Terps avoid upset, beat JMU in Overtime

For a large portion of last night's game, it looked like JMU would be the third FCS team to beat an ACC team. The Dukes came out of the 2nd half, scored 21 unanswered points, and completely shut down the Maryland offense. At one point, the Maryland offense went three-and-out following a JMU touchdown, prompting boos from the Terrapin faithful.

But as the fourth quarter went on, the Terrapins bounced back, coming back from down a touchdown twice. Chris Turner led his team back with some clutch passing plays - one a 20-yard pass to Ronnie Tyler on fourth down and two - and the defense made crucial stops when they needed to. As the two teams headed to overtime, it looked like the Terps would be able to pull it out. A three-and-out and a missed field goal later, the Terrapins had their chance; they ran the ball to get inside the redzone, centered the ball, and brought in true freshman Nick Ferrara to kick the game winning field goal. The Terrapins had survived a big-time scare, winning the game 38-35. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win.

"Just another day in the office," an exhausted Ralph Friedgen said as he entered the post-game news conference.

Last night's game was a roller coaster ride for the Terrapins, but they managed to stay in the game and win it in overtime. Here's some other notable quotes from Friedgen:

On the momentum swings and the team's perseverance:
" I was very proud of the way our players hung in there and fought. I knew the game was, momentum was getting ready to swing. We turned the ball over, with the interception for the touchdown, and momentum really swung in their favor. And sometimes, that’s hard to turn around, especially with a young team. And our kids hung in there, and found a way to win, and that’s a positive. It kind of showed who they were. If you had won big, you might never know that. But now, they’ve been in a situation in which they had to fight and scrap for a win against a very good football team that was very well coached."

On improvements on both sides of the ball:
" There are a lot of things we have to get corrected. Defensively, I think we have to tackle better and we have to play our responsibilities better. We have to make more plays. We’re not making as many plays as I thought we would make after camp. Offensively, we need to limit the penalties. Those are the things I am going to get corrected this week."

On the status of the team, his concerns:
"I think I have concerns. I do think we will get better and I'd like to say it'll happen overnight. The penalties and fumbles have nothing to do with experience; we have to get smarter and better. One thing that is positive about these kids is that they will work. We can't get frustrated and listen to a lot of the negative talk. We have to stay together as a team, and trust the coaches. That's the only thing I know how to do."

On senior quarterback Chris Turner:
"I was pretty impressed with Chris all night. He threw the interception and got dinged up a little bit too. The play he scored on, I don't think I've seen him make a play like that since he's been here. That was tough and he stuck it in the end-zone. I thought he hung in there. Chris has always been at his best in the toughest times and I think he came through for us big time tonight."

Senior defensive tackle Travis Ivey:

On the defensive problems:
"All the gashes came from missed tackles, not from people not being in the right place."

On facing and preparing for a team using two quarterbacks:

"We know one guy likes to run, we know one guy likes to do both. We play the same way regardless."

On potential positives to take away from the game:

"There’s always reason for optimism, especially when you pull the game out. The one positive thing we can take out of this game is that we never gave up. If there’s one positive, it’s that we didn’t give up."

On the play of the younger players:

"We prepare everybody as a starter. That's the one thing Coach [says]. Whether you start or you don't start, that basically you've got to be ready at anytime. We've got Cameron Chism. We've got Richard Taylor. We've got a couple of guys that come in and I don't think there is going to be any type of let-up because these guys have been playing pretty good at practice, anyway. I look forward to seeing those guys go out there and play and see what they can do."

On the aggressiveness of the defense:

"I think we played too aggressive at times. We missed a few tackles because we were too aggressive. I think if we just go back to the drawing board and keep working on our fundamentals, we hopefully won’t miss those tackles that we missed."

Junior Linebacker Alex Wujciak:

On getting better as a team:

"We’re definitely going to gradually get better. I think we learned how to win tonight. Finish games out. Just like coach preached to us all week. We have a lot of young guys, and I think they all got a lot of experience tonight."

On JMU's performance:
"There are a lot of good players and they run a different offense than we're used to seeing, so it was definitely a challenge for us."

On the biggest challenge on defense:
"Probably when they run that spread when the quarterback kept it."

Other notes from the post-game:

-Cornerback Nolan Carroll is likely done for the season after breaking his tibia bone. A senior and one of the team's co-captains, Carroll's loss not only hurts the secondary, but the entire team.

-Saturday's overtime game was the Terrapins' first overtime game since September 22, 2007 at Wake Forest; they lost that game 31-24. Their last overtime win was a 33-30 win on November 12th, 2005 at North Carolina. It was their first overtime game at home since 2000, when they beat N.C. State 35-28.

-Torrey Smith continued to add to his sparkling kick return resume by returning a kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Smith was also a focal point of the offense, leading the team with 8 catches for 80 yards. He also had an 8 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 28. In total, he had 229 all-purpose yards.

-Da'Rel Scott only had four carries in the second half, but gained 22 yards on those four carries. He ended with 17 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown. Chris Turner ended with 7 carries for 28 yards, capped off by a 3-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter.

-Maryland utilized its depth at wide receiver all night long. Smith led the team with 8 catches, but Quintin McCree had four, Adrian Cannon had 5 (for 55 yards and a touchdown), Ronnie Tyler had 3 for 47 (one of which on 4th down), and LaQuan Williams had one. Most of the passes were screen passes to complement the running game, but late in the game the playbook opened up as the offense featured more spread formations and crossing routes.

-Check out Eric Prisbell's recap from today's Washington Post.

-Next Saturday the Terrapins take on Middle Tennessee State. It will be an interesting test for the Terrapins, who could not contain the Blue Raiders' spread offense and could not muster any long drives. This year's game is at Byrd Stadium, but with the Terps already having trouble with JMU's spread offense, Middle Tennessee State could do some significant damage.