BERKELEY, Calif. — BERKELEY, Calif. -- Despite entering as a three-touchdown underdog, Maryland's young football team possessed a certain swagger before its game against No. 12 California. Players talked about making a "statement" on national television.
As it begins preparing for its home opener against James Madison on Saturday, the team's challenge is to quickly get over the jolt sustained as it was dismantled by Cal, 52-13, the Terps' worst opening-game loss since 1892.
Team leaders said Maryland needs to somehow face reality without losing its edge - its youthful arrogance. It has just 14 seniors and only 28 players on the two-deep depth chart who had played in a game before Saturday night.
"Probably our young guys are down right now," senior center Phil Costa said. "Older guys know it's easier to move on because they've been through it before. We have to stick together. We can't sulk, we can't think about it. Just think about JMU right now."
The Terps seemed dazed as they were interviewed in a tunnel underneath Memorial Stadium after the game.
The dimly lit tunnel and the low-hanging fog surrounding the stadium were apt metaphors for Maryland players' dark post-game moods.
It wasn't necessarily that they lost - they certainly knew that was a possibility against a potent Cal team that is bent on unseating Southern California as Pac-10 champion this season.
Rather, it was how the game unfolded. The Terps surrendered seven touchdowns, six sacks and 542 yards of offense. They committed seven penalties and seemed rattled at times by Cal and the noise from 62,367 fans, most wearing California blue. The Terps committed two fumbles, both leading to scores.
"We made way too many mistakes. Penalties killed us," said Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen. "We had some missed assignments on both sides of the ball. We got beat by a good team but we could have played better."
Even Costa, a fifth-year player, was guilty of two penalties that he attributed to "noise, nerves."
"I've got to get that fixed," Costa said. "Overall, I would say we didn't play well as an offensive line."
Almost to a man, team leaders imagined they would fare better. There were no preseason games to provide a barometer of where they stood before the season began. So they didn't know how prepared - or unprepared - they were.
