Terps Have Been Here Before

2005 Finale vs. Wolfpack Also Was Battle for Bowl Berth

The Maryland Terrapins traveled down this same road two years ago -- a path lined with similar twists, bumps and detours -- leading to a single game that would decide how history would remember them.

In the 2005 regular season finale, the Terrapins fell to an equally desperate North Carolina State squad, finished with a 5-6 record to cap a turbulent season and became one of just two losing teams in the Ralph Friedgen era. Today, the Terrapins return to Raleigh, N.C., and the stakes are just as high.

Maryland and North Carolina State, two teams that were left for dead earlier this season, stand just one victory from a 6-6 record and a trip to a bowl game. After an injury epidemic severely altered their fate, the Terrapins hope to finish with a victory if only to prove that they successfully battled through their bad breaks.

"It would validate this team's heart," Maryland senior defensive end Dre Moore said. "Just the fact that we kept fighting and we'll have the chance to play for a winning season, I think that's huge."

Indeed, the Terrapins hope to prove that this year's team is much different from the 2005 squad.

"It's the same kind of feeling," said Terrapins safety Christian Varner, a member of that 2005 team. "Except this time, it's a tighter bunch going down there. It's guys who have each other's back going down there. It's so much more of a comfortable feeling."

The 2005 team's struggles were in part self-inflicted. In one of the low points of the Friedgen era, several Terrapins participated in a Halloween night brawl at the Cornerstone Grill and Loft in College Park. Several players drew suspensions and the incident marred the rest of that troubled season.

After the incident, Maryland lost two of its last three games that season, including the loss to North Carolina State in which NFL-bound defensive end Mario Williams tied his own school record with four sacks.

"They were a pain the [expletive], some of them," Friedgen said of that team.

But Friedgen has said numerous times this season that he will forever appreciate his current squad. The Terrapins have had plenty of chances to quit in a season filled with adversity. Instead, they have continued to fight and play through pain, earning a special affection from the typically hard-nosed coach.

"I've been coaching 39 years, and I will remember this team for that," Friedgen said.

Since fall camp, 16 players on the two-deep roster have missed a game because of injury. Only three offensive starters -- center Edwin Williams, right tackle Dane Randolph and wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey -- have started all 11 games. The injury tally grows higher when the Terrapins who have played through injuries are counted. Still, Maryland has positioned itself within one victory of reaching a bowl game for the third time in five seasons.

Said Friedgen: "With all the adversity we've had this year, with all the disappointments we've had this year, for all the times the ball didn't bounce our way this year, for them to achieve that goal I think would tell them they were a success this season against all the odds."

If anything, players said their season-long battle with adversity has only brought the team unusually closer.

"If it was a group that I didn't like, or a group of guys I didn't care much about, it would be easy to say: 'Well, I'm done the rest of the season. I'm not going to continue doing this to my body. I'm done,' " said inside linebacker Erin Henderson, who has played through numerous injuries. "But because we have that brotherhood, we just keep fighting and pushing through."

An attitude of unselfishness, he said, has pervaded the team. For instance, Henderson, who has been bothered by severe back pain the last two weeks, can't remember the last time he had to ask a teammate help him up. Quarterback Chris Turner treated his offensive line to a night of hot wings (which resulted in a bill of $120) just to thank them for their protection.

Meanwhile, senior guard Andrew Crummey, a pro prospect, has spent the last two weeks trying get back onto the field after fracturing his fibula, even though he probably would be best served by resting until the start of NFL combine season. Fellow guard Jaimie Thomas is out for the season with the same injury. But this week, he insisted to Friedgen that he be allowed to travel so he could offer support to his fellow linemates.

"It's been the one bright spot in a tough season," Friedgen said of his team's attitude. "I really would love to win this football game, not for anything else than they're deserving of what they've got. . . . This one I want for them."