Terps Pull 35-27 Upset of #23 Cal

First let me apologize for waiting until today to do a recap of Saturday's game, but to be fair, Sunday is a day of rest. Now, onto the notes!

• The Terps continued their recent trend (by recent I mean the last few seasons) of starting out hot in big games. Jumping out to a 14-0 lead and totaling 21 first half points is always a good way to jump out of the gate when you're playing a ranked opponent on national television. The difference here was that the Terps never really let up, at least not until the very end when it was too late for Cal to pull even. At the half I thought the Terps would absolutely need to put up at least one score in the third quarter in order to ensure themselves a little breathing room. They did, and that touchdown, in addition to their 4th quarter score, proved to be invaluable when Cal decided to wake up in the games final minutes.
• Chris Turner looked like a completely different quarterback this week. The junior was confident, efficient, accurate and he didn't make mistakes. The TD pass he threw to Darius Heyward-Bey may have been the best pass a Terrapin quarterback has thrown all season.
  
• Once again, Da'Rel Scott looked great in his time on the field. Though the extent of his injury isn't too severe (sprained shoulder) it still will cause at least a little concern in the mean time. Davin Meggett did a real nice job filling in for Scott, and the two combined for 169 yards and 3 scores on 32 carries. Interesting side note and additional reading material. Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times had a very interesting blog post on Scott and how explosive of a player he is. According to research done by Stevens, Scott already has nearly as many runs of 16+ yards in his career as Keon Lattimore did in his. This number 16 is significant because it is what offensive coordinator James Franklin defines as an "explosive play". Lattimore had 13 explosive plays on 438 carries, whereas Scott already has 11 on just 70 carries.
• Heyward-Bey further helped his NFL draft stock by hauling in an impressive TD reception in which he went up over the top of Cal's top defensive back Syd'Quan Thompson. I can't think of too many players who can actually improve their stock when only getting 3 touches. Obviously it is hard to complain when Maryland pulls a win like they just did, but Heyward-Bey, as has been overstated all season, needs to get more touches.
• What a tremendous job by the Terp defense. Yes, the secondary fell asleep somewhat down the stretch allowing Kevin Riley to throw for over 400 yards, but how about Maryland holding Cal to just 2-11 on third down conversion attempts. Once again, Maryland's D makes the plays when it counts the most. Additionally, it can't be overstated the job the run defense did, holding a Cal team that had been averaging 297 yards on the ground to just 38 yards. A tremendous job.
• After the game Ralph Friedgen was clearly very happy with the win. He stated that prior to the game he had asked his team, "How many of you have been told you aren't good enough?" After some of the players responded, Friedgen challenged them by saying, "What are you going to do about it?" Short and to the point, I like it.

By winning this game, Maryland sets itself up nicely to enter ACC play with a 3-1 record assuming they knock off Eastern Michigan this Saturday. With that win, the Terps would seemingly need just 3 ACC wins to qualify for a bowl. Looking at their schedule NC State, Virginia and Boston College seem like the games the Terps are most likely to win. Certainly no one on the schedule is out of reach if Maryland plays like they did against Cal, but this has proven to be an inconsistent team.

Check back tomorrow for news and notes from Ralph Friedgen's press conference.