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As the rain poured down at Byrd Stadium on Saturday, Obi Egekeze wasn't worried.
Even as he set up for a potential game-winning 20-yard field goal, the Terrapin football team's once-maligned kicker kept his confidence.
His teammates had compiled an 89-yard drive that finished with quarterback Chris Turner kneeling the ball in the center of the field to set up the kick. Egekeze, who had missed an earlier attempt in the fourth quarter, was set up for what was essentially an extra point.
With eight seconds remaining, the senior, who missed his first five field goal attempts earlier this season, rewarded his team's confidence by calmly splitting the uprights.
After Egekeze's field goal, N.C. State (2-6, 0-4 ACC) had time for just one more play, and when Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson's pass fell incomplete at about midfield, the Terps had a 27-24 win in their homecoming game.
"I had the easiest part," Egekeze said. "The offense drove right down the field. [Long snapper Andrew Schmitt] had to snap a wet ball, and [holder Travis Baltz] had to catch it and put it in the right spot. I had it easy just kicking it."
In a game in which field conditions deteriorated due to a steady rain throughout and Byrd showed more bleacher-metal-gray than Terp-red by the conclusion, the No. 25 Terps (6-2, 3-1 ACC) kept pace with Florida State atop the ACC Atlantic Division by grinding out a win. With the narrow victory against the ACC cellar-dwelling Wolfpack, the Terps are now ranked for the first time since November 2006 entering a bye week before a Thursday night matchup at Virginia Tech on Nov. 6.
The Terps relied heavily on the run, averaging 5.6 yards per rush on their 36 carries, including an inspired performance by running back Da'Rel Scott, who had his most success since the season's opening game with 163 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. They also protected the ball, which Turner described as "a bar of soap" at times, with their only turnover coming on a Danny Oquendo muffed punt, while the Wolfpack fumbled four times.
The defense, playing their first game without senior cornerback Kevin Barnes, lost linebacker Dave Philistin to an injury in the first quarter. Lacking the senior's athleticism, the Terps had trouble controlling the scrambling of N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson, who maneuvered in the pocket and consistently outran the Terp linemen and linebackers. But after giving up 200 yards of total offense in the first half to a Wolfpack team that ranked last in the ACC in total offense entering the game, they allowed just one second-half score and held out well enough for the offense to win it on the final drive.
"We found a way," said coach Ralph Friedgen, whose team clinched bowl eligibility for the sixth time in his eight seasons. "I just told our team, 'If you're going to win a championship, you've got to win games like this. It just comes with it.'"
The Terps did it with a 15-play march that started at their own 8-yard line with 4:50 remaining in the game. After the Wolfpack failed to score on the preceding drive when Terp defensive tackle Jeremy Navarre sacked N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson out of field goal range, the Terps needed their longest drive of the game for the winning score.
"Everyone was just fired up," tight end Dan Gronkowski said. "You could just look at everyone and know we were going to score."
As they did throughout, the Terps went to the running game to move the ball, buoyed by an offensive line performance Friedgen called the best of the year. Scott left early in the drive when he re-aggravated a shoulder injury. After the sophomore pumped up his teammates and the crowd by stopping by the Terp huddle on his way off the field, freshman Davin Meggett stepped in with 20 rushing yards on the final drive and the 31-yard reception on a screen play on third-and-10 that put the Terps inside the N.C. State 10-yard line.
Despite a number of holding penalties and a failed review that nearly resulted in a Darrius Heyward-Bey touchdown reception, the Terps used power running and timely passing to move into position for Egekeze, who made a career-long 47-yard field goal in the second quarter.
"We made enough plays at the end," said Turner, who completed 9-of-20 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown one week after throwing a career-high 41 times. "I didn't have to do too much. Our running game was the most crucial part of that last drive. We kept the chains moving with some longer passes. It was just a team effort."
Instead of going for the end zone after Meggett's big play, Friedgen chose to center the ball and run down the clock. A penalty moved the ball from the 6-yard line to the 3, and N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien called a timeout to freeze Egekeze.
During the break, Friedgen told Egekeze, who didn't kick in practice Monday because of a tired leg, to think of it as an extra point, which the senior has never missed in his Terp career.
Egekeze hit it, and punctuated the kick with an extended hug for his holder, Baltz, as his teammates jumped around him, a defining moment for a kicker who nearly lost his starting position after his rocky start to the season.
"He looked confident to me," Turner said. "I don't think he ever had a doubt in his mind he would make it."
n Terp Notes: Friedgen said Scott, who originally hurt his left shoulder Sept. 13 against California and missed a game because of the injury, was still very sore yesterday, and he will know more about his condition as the week goes on. "I'm concerned he might be back where he was, so we'll see," Friedgen said. ... Philistin will have an MRI on his shoulder today to determine the extent of the injury. Friedgen said it may be a rotator cuff injury or just a bruise.
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