Throughout the season, Maryland football offensive coordinator Walt Bell has offered a philosophy about trick plays. There’s a 50-50 chance the move will work, Bell said, so he won’t hesitate to use creativity to give his unit a spark.
The Terps’ special teams units adhered to a similar mindset Saturday. The team attempted a fake field goal on its opening drive, and punter Wade Lees completed a pass on a fake punt later in the game.
The field goal trickery ended a 10-play opening drive that propelled the Terps to their best field position of the first half. The Terps decided against kicking a 45-yard field goal, and quarterback Caleb Rowe took the snap in the swinging gate formation. He faced pressure from Nebraska’s rush and threw the ball away, and coach DJ Durkin scolded him after the play for not looking to kicker Adam Greene open down the field.
“I don’t feel any disrespect from the coaches because it’s all about what’s the situation that’s going to be the best for our team,” Greene said last week of the Terps’ decisions to try fourth downs in field goal range. “Sometimes in these games, going for it is the best option that we have.”
Aside from wide receiver D.J. Moore’s 92-yard fourth-quarter touchdown on a drag route, Maryland reached Nebraska’s side of the field one other time.
In the second quarter, the Terps’ aggression worked when Lees tossed a five-yard pass to running back Kenneth Goins on 4th-and-3 in their own territory. But the offense stalled on the ensuing set of downs, and Lees punted.
