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Terps Are Cooked in 15 Minutes
West Virginia's Steve Slaton breaks a tackle by Maryland's Marcus Wimbush to run all the way to the end zone for the Mountaineers' first touchdown of the game.
(Joel Richardson - The Washington Post)
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The Terps also allowed a 96-yard touchdown return by Darius Reynaud just before halftime.
But the score proved to be gratuitous, as the rout started soon after West Virginia (3-0) touched the football.
Slaton scored on a 38-yard run to put the Mountaineers up 7-0 less than four minutes into the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Terps paid a heavy price for a piece of attempted trickery. Josh Wilson fielded the kick and tried to hand off to Darrius Heyward-Bey on the reverse. But Heyward-Bey fumbled the exchange, giving the Mountaineers the ball at the Terps 11-yard line.
"We were just trying to make something happen, and it backfired on us," Wilson said.
Quarterback Pat White connected with Reynaud for a five-yard touchdown score to make it 14-0 less than five minutes into the game and before the Maryland offense had touched the ball.
Slaton quickly added another blow, his most impressive of the night.
The running back took a handoff and started toward the left side of the line. With Maryland's Conrad Bolston and David Holloway waiting, Slaton reversed course and broke several tackles as he raced down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown that gave West Virginia a 21-0 lead with 2 minutes 53 seconds left in the first quarter.
One play after Hollenbach threw his first interception, Slaton broke a 52-yard run to put the Mountaineers on the Terps 2. Slaton carried again but fumbled. The ball bounced into the end zone, where tight end Brad Palmer pounced on it to put West Virginia up 28-0 with 1:05 left in the first quarter.
Hollenbach and the offense answered by converting two fourth-down attempts on the way to a 15-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Hollenbach's six-yard pass to a wide open Joey Haynos to make it 28-7 with 9:26 left in the second quarter. But after the teams traded field goals, Reynaud's return made it clear that there would be no upset.
Friedgen tried to take some solace in the Terps' second-half effort, one that saw Lance Ball score on an 11-yard touchdown and Hollenbach connect with Isaiah Williams for a 35-yard score in the fourth.
"It's easy to give up in that situation, but they didn't do that," Friedgen said.
But by then, Slaton had long since proven his point.
And the Terrapins' chance to make a statement had long since passed.
