In just 3 hours and 27 minutes, Maryland?s aspirations went from winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title to simply being eligible to play in a bowl game.
The Terrapins walked off their home field following a humiliating, 30-17 loss to Clemson in a game in which most of 50,948 who watched the team?s debacle exited Byrd Stadium long before the game?s final play.
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With its second straight loss, Maryland fell to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in ACC play, and now must win two of its remaining four games to have the six victories needed to be eligible to play in a bowl game. Two weeks ago, Maryland was in contention to win the ACC?s Atlantic Division and advance to the conference title game and play for a berth in a prestigious and lucrative Bowl Championship Series game.
Now, the Terrapins have their sites on ending a two-game losing streak and earning an invitation to a bowl game, which would likely be either to the Roady?s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho or the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
“We don’t want to make losing a habit,” senior running back Keon Lattimore. “But once you get in that rhythm, it?s hard to pick it back up again. We just have to dig down real deep. The losses really hamper our chance at an ACC Championship, which was originally our goal. Now we just have to work on getting to a bowl game.”
The Terrapins? plan begins Saturday afternoon at 3:45, when it travels to Kenan Memorial Stadium to face North Carolina (2-6 overall, 1-3 ACC).
And if the Terrapins are going to defeat the Tar Heels, they must stop running backs Johnny White and Anthony Elzy. Maryland was shredded for 249 yards by Clemson on Saturday, as James Davis (29 carries, 129 yards, 1 TD) and C.J. Spiller (17 carries, 106 yards) powered the Tigers to an easy victory. A year ago, Maryland held Clemson to just 143 yards in a 13-12 win.
After Saturday?s game, Maryland linebacker Erin Henderson, the conference?s leading tackler who made a game-high 15 tackles, offered no excuses for his team?s shoddy performance.
“It’s football, man. You’re going to get tired sometimes. Things are going to hurt. Things are going to ache,” Henderson said. “You’ve got to keep pushing through it. You can’t control what goes on the other side of the ball. They call our number, we have to go out and come up with the stops.”
When asked after the game about the team?s emotional state, senior tight end Joey Haynos simply said: “morose.”
“We fought hard, but a loss is a loss,” Haynos said. “I thought our defense played well in the second half, and offensively, we just need to get it going a little bit better next week.”
Injuries hampered Maryland’s offense, and in his third career start, sophomore quarterback Chris Turner was under constant pressure behind an inexperienced line that included true freshmen Bruce Campbell and Paul Pinegar and junior defensive lineman Olugbemi Otulaja. Maryland trailed 20-3 at the half and never recovered, as Lance Ball and Lattimore combined to rush for 104 yards on 26 carries and Turner threw for 217 yards and interception.
“Things just aren’t going our way right now and we need to get a break,” Turner said. “We don’t have a lot of options at a lot of places and it’s tough.”
MARYLAND?S REMAINING GAMES
» Saturday: at UNC (2-6), 3:45
» Nov. 10: vs. Boston College (8-0)
» Nov. 17: at Florida State (5-3)
» Nov. 24: at N.C. State (3-5)
*Must win two to be eligible to play in a bowl game
