Running back Chris Douglas took the football on the first play from scrimmage and SMACK!
Maryland's All-American Linebacker E.J. Henderson's vicious hit on Douglas knocked back the Duke football team's significant progress this season to where the Blue Devils were a year ago.
"The defense fed off [my hit]," Henderson said. "Everybody wants to make a big play on the first play of the game."
A few weeks into of the season, it appeared Maryland and Duke were heading toward the same middle-ground: the Terrapins falling from last year's surprising ACC championship team and the Blue Devils ending their 23-game losing streak to establish themselves as a legitimate force in the ACC.
It was clear from the beginning of the game that not much had changed since Maryland's 59-17 win last year, and that maybe the separation between the two football programs had grown even more. The Terrapins dominated every facet of the game, showing no mercy to the depressed Blue Devils.
"I can sum this game up pretty quickly: We simply got out-played, out-hit, out-run, out-passed, out-tackled," Franks said. "We couldn't get our offense together, our defense together or even our kicking game. That was a sloppy game. We're a lot better than that."
Maryland started the season 1-2, being blown-out by both Notre Dame and Florida State. Injuries forced new players into positions, and after the early growing pains, the Terrapins have hit their stride, winning five consecutive games by an average of over 30 points.
"I think we're coming together as a team, as a unit," Henderson said.
Duke, on the other hand, has fallen off its horse.
After Blue Devils 24-22 loss to No. 10 N.C. State last week, Duke hoped the final nail was hammered into the coffin of the team's dreaded recent past. Last week's near upset even opened Maryland's eyes.
"I talked to the team [Friday] night about how football is a crazy game," Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen said. "I said 'Did you see the game with Clemson and N.C. State? State looked pretty good. The team you're playing [Saturday] should have beaten State. So if you don't come to play, it's going to happen.' We came to play."
But the ghosts of last season were readily apparent with Duke falling behind 45-0 mid-way through the third quarter before scoring two garbage touchdowns with trashy extra point attempts, making the final score 45-12.
Conversations of losing streaks, something Duke hoped to put in the casket, have re-emerged, with the Blue Devils breaking their own record of consecutive ACC losses with 22.
The team was convinced that the effort was a shift from the norm, and that it will be able to get back on track.
"We stress playing as a whole and coming together, but that's something we just didn't do today," junior defensive tackle Matt Zielinski said.
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