a big deal this time, but Hollenbach knows those miscues are lethal when they happen later in the season.
“If we had lost the game, that would have been terrible,” Hollenbach said. “But at the same time, you can lose games on plays like that.”
Not to overshadow his 153-yard, zero turnover night, Hollenbach’s overthrow is the perfect example of why the Terps and their fans aren’t totally thrilled with Saturday night’s win.
The turnovers added up. Tight end Dan Gronkowski accidentally forced Oquendo to fumble on the Terps’ first drive. A short William & Mary punt ricocheted off Isaiah Gardner’s leg and the Tribe picked it up. Steffy fumbled once and had a third down pass picked off by Tribe defensive back Jeff Allen.
“As long as you have turnovers, you give the other team a chance to win,” Friedgen said.
Turnovers weren’t the only problem. Late in the fourth quarter, Tribe backup quarterback Michael Potts zipped a pass to D.J. McAulay, who went 49 yards past the Terps’ second team defense for a touchdown.
By that time, the student section was far from full, but the defensive lapse is troubling. Friedgen attributed the defensive let-down to fatigue, but offered no excuses for giving up a late touchdown that made the game’s final minutes a little more interesting.
Stopping the turnovers is mission No. 1 for the Terps, and Friedgen is confident his team will learn from the mistakes and improve. But no matter the result, the players know they have to regain momentum before facing West Virginia Sept. 14.
“We still have a lot of work to do and we still got a plot of polishing to get done. But today we won the game and that’s all that matters in the end,” Jefferson said. “Did we get better? Absolutely. Were we at the same place we were before the game? No, this is just a step.”
In his first game as Terp coach and offensive coordinator, Friedgen admitted everything didn’t go smoothly. Asked to rate his own performance, Friedgen may have been summing up the entire night for his team.
“So-so,” he said. “Good enough to win.”
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
