By Giovanni Insignares
Big plays were the rule and not the exception as an offensive display in College Park lit up the scoreboard in the matchup between state boarder rivals West Virginia and Maryland. The thriller ended with a game-winning 47 yard field goal by sophomore kicker Josh Lambert, giving West Virginia a 40-37 victory.
With only a few plays at the end of the game making the difference between a win and a loss, Maryland head coach Randy Edsall lamented on the difficulty of having to swallow such a tough defeat.
“We came up one or two plays short today, but I was proud of our guys to fight back the way that they did,” Edsall said. “It hurts, nobody likes it, but what we have to do in that situation the next time is just come up and make one or two more plays so that we come out with a better feeling than what we have right now.”
What threatened to be a blowout early quickly became a heavyweight fight towards the end of the 2nd quarter and into the second half. Amidst steady rain and a cloud of frustration from the home fans, Maryland looked unimpressive as WVU stretched their lead to 28-6 with 6:09 left in the 2nd quarter.
Mountaineers’ senior QB Clint Trickett, who carved the Terps’ defense for 541 yards through the air along with four touchdowns, faced minimal pressure throughout the game, allowing his receivers to have a field day against Maryland’s defensive backs.
Senior WRs Kevin White and Mario Alford led the aerial assault as White amassed 216 yards and one touchdown on 13 catches, while Alford finished with 11 receptions, 131 yards and a pair of scores.
Overall, the WVU offense ran an unbelievable 108 plays for a total of 694 yards, as compared to the 65 plays and 447 yards by the Terps. During the postgame news conference, Edsall expressed serious concern with the pace of the Mountaineers’ attack.
“I think there’s a problem in college football, I really do, with that many plays,” Edsall said. “When you take the number of plays that happen over a year that these kids will end up playing 15, 16 games with some of these things that happen.”
Despite the onslaught of plays by West Virginia and the large deficit late in the 2nd quarter, Terps players and coaches refused to give in. They responded on the next drive with a 77 yard touchdown courtesy of a long bomb from senior quarterback C.J. Brown to junior wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Diggs finished with five catches for 127 yards and that one score.
After a small injury scare with Brown getting hit in the head, Maryland then closed out the first half with a 26 yard touchdown pass from backup QB Caleb Rowe to Jacquille Veii to cut West Virginia’s lead to 28-20. Brown was uninjured and returned to start the second half.
The Terps resiliency continued to shine throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters. WVU continued to make big mistakes and give Maryland numerous opportunities to get back in the game, ultimately allowing the score to be evened up at 37-37 courtesy of sophomore DB Will Likely and an electrifying 69-yard punt return for a touchdown with 9:43 left in regulation.
During the final nine minutes, however, neither team seemed like one poised to take the game by the throat and capture the win. Both squads combined for three punts and a missed field goal leading up to the final West Virginia drive.
Faced with 2:35 left in the 4th quarter, the Mountaineers started rolling and Maryland could not force one last stop. WVU’s 13 play, 65 yard drive set up the dagger that would finally pierce the heart of the Terps’ faithful.
When asked about the team’s troubles on third downs (4-15 overall) throughout the game and how they affected the team’s chances towards the end, Brown answered with hints of disappointment and frustration.
“There were some plays out there that we left on the field on third down. I knew we weren’t where we had been in the past two games,” Brown said. “Third down conversions were the biggest things for us. You want to keep the defense off the field and we need to stay on the field.”
Aside from the third down struggles, Brown also looked unremarkable throwing the ball, completing only 19 passes out of 35. He frequently missed open receivers and struggled with his overall accuracy. Edsall, though, was quick to avoid putting the blame on his starting QB.
“Let’s not put the blame on C.J. [Brown] here. There are 11 guys that play on offense, all 11 guys figure into each and every play we do,” Edsall said. “Again, we all have to get better and be more consistent with everything we do; coaches, players, all of us.”
Brown finished the game with 241 yards through the air, a touchdown, an interception and 182 rushing yards along with another score.
The Terps now look to move forward from the crushing defeat and try to spin the negatives into something positive going forward.
“What we will continue to do is we’ll work hard at getting better and working on the things that we feel gives us the best opportunity to win,” Edsall said during his press conference. “There were some positives, but like I said, we just came up short.”
Maryland will look to bounce back on the road next week at Syracuse. The game is scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff.
