TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — About two hours before the Terrapin football team was set to face Florida State on Saturday, Joel Statham began to warm up. The backup quarterback looked calm, wearing a black muscle shirt and letting his dirty blonde hair glisten in the bright Florida sun.
But just a short time after being told he would start against the No. 10-ranked Seminoles, Statham inadvertently whipped a ball in the direction of an unsuspecting receiver looking in another direction.
Had the throw been precise, the receiver would have probably wound up with a ball in his face. But counting on Statham’s accuracy has been a gamble – one the Terps decided to take that afternoon with usual starter Sam Hollenbach nursing a shoulder injury.
As he had most of last season, Statham flourished throughout a week of practice leading up to the game. He was confident he could resurrect whatever he used to slay the Seminoles a year ago on the weekend of All Hallows’ Eve.
But it wasn’t enough this time. When he reached down into his holster with the game on the line, Statham could do no different than he had in most of his starts last season, and the Terps (4-4, 2-3 ACC) left Doak Campbell Stadium with an aspiration-bruising 35-27 loss.
“It’s not just a mindset, it’s an execution thing,” said coach Ralph Friedgen, whose team all but eliminated itself from contention for the ACC Atlantic division title. “You’ve got to be able to execute when it comes down to the nitty gritty.”
And that’s the point where the junior crumbled.
He was just 7-of-15 for 42 yards in the second half, missing several opportunities to build on the Terps first-ever halftime lead in Tallahassee.
The most painful incompletion came early in the fourth quarter, when Statham overthrew to wide receiver Jo Jo Walker, who had separated on a deep out route. Had they connected on the pass, the Terps would have had a 26-yard touchdown and a 10-point lead – instead of sitting in position for the Florida State comeback that ensued.
Statham began the game in a similar fashion, misfiring on his first four passes.
He was admittedly nervous and played poor enough in the opening quarter for Friedgen to turn to Hollenbach. But the regular starter would return to his post on the sideline after injuring his back on a Seminole gang tackle in the second quarter.
“I got a little upset at myself, because we’re keeping Sam out there to get healthy, and I had to put him back in there when I’m not playing the way I’m supposed to be,” Statham said. “It kind of got me a little upset, and I went out there and played the way I’m supposed to.”
In fact, he played like the quarterback who spooked Florida State (7-1, 5-1) with 333 passing yards in the Terps’ 20-17 win last season.
In the second quarter, Statham was 8-of-10 for 135 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another – his first scores since the meeting with Florida State last year.
“He definitely looked like he wasn’t ready, but he picked it up [in the second quarter],” wide receiver Derrick Fenner said. “He was more confident and seemed to be more relaxed.”
Walker added that it seemed like the Terps were playing as they did in practice. Statham had his confidence and the team went out and completed its plays with little resistance. At one point when the Terps were on defense, Statham stood alone on the sideline, separated by about 15 yards from the nearest teammate. It was as if he was pitching a perfect game and nobody wanted to upset the karma.
But after halftime, Statham didn’t emerge from the locker room as the same quarterback.
He didn’t complete a pass in the third quarter, relying on 102 second-half rushing yards from tailback Lance Ball.
And in that time, Florida State freshman quarterback Drew Weatherford looked more like the veteran. His 15-yard touchdown scramble just more than six minutes into the final quarter gave the Seminoles a one-point lead and ignited a lively crowd of 82,626.
Statham realized he had the Terps’ hopes for winning the ACC Atlantic division in his hands.
He found Vernon Davis for his first second-half completion more than seven minutes into the fourth quarter, then tried to go back to the tight end on the next play.
But Florida State linebacker Ernie Sims leapt in front of Davis, tipped the ball into the air and collected it to give the Seminoles the ball at the Terps’ 37-yard line. Six plays later, fullback James Coleman plunged into the end zone from 1 yard out to help Florida State pull away.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” Statham said. “Especially with my interception, that’s one of the things I’ve been working on since last year and then I have to go off and do it in a critical game like that.”
Hollenbach approached Friedgen late in the game and asked if he could return. The medical staff cleared Hollenbach to play, so the coach told him to warm up on the sideline.
But when he was ready, Friedgen decided not to risk any further injury to his starter and determined “it was really Joel’s game.”
Trailing by eight with 52 seconds remaining, Statham looked left into zone coverage and decided to scramble for the needed 5 yards on fourth down. Seminole linebacker A.J. Nicholson wrapped him up in the backfield, and Florida State celebrated its revenge with Weatherford dropping 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on a quarterback kneel – a play reminiscent to one Statham made last year as time expired at Byrd Stadium.
While he may not get another opportunity as promising as Saturday’s, it’s not just Statham who’s in a precarious spot.
After a bye week, the Terps will play three games, needing to win two in order to return to the postseason. They’ve proven over the past two weeks they can compete with the conference’s elite, but enter the final stage of the schedule with nothing to show for it.
“I didn’t come down here to lose, whether I had my first-team quarterback or my eighth-team quarterback,” Friedgen said. “We’re getting closer – I can tell you that – but I’m getting tired of it. I’m tired of losing games we should win.”
Contact reporter David Selig at dseligdbk@gmail.com.