By Steve Yanda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 2008

The adjectives flowed from center Edwin Williams's mouth in rapid-fire succession. Florida State's defense -- the one that had just sacked Chris Turner six times and tormented him throughout the night -- was aggressive, quick, physical and formidable.

That last descriptor, formidable, stood out after the Terrapins' offensive line turned in its worst pass-protecting performance of the season.

Entering the season, Maryland's offensive line was considered the team's bedrock, the one area immune from skepticism. Despite displaying erratic tendencies this season, Coach Ralph Friedgen had lauded in recent weeks his offensive line as among the Atlantic Coast Conference's best at protecting the quarterback.

The Terrapins ranked third in the ACC in sacks allowed entering last night's contest, so pitting Maryland's front line against the Seminoles' pass rush -- which ranked first in the conference in sacks -- should, indeed, have been a titanic match-up.

But that wasn't the case. In his postgame news conference, Friedgen said his team "didn't compete. We didn't play with any effort, to say the least." He meant it as a team-wide slight, but it just as well could have been specifically targeted at the group of players charged with keeping Turner upright.

"They definitely got into us a lot tonight," Williams said of Florida State's pass rush. "You know, I guess we weren't ready. We didn't expect that. We just, maybe, I don't know, maybe people just weren't focused, and myself included; I'm not blaming everybody else."

Florida State defensive lineman Everette Brown finished with 3 1/2 sacks on the night. Friedgen said Florida State moved Brown from the edge of the pass rush to the interior, something the coach didn't believe Brown had done all season.

"He got singled up in there and beat some of our guards," Friedgen said.

Turner, who threw for 149 yards on 16-for-30 passing, paid the price. Prior to last night, Turner had not been dropped more than four times in a game this season -- and that was back in the third game of the season.

"I'm hurting a little bit, nothing I won't be able to get over," Turner said. "I'll just sleep a lot tomorrow and come back Monday. But that's just part of the position, and it's something that I just expect to happen during the game, and I just deal with it."

On Maryland's penultimate drive of the first half, Turner was sacked once for a 10-yard loss, knocked down on a play that drew a roughing-the-passer penalty and then sacked again. On the following play, Turner threw his second interception of the game.

Maryland trailed by 21 points entering the fourth quarter. After tailback Da'Rel Scott fumbled for the second time, Williams walked off the field with his palms raised to the sky. The Terrapins couldn't pass, and it seemed running had become a futile exercise, as well. Williams and his teammates were running out of possibilities.

"It's all about execution at the end of the day," Williams said. "It's all about us going out there and making the plays when they need to be made, you know? You gotta make the play. Just like Darrius [Heyward-Bey] has got to catch the ball and score touchdowns, we've got to make our blocks, and we didn't do that. And that's the offensive line's fault."