Coach Randy Edsall’s Terps have lost seven consecutive games.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Midway through the third quarter of Saturday’s game against Wake Forest, Davin Meggett burst through the line of scrimmage for an apparent 17-yard touchdown run, one that would give the Terrapins football team its first lead of the game.
As he began to celebrate, though, the team’s attention shifted to the article of yellow cloth lying in the backfield. A pre-snap illegal shift had negated Meggett’s touchdown, and four plays later, a once-promising drive ended with a missed 36-yard field goal by kicker Nick Ferrara.
That play summed up both the Terps’ day and their near-complete season. Their game disintegrated from there, and the Demon Deacons outscored the Terps by 21 points in the second half to earn bowl eligibility with a 31-10 victory at BB&T Field.
“We had that one kind of penalty, it was like illegal motion or some shit,” defensive tackle Joe Vellano said. “We were in the end zone. A little thing like that’s a game changer. It was killer. It wasn’t even part of the play. Not a factor in the play. Just kind of hurt us, it wasn’t just that, but stuff like that just kills momentum.”
It was the Terps’ seventh straight loss — and the sixth straight by double digits — and marked the fourth time in six weeks the Terps have yielded 500 yards of total offense. Opponents reached that threshold just four times in former coach Ralph Friedgen’s 10-year tenure.
Heading into halftime, it was hard to imagine the Terps (2-9, 1-6 ACC) folding on defense. They surrendered just seven points in a first half highlighted by 2.5 sacks from freshman defensive tackle Andre Monroe, and the Terps’ defense was finally rewarded for its efforts when quarterback C.J. Brown engineered a scoring drive in the final two minutes of the first half.
Paced by runs of 14 and 20 yards by Brown, the Terps drove quickly into Wake Forest territory, and with just 11 seconds on the clock, Brown connected with running back Justus Pickett down the right sideline to tie the score — and give the Terps momentum — going into halftime.
With the Terps set to receive the opening kickoff of the second half, they appeared primed to finally end a seemingly endless losing skid against a team they beat by 48 points last season.
But after the Terps’ opening drive sputtered and the defense surrendered a field goal, the fateful illegal shift call swung the tide.
Wake Forest (6-5, 5-3) found a rhythm and gashed the Terps’ defense for 350 second-half yards and 514 yards of total offense on the day.
Quarterback Tanner Price finished with 320 passing yards and three touchdowns, and his favorite target, wide receiver Chris Givens, hauled in 191 and a touchdown.
“Defensively, we played very, very well, I thought, in the first half,” coach Randy Edsall said. “And in part of the second half, we gave up some big plays that hurt us. They might have gotten a little worn down.”
And while the Terps were able to match Wake Forest’s productivity at times behind Brown (186 passing yards, touchdown, 114 rushing yards), he was unable to get over the hump in the red zone.
The Terps’ four trips inside the Demon Deacons’ 20-yard line ended in two turnovers on downs and two missed field goals by Ferrara, as their season continued to cement itself as one of the most forgettable in program history.
“We left a lot out there today, and … yeah,” Brown said. “You’ve got to be able to put the ball in the end zone. We left a lot of missed opportunities out there.”
cwalsh@umdbk.com
