Danny O Brien

North Carolina State enters Saturday's game against Maryland at Carter-Finley Stadium with clear incentive. The Wolfpack needs a win on their Senior Day to become eligible for their third bowl appearance in four years. For Maryland, the motivation is less obvious. The Terps are trying to push past layers of disappointment and not end the year with an eight-game losing streak. Two seasons ago, the Terps — then coached by Ralph Friedgen — lost their final seven games to finish 2-10.

The quarterback debate that went on for much of Maryland's dismal 2011 season ended last Saturday night, when Danny O'Brien was thrown to the turf at FedEx Field in a 45-21 loss to Notre Dame and broke a bone in his left arm. But that doesn't mean the questioning that has swirled around O'Brien and C.J. Brown — as well as first-year Terps coach Randy Edsall — is over when it comes to next season and beyond. Brown, who started in place of a struggling O'Brien for two games earlier this season before being knocked out at Florida State with a concussion, will start Saturday when Maryland (2-8, 1-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference)

It's hard to know which would have been the more long-shot prediction at the beginning of the football season: that it would snow in October or that Maryland would be dismantled at home by a 1-6 Boston College team looking for its first conference victory. Both happened at Byrd Stadium on Saturday -- intermittent snow flurries two days before Halloween and a 28-17 beatdown of a Maryland team that has lost four games in a row and six of seven in coach Randy Edsall's first season and might have hit its low point.

Twenty seconds. That's how long it took for Maryland's sunny-weather, Senior Day mood to be punctured as Virginia bolted to a touchdown on its first offensive play, producing a swift smattering of boos from Terps fans whose team has now lost five straight games. Virginia's 31-13 victory Saturday contained many of the elements that have characterized Maryland's recent losses -- inconsistent tackling, errors (five turnovers) and a string of dropped passes that seemed to mystify the quarterbacks and coach Randy Edsall.

College football Maryland quarterback O'Brien is ACC Rookie of the Week For the third time this season, Maryland quarterback Danny O'Brien has been voted the Atlantic Coast Conference's Rookie of the Week. The redshirt freshman from North Carolina completed 13 of 20 passes for 168 yards and a career-best four touchdowns in Maryland's 62-14 win over Wake Forest. O'Brien, who threw no interceptions, had an efficiency rating of 201.56 — the eighth best mark for a Football Bowl Subdivision freshman this season.

Protect this house? In a gut punch of a game that couldn't end soon enough for Maryland, the Terps couldn't protect their home field, their dignity, their punter or quarterback Danny O'Brien. Junior running back Bernard Pierce rushed 32 times for 149 yards and tied a school record with five touchdowns Saturday as Temple held the ball for 41 minutes in dominating the Terps, 38-7. It was Temple's first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference team in its football history and Maryland's worst loss at Byrd Stadium since being clobbered, 37-3, by Florida State in 2008.

COLLEGE PARK - The hurt and disappointment was written all over the face of freshman quarterback Perry Hills. He couldn't hide that the way his uniform hid the welts and bruises that must have been all over his body after the pounding he took in Maryland's 24-21 loss to Connecticut on Saturday afternoon at Byrd Stadium. So, head coach Randy Edsall had to take him aside after the Terps ' first defeat of the young season and remind him that it takes a lot more than one guy to win a major college football game, especially when that one guy spent most of the game with UConn defenders draped all over him. "He said, 'It's a team sport and you can't put it all on yourself," said Hills, who was just 10 for 24 passing for 109 yards and one touchdown.

Maryland coach Randy Edsall was cautiously optimistic about his team's progress under a new system in a conference call with reporters Monday. Edsall said the team will focus on continuing to tighten schemes on both the offense and defense during the last two days of practice this week leading up to the Red-White Spring game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. "We're not going to be where I want I us to be until we all learn to play every play like...

One month after his Maryland basketball career came to an end, Cliff Tucker made his public debut on the football field for the Terps. The swingman-turned-wide receiver showcased his quick hands and athletic ability during Thursday's open practice. Listed at 6 feet 6, Tucker — sporting No. 88 — towered over most of the other receivers. "He's got good size and good leaping ability," Maryland coach Randy Edsall said. "We have to get him back to catching that oblong ball instead of that round ball, which is a little tougher to catch.

— Fans who attended Maryland's spring football game Saturday at Byrd Stadium saw a new head coach and coordinators, new looks on offense and defense, and nine players in different positions than a year ago. There was even a wide receiver — Cliff Tucker — trying to make the transition from a basketball player in short pants to a football player in pads and cleats. With all the changes afoot, it must have been comforting for fans and new head coach Randy Edsall to watch returning quarterback Danny O'Brien — the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year — fade back on the game's first play and loft a 65-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Ronnie Tyler.