CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – By now, you’ve seen Boston College’s Jolonn Dunbar do the whole scoop ‘n score routine enough times to make you heave. And you must’ve already dreamt about DeJuan Tribble’s swipe, sprint and soar for the Eagles’ third defensive touchdown of the day.
The Terps never really made much noise in what was basically a rout from the game’s second play from scrimmage. For these reasons, it would be easy to write the Terps off and assume a loss to No. 20-ranked Wake Forest this Saturday, which would most likely be followed by a second-tier bowl invite.
But even considering all that went wrong for the Terps in Chestnut Hill, doomsday thoughts should not creep into your psyche – or the players’. In reality, the Terps’ storybook season is only missing one chapter, not the ending.
What happened Saturday only reaffirmed the prevailing theory on this team all season long. Crucial miscues lead to embarrassing losses (the Thursday night debacle at West Virginia), while airtight play yields tightly contested games (the first six ACC games). Fortunately for the Terps, they stood tall after five of those.
“With the team that we have now, we have to play perfect,” senior cornerback Josh Wilson said. “Offensively and defensively, we weren’t perfect today. We gotta make plays. We gotta be able to stop the big play.”
For the most part, the Terps did not appear overmatched against the Eagles. Even after two fateful pitches by senior quarterback Sam Hollenbach in the game’s first three minutes, the Terps battled hard, moving the ball offensively at times and making some defensive stands. However, in no way are the Terps good enough to overcome multiple key mistakes, let alone a minus-four turnover differential.
Saturday’s blowout loss sure makes you appreciate all of those preceding wins – imperfect wins, but wins nonetheless. And after the game, someone asked Hollenbach if he thought any sort of overconfidence stemming from five straight ACC victories played a part against Boston College.
“It’s not like we thought we were all that,” said Hollenbach, adding the Terps would’ve lost any and all of those preceding five ACC games if they performed anything like Saturday.
So how can the Terps right their ship this week? Well first, they should don green and orange on Thanksgiving and root hard for Miami, which needs to beat Boston College to keep the Terps’ ACC Championship hopes alive. This result isn’t as farfetched as you may think, especially considering how emotional (Senior Night, the first home game since Bryan Pata’s death) and meaningful (bowl eligibility at stake) the game will be for the ‘Canes.
But regardless of the outcome Thursday, the Terps should be invited to a well-respected bowl with a victory over the Demon Deacons, who actually were more exposed Saturday than the Terps in their 27-6 home loss to Virginia Tech.
If nothing else, these Terps know how to protect their house – to the tune of a perfect 6-0 mark. They should also get back to taking care of the ball, so go ahead and expect a victory from the Terps post-Thanksgiving, and bury the nightmares from Saturday.
Contact columnist Daniel Chiat at chiatdbk@gmail.com.
