COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Linebacker Ryan Fowler triumphantly held the ball in the air and pointed it toward the Duke end zone, displaying his prize for stripping Maryland running back Bruce Perry and falling on the fumble. The crowd of 50,084 fans in Byrd Stadium fell so silent you could almost hear the air rushing out of their Thundersticks. Though the Blue Devils (2-4, 0-3 in the ACC) trailed 20-0, the momentum seemed to have swung and Duke appeared ready to capitalize.
Then quarterback Mike Schneider threw incomplete. Then Duke was called for holding. Schneider threw incomplete on the next play; his run was stopped short of the first down on the next, and the Blue Devils were forced to punt.
Duke lost to Maryland (5-2, 2-1) 33-20 Saturday night, in a game that was marred by inconsistent play from both teams and self destructive errors by Duke. Despite moving the ball very effectively at times, gaining over 400 yards, Duke found a way to ruin nearly every drive,fumbling, allowing a sack, or being penalized on 12 of its 15 drives.
"We didn't give ourselves enough of a chance," head coach Carl Franks said. "[Maryland] caused some of our mistakes, the fumbles, the sacks, but not the offsides."
The offense's mistakes were balanced by strong play from the defense, which held Maryland to only a pair of field goals until less than five minutes remained in the first half. Then, in a span of 33 seconds, Terrapin quarterback Scott McBrien found wide receiver Latrez Harrison open behind cornerback Brian Greene on consecutive plays, the second one for a touchdown, covering 64 yards. The Blue
Devils moved the ball well on their next drive, but failed to convert on fourth down, and entered halftime trailing 13-0.
"We had a good feeling at halftime," Franks said. "We'd played very well on defense but we'd self-destructed on offense. We felt that if we'd eliminated those mistakes we would have been able to score some points."
But Maryland moved the ball more effectively and consistently at the beginning of the third quarter than it had done all game, and capped its first drive of the half with an 18-yard touchdown run by Perry, giving the Terps a 20-0 lead.
"They came out and capitalized after halftime," defensive tackle Matt Zielinski said. "It took us a little longer than we wanted to adjust to the changes they made."
The defense then returned to form and was able to shut Maryland down for much of the rest of the quarter until a snap got away from Schneider deep in Blue Devil territory. The ball was recovered by Maryland's Shawne Merriman at the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Maryland had scored again, taking its biggest lead of the game at 27-0.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Blue Devils, who outscored Maryland's substitutes 20-6, with two touchdown runs by Alex Wade and a touchdown pass from Schneider to wide receiver Lance Johnson. The Blue Devils moved the ball very effectively in the final quarter, with two of the touchdown drives covering 80 yards.
Running backs Wade and Chris Douglas paced the Blue Devils' rushing attack with 65 and 77 of Duke's 143 rushing yards, respectively. Schneider completed 20 of 47 passes to nine different receivers, and finished with 270 yards passing. He was sacked four times, and the Blue Devils were penalized 13 times for 88 yards.
"It will be a lot of fun to watch the fourth quarter, but not a lot of fun for the offense to watch the rest," Franks said. "Maybe we can carry some of [the fourth quarter performance] over to next week. We've just got to coach
harder and play smarter."
Wade was not sure that coaching will help Duke avoid the types of mistakes it made Saturday.
"You can(')t practice with the emotion of a game," he said. "Guys have to concentrate. It's in the mind of each individual player to keep their head."
The defense was paced by Fowler, who recorded nine tackles to go along with his forced fumble and fumble recovery, and Greene, who intercepted a pass in the first quarter. Franks said he was "pleased" with his defense's effort.
"The defense finally got physical this week at practice," Zielinski said. "Maryland likes to run the ball right at you and we thought this would be a big game to pick it up."
Despite the loss, Duke has proven that it can compete with the ACC's elite; Maryland entered the game ranked second in the ACC in defense and rushing offense. Duke gained more yards on the Terps' defense than any team other than Florida State had gained all season, and held the Maryland ground game below its season average of 170.1 yards per game.
"[Duke is] an ACC team like any other team," Merriman said. "They played tough the entire game."
Despite the praise from their opponent, the Blue Devils came away knowing that they had not capitalized on a chance to beat a member of the nation's elite and that coming close will not help them to achieve their stated goal of a bowl berth.
"Maryland played a great game, but it's gonna be scary when Duke puts a full game together," Zielinski said. "We've got to stop using [moral victories] as an excuse. We've got to put all the positives together. We're going to put it together, but we can't keep saying that."
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