As the second half of Saturday’s Terrapin football game against then-No. 17 North Carolina wore on, the Terp offense knew it was time to make a move.
Locked in an unlikely defensive stalemate after the teams combined to score on five of the game’s first 10 drives, the Terps took over at their own 18 with 10:25 left in the game, trailing by a point.
“Any points was going to be enough,” said wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, whose team had not scored since early in the second quarter. “Our defense was playing great.”
The Terps followed with the kind of drive that wins ACC championships.
Quarterback Chris Turner led the Terps with 73 yards on 19 plays, highlighted by three key third-down completions and a 9-yard fourth-down scramble in Tar Heel territory. Kicker Obi Egekeze capped the monster drive with a 26-yard field goal with 1:42 left in the game.
After cornerback Jamari McCollough intercepted Tar Heel Cameron Sexton’s pass to squash the ensuing possession, the Terps had a 17-15 win, moving them one step closer to their first ACC Championship game. The Terps’ NCAA-leading fourth win against a ranked opponent this season brought many students flooding out of the stands to celebrate with the team as it gathered by the student section after the game.
With the win, the Terps, who are now 6-0 at Byrd Stadium this season, can clinch a berth in the Dec. 6 ACC Championship game next week if they win against Florida State and Boston College loses at Wake Forest. The Terps (7-3, 4-2 ACC) are also guaranteed a trip to the game in Tampa, Fla. with wins against the Seminoles and the Eagles to close the season.
The now-No. 22 Terps played themselves into this position with a bounce-back effort that has become their calling card this season. After a poor performance at Virginia Tech last Thursday that included getting outrushed 273 to negative-12 yards, they stifled one of the conference’s most prolific offenses for most of the last three quarters and overcame several potentially costly mistakes to prevail on a rainy evening at Byrd Stadium. The Terps erased an early 5-0 deficit and completed their third fourth-quarter comeback in ACC play this season to win a game that featured just a pair of field goals in the final 43:46.
“I’d like to tell you it’s great coaching,” said Friedgen, whose team has followed up all three of their losses this season with wins against ranked opponents to continue its string of wins vs. ranked foes to six. “But it’s really the kids who rise to these occasions.”
After some changes to the defensive line and another week for running back Da’Rel Scott to get his injured left shoulder healthy, winning the battle in the trenches sparked the Terps. The Tar Heels (7-3, 3-3) picked up just 2.9 yards per carry and all but abandoned the run early in the fourth quarter, even though they held the lead.
Scott picked up more yards on his first carry of the day (14) than he did in the entire game against the Hokies (11). He finished with 129 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries as the Terps ran the ball a season-high 53 times. Freshman Davin Meggett added 86 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Friedgen said Scott did not run as aggressively against the Hokies as he did early in the season. Although Scott acknowledged he is not back to 100 percent and ceded more time than usual to Meggett on Saturday, he was back attacking the line of scrimmage as the offensive line battered the Tar Heel front seven.
“When we’re clicking, and we’re able to get, push and open holes, both of our backs hit them very well,” guard Jaimie Thomas said.
The effort helped the Terps, who came into the game last in the conference in time of possession, control the ball for a season-high 40:29. The rested Terp defense gave up just 105 yards of offense in the second half.
They also clamped down when it mattered most. After a 44-yard third quarter pass by fullback Bobby Rome moved the Tar Heels into Terp territory, the Terps held, and North Carolina kicker Casey Barth banged a 28-yard field goal attempt off the left upright. Later, the Terp defense forced three incompletions and a punt after a Josh Portis fumble gave the Tar Heels possession at the Terp 33.
North Carolina converted just 1-of-11 third-down attempts in the game.
“We got a lot of rest,” said McCollough, who iced the win with his team-leading fourth interception of the year and first for the Terps since Sept. 27 at Clemson. “We were sitting on the bench for a while, just relaxing and watching the game. It really helped us because we had time to go over different things – what to look out for and what was coming next.”
But the inspired defensive effort wouldn’t have done any good if Turner and the Terps didn’t grind out the game-winning drive.
The drive featured nine runs, including Turner’s scramble straight up the middle on a fourth-and-5 from the Tar Heel 32. The junior, who has yet to throw an interception in six games against ranked opponents, hit wide receiver Danny Oquendo on a pair of short third downs to start the drive. Wide receiver Ronnie Tyler’s leaping 18-yard reception in traffic on a third-and-10 play moved the Terps into North Carolina territory.
Without this unique combination of plays, the Terps’ ACC Championship hopes may have disappeared as quickly as the rainbow that towered over the stadium following some second-quarter rain showers.
But thanks to the heroics, the Terps remain in control of their postseason fate.
“We were basically 11 guys on one mission,” Thomas said. “We knew we had to come out with points if we wanted to win this game.”
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