Terrapins, Beavers went through rough times

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

As the Oregon State football team scouts its opponent for the Emerald Bowl, the Beavers see something familiar.

Maryland overcame similar obstacles during the regular season with injuries and a change at quarterback.

Both teams have coaches with offensive minds, and they have traveled similar career paths with mutual friends.

Each team could have won games for a better season. They ended the regular season on high notes and hope to finish strong when they meet at 5:30 p.m. Friday in San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

Maryland is 6-6 and 3-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference games. The Terrapins could have been 10-2 with a break here or there.

The Beavers are 8-4 and 5-3 for a third-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference, but let early games slip away. A 10-2 season for OSU was plausible.

“I told the team the other day we should have won four more games and be playing in the Orange Bowl or more,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries and adversity. But our kids have been a special group. They stayed together as a team and been enjoyable to coach. I’m happy they got a chance to go to a bowl.”

The Terrapins suffered a three-game losing streak in the middle of the season, but won two of the last three to become bowl eligible for the fifth time in seven seasons under Friedgen.

Highlights include upsets of No. 10 Rutgers on the road and No. 8 Boston College. Maryland was one of four teams to defeat two top-10 teams this season.

“Our record can be very deceiving,” linebacker Erin Henderson said. “We lost a couple tough games. We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries and adversity. So to play a good team in Oregon State and be in a great bowl in the Emerald Bowl, it’s a great situation.”

The game that comes up that hurt Maryland the most was at Wake Forest on Sept. 22. After dominating the first three quarter, the Terrapins lost in overtime.

A 100-yard interception return for a touchdown changed the momentum. The Deamon Decons scored on the last play of regulation to send the game into overtime.

“That’s the way it is, and we have to put that in the past,” quarterback Chris Turner said. “It’s a learning experience, and we’ll grow from them. All those close loses felt really bad. Wake Forest felt bad because we dominated for three quarters, but we should have won. North Carolina and Florida State, we should have won those.”

It has been tough going with injuries. Only three offensive starters have played in every game, but the group played well in the last three with an average of 424.3 yards.

Starting quarterback Jordan Steffy hasn’t played much since a concussion on Sept. 29, left guard Jaimie Thomas was lost for the season with a fractured right fibula on Oct. 20 and right guard Andrew Crummey missed five games with a fractured left fibula. Wide receivers Danny Oquendo and LaQuan Williams missed the end of season with knee injuries.

“It shows our toughness, not just physically, but mental toughness to push throughout those things,” Henderson said. “Everybody kept fighting and kept persevering for themselves and the team.”

Turner, who started out the season as the No. 3 quarterback after a close competition in the spring, took over in Game 5 against Rutgers. The projected starter was ineligible and then Steffy was hurt.

Maryland rallied behind him the way OSU rallied behind Lyle Moevao when he took over at quarterback after San Canfield was hurt.

“He plays very well in game situations,” Friedgen said. “In the past he hadn’t practiced very well. He is now. He’s come in and did a remarkable job. He’s had some great games, and some not as productive. He’s a work in progress. But he has the ability to be a good quarterback.”

The defense was hit hard, too. The biggest setback came from Henderson, the team’s top defender, being hobbled with knee and back injuries.

He missed two games and rarely practiced, but still leads the team in tackles and is the vocal and emotional leader of the team.

“He’s had an outstanding season,” Friedgen said. “He missed the Rutgers game and missed Georgia Tech. Most people thought he would be out six weeks but he keeps playing. He shows up on game day, but he’s not playing full strength.”

The Terrapins didn’t dominate during the season because of all those problems, but they won their way into the bowl game and are confident.

Maryland feels special playing a postseason game on the West Coast. Only five of its 21 bowl games have been played west of the Mississippi River, and only one game has been played in California in 115 years of the program, a 12-7 loss to UCLA in 1954.

“It feels like a big game,” Turner said. “We’ve been through so many ups and downs. It would be nice to beat a really good team. Beating them would say a lot for us, since they finished third in the Pac-10, one of the better conferences in the country.”