Today was a nice blast from the past for the Terps. For the first time since they were good, they beat NC State. And for the first time all year, they dominated a team. Don't let the close score fool you, this was Maryland's game from start to end. The most surprising part? They did it on defense.
For the last two weeks, I have been giving it to defensive coordinator Chris Cosh hard. But today, he shut me up -- at least for a week. The defensively line put constant pressure on NC State quarterback Dan Evans. Conrad Bolston and Rick Costa could not be contained by the NC State defensive line. Costa is listed as a linebacker, but he would line up on the defensive line most plays and he had some big tackles.
Blitzes kept Evans under pressure most of the time. The blitzes came from all over -- secondary and linebackers. The defense forced three turnovers. There was an Andre Brown fumble forced by Marcus Wimbush. There was another fumble that was ruled down by contact, but that was a really questionable call. JJ Justice and Erin Henderson both had big interceptions and two of those turnovers lead to touchdowns.Even more importantly, when Maryland was looking like they were going to throw it again in the 4th again -- the punt return for a TD followed by a Josh Wilson fumble on the kick off -- the Terps defense buckled down and did not allow big gains by the offense. In fact, that drive for NC State included a sack by Rick Costa and the JJ Justice interception and included no first downs.
On the other side of the ball, the most credit goes to the offensive line, who pushed around NC State's defense all game. The play that showed that the most was when Sam Hollenbach handed off to Lance Ball on the Wolfpack's ten yard line. The first defender made contact on Ball at the line of scrimmage, but the big offensive linemen including Stephen Heyer, pushed him forward five yards. The big passes were really screen passes where running back Keon Lattimore would use his speed and some big blocks to pick up big yardage.
The other surprising part about the offense is how they fooled the Wolfpack defense multiple times. Hell, the fooled the cameramen taping the game too. As the defense the production crew bought the hand off, Sam Hollenbach was rolling the other way to either hook up with Darrius Heyward-Bey or take off running. Part of the surprise was in Hollenbach's fake hand off.
What he did was before extending his arm to the running back, he'd tuck the ball away with the other arm. That way, when the running back would take off, the defense saw Hollenbach's empty hand and assumed that the running back had the ball. By the time they realized they were fooled, it was too late. Many times, quarterbacks try to make sure the defense sees the ball on the fake hand off, but this way is just as effective because they don't see the ball in the QB's hand after the fake hand off. I credit this motion for some big plays that lead to Maryland's victory.
Defense, good running, and great blocking. This sounds like the Maryland teams that went to three bowl games. Is it possible that Maryland exorcised the aspects of their game that were hurting them? Probably not completely. However, if this is the team that shows up next week to play FSU, then Maryland is in a good position to find themselves a bowl game and even stay competitive for the ACC Title.
