COLLEGE PARK - Under a half-lit football field at Byrd Stadium, a few kids still lingered, playing two-hand touch 90 minutes after Maryland's 35-28 victory over North Carolina State yesterday.
They could claim to be imitating the Terrapins (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who showed enough staying power to stay in bowl contention during a double-overtime game that lasted almost four hours.
Overcoming a 15-point halftime deficit, Maryland used strong play by its defensive secondary and two touchdown passes by its reserve quarterback, Shaun Hill, to send the game into overtime.
The sophomore from Parsons, Kan. - who entered the game in the second quarter after a Calvin McCall ankle injury - also scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard sneak in the second overtime.
When North Carolina State (5-3, 2-3) had its chance to tie, the Maryland defense limited its two thorns, Koran and Ray Robinson, before Philip Rivers' pass fell incomplete in the end zone to assure the Terps of their first win over the Wolfpack since 1995.
As Maryland players went wild, fans raced onto the field, which stayed filled for 30 minutes.
General acclaim held this as Maryland's biggest win during the Ron Vanderlinden era.
Over the past four years, the team had only one conference win against teams other than Duke and Wake Forest. North Carolina State would have been ranked if it hadn't played and lost to Florida State, 58-14, last week. So for Maryland, this was the type of win to hold onto for as long as possible.
"I was just hoping that they didn't tackle me," said LaMont Jordan, who rushed for 101 yards on 25 carries. "I've gotten hit enough."
"I haven't had a feeling like this since I've been here," said Terps senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, who spoke of his team's improved chances of postseason play with North Carolina and Georgia Tech left on the schedule. "It's right here, right in our grasp."
It didn't seem that way, especially when the Terps went into halftime trailing 21-6. Though the team started the game well with an 11-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a reverse to Jason Hatala and a 17-yard touchdown, it had trouble stopping North Carolina State running back Ray Robinson.
Robinson, who had rushed for 100 yards against Maryland in two previous meetings, had 126 after two quarters and 178 for the game. His rushing set up Rivers' touchdown passes to Koren Robinson and Andy Vanderveer. Then he ran for a touchdown of his own with 1:07 left in a second quarter in which his team scored three touchdowns.
Vanderlinden, who complimented his defense in recent weeks, was startled by the developments since his team had done so well defending the run.
"I had a lot of respect for their running back, but it never occurred to me that they could run the ball on us like that," he said.
At halftime, Vanderlinden challenged his team to stop the run, and it held the Wolfpack to 64 yards rushing in the second half. North Carolina State's passing attack was ranked fifth in the country coming into the game, and Maryland stopped that, too.
N.C. State held Maryland's secondary in low-enough regard that Rivers and Koren Robinson tried to connect on long bombs on two straight plays during the second quarter. Neither worked, though Tony Jackson, who made a game-saving deflection in the final quarter, noticed.
"We still don't get the respect we deserve," said Jackson, a Wilde Lake product and part of a unit that held Rivers to 6-of-19 passing for 75 yards in the second half. "We had to come out in the second half to prove what kind of team we can be."
The Maryland offense went three-and-out on its first series of the second half, but got new life when Aaron Thompson (Mount St. Joseph) hit Ray Robinson hard enough to knock the ball free. E.J. Henderson recovered at the N.C. State 37, giving the Terps a golden opportunity.
"We said the most important series was going to be the first series coming out of halftime," North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato said. "We wanted to stop them and force them to punt. Then we fumbled the ball. That turned a lot of momentum around."
Said Vanderlinden: "What our offense hadn't been doing was capitalizing on turnovers. So that was a very big sequence."
The Terps took advantage this time, with Hill throwing his first career touchdown pass to James Lynch from 2 yards out. Hill then ran for the two-point conversion to make the score 21-14 with 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
In his first situation as the only option, Hill performed well, completing 15 of 24 passes for 137 yards. He made a mistake not to recognize strong safety Adrian Wilson while looking for Matt Kalipinski during the third quarter. An interception resulted from the oversight.
But Hill bounced back, hitting Giulian Gary for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 10:59 left in regulation.
"I felt like this was my opportunity," said Hill, who came in for an uneventful series at the end of the first half. "I wasn't throwing bad, but I settled down in the second half."
