The Terrapin football team was able to contain half of West Virginia’s dynamic duo last night.

Steve Slaton had a good game (137 rushing yards and three touchdowns), but Pat White did not. White, who is a Heisman Trophy candidate with Slaton, only ran for 22 yards on 11 carries.

But true freshman Noel Devine made up for what quarterback Pat White couldn’t do on the ground. Devine had 136 yards on just five carries, including a backbreaking 76-yarder that led to a touchdown to put West Virginia up 28-7.

“I didn’t realize he’s as fast as he is,” Friedgen said of Devine. “He’s as fast as Slaton, and he’s pretty elusive too.”

n First-half ending

After the Terps forced a turnover with 13 seconds to play in the first half, they needed about 15 or 20 yards to get into field goal range.

But on the first play, Jordan Steffy threw a swing pass to Keon Lattimore, which resulted in a one-yard loss on the field and an eight-second loss on the clock.

Friedgen said that was the designed play call, but Steffy threw it a bit behind Lattimore.

“That was me,” Friedgen said. “I’ll tell you exactly what we were doing. I was expecting them to be in a prevent defense. We have a play where we send the receivers down and they block … and what I was trying to do was get the ball out to Keon and let the receivers block and get the ball inside the 30-yard line. As it turned out, we threw the ball behind him so he never had a chance to keep his momentum.

“We had watched tape of them in a 2-minute situation and they played off, maybe 10 to 12 yards. So that’s what I was trying to do.”

Fans were unhappy with the call, as they booed the Terps after the play. Steffy then threw an interception on a Hail Mary to end the half.

n Blackout Effective

The student section was packed and not just for the game either.

With about 90 minutes to go before gametime, the student section was about three-quarters full. It was just about entirely filled up about 20 minutes before kickoff.

Decked out in black shirts, the students even found seats to the right of the band.

Overall, last night’s attendance was 53,107 – the fifth highest attendance ever at Byrd Stadium.

n The Worldwide Leader … in commercials?

Last night’s game was televised on ESPN, and it was obvious. Designated commercial breaks lasted longer than usual, leaving players from both teams standing around waiting for the referee’s signal to proceed.

At one point, the Terps were lined up ready to start a drive, but a long commercial break stopped that from happening. Friedgen then called Jordan Steffy over and changed the formation and the play.

Last week’s game took two hours and 44 minutes, compared to last night, which lasted three hours and nine minutes.

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