In years past, the Maryland football team has spent the night before games preparing for the upcoming matchup, holding meetings and smoothing out all the details about its opponent.
Friday night, coach DJ Durkin bucked the trend.
Before facing Howard, the Terps spent the evening hanging out together. They had the option to talk with coaches if they wanted to, but most of the players played poker and other card games or watched college football and movies.
“The day before a game, obviously we’re all prepared, and he doesn’t want anybody in there not talking to each other, real tense,” linebacker Shane Cockerille said. “He wants people loose, relaxed, having fun, laughing.”
In the morning, hours before the Terps thrashed the Bison, 52-13, in Maryland Stadium for the new regime’s first victory, Durkin held a quick special teams walkthrough and some short meetings.
Before that, though, he had his players take a lap around the parking lot when they woke up and joked about wanting to see the Terps sprint through the breakfast lines. He was excited to start the 2016 season.
After the team walked into the stadium and cruised past the Bison, earning him his first win in College Park, Durkin stood at the podium in his postgame press conference with a hint of a smile he couldn’t suppress.
“You’re trying to create the environment of adversity, of a little bit of panic in practice to where they could be suddenly in a game and go be able to execute,” Durkin said. “Then once the ball’s kicked on game day, it’s like, ‘Go play. Go play hard. Go play fast, and don’t worry about anything.'”
The Terps no-huddle attack in offensive coordinator Walt Bell’s scheme mirrored Durkin’s exuberance. Maryland held a 21-0 lead about 12 minutes into the game.
The team’s first drive ended with a two-yard rushing touchdown from running back Kenneth Goins Jr. Running back Trey Edmunds added a three-yard burst on the next possession.
Their scores sparked the Terps ground attack that featured nine rushers, six of whom scored, combining for 315 total yards.
Durkin remained poised as his assistants and players bounded along the sidelines, some jumping and tucking their knees in celebration of the scores. But the 38-year-old, the youngest head football coach in the Big Ten, broke his composure after a special teams play moments later.
Maryland’s defense, which didn’t allow Howard to gain a first down for the first 23 minutes of the game, forced a 3-and-out after Edmunds’ plunge. As the Bison attempted the punt, running back Ty Johnson snuck around blockers and knocked the ball down.
Once Edmunds scooped it up and darted 13 yards into the end zone, Johnson ran back to the sideline. As he got close, Durkin leapt into the air for a chest bump. When they landed, he patted Johnson on the back.
The embrace reflected the mindset Durkin preached in a meeting this week. The rookie coach felt like his team was anxious in their first round of game preparation together, and he didn’t want anyone to stress.
“We practice so much harder than this in camp,” defensive end Melvin Keihn remembers Durkin saying. “Why are you all being so tight?”
After the early surge, Durkin saw his team settle into the groove he had hoped for.
Three freshmen — running backs Lorenzo Harrison (nine carries, 67 yards) and Jake Funk (eight carries, 59 yards) and quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome (seven carries, 53 yards) — paced the rushing attack after the team touted a 35-0 halftime lead.
Quarterback Perry Hills, who completed his first 10 passes, finished his third season-opening start 14-for-19 for 126 yards before Pigrome flashed the electric skills coaches have lauded with multiple downfield completions.
Plus, 10 players recorded at least three tackles, and the defense combined for nine tackles for a loss.
But when he met his squad in the postgame locker room to sing the fight song, it was Durkin who received the final accolade.
Left guard Mike Minter congratulated him on his first win as a head coach and presented him with the game ball. The rest of the team gathered around.
“It was good to see Coach Durkin holding that ball up laughing and breaking it down with the team,” Keihn said. “It felt good to see him in the middle and it felt good to see him smiling.”
