Terps suffer through all the same issues

All of the elements were in place Saturday for the 30 Terrapin football seniors to write a storybook ending to their home careers.

Heading into the primetime tilt with Florida State, the Terps controlled their own destiny in the race for the ACC Championship. A win in front of a sold-out crowd blacking out Byrd Stadium would have closed the Terps' first undefeated home season since 2003.

Then they went out and got pounded by the Seminoles 37-3, quickly putting an end to the good feelings built up before the game and extinguishing their ACC Championship aspirations.

The loss became the latest chapter in a familiar story this season. A week after knocking off their fourth ranked opponent of the season, the old offensive line and run defense problems returned at just the wrong time.

Inexplicably, the Terps' struggles against unranked teams continued.

"We should've went out there and played our hearts out," senior center Edwin Williams said. "And we didn't."

There were a lot of questions and no easy answers for a veteran team that had rebounded from some embarrassing early-season performances to win three of its last five games. After a win against then-No. 17 North Carolina on Nov. 15, the team appeared headed for its first-ever ACC Championship appearance.

But Saturday, the Terps (7-4, 4-3 ACC) allowed a season-high six sacks and committed four turnovers. When they moved into Florida State territory, the offense sputtered to a stop. The defense failed to limit the running of Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder.

"We've been pretty good about turnovers and things like that," said quarterback Chris Turner, who threw two interceptions - his first since Oct. 4 at Virginia. "I did think we'd be more consistent. I thought I'd be more consistent."

Now the Terps must wait for an invitation to a lesser bowl game.

The inconsistency finally caught up with the Terps, who are 3-4 this season against unranked teams and 4-0 against ranked foes. Instead of a virtual one-game playoff with No. 20 Boston College this Saturday for the right to go to the ACC Championship, the Terps will have to settle for a chance to keep the Eagles out of the title game. A Terp win sends the Seminoles to the game in Tampa, Fla.

Terp coach Ralph Friedgen said he expects his team, which has not lost back-to-back games this season, to bounce back this week against Boston College.

"I would think they would want to go to a good bowl," Friedgen said Sunday. "We've worked too hard all season not to want that."

But the Terps know they could have had much more, if they could have just figured out how to play more consistently.

After the Florida State loss, linebacker Alex Wujciak tried to explain his team's defensive problems. It wasn't preparation but execution, he said.

That's all the sophomore could say.

"I wish I could [explain it]," Wujciak said. "But I think some weeks, we play well. Some weeks we don't."

In a league marked by incredible parity, those wild swings in performance are all that has held the team back.

And just when it seemed like the Terps had started to figure things out, they picked the wrong time to revert back to early-season form.

"I thought we were going to turn the corner and make this a real special season," cornerback Anthony Wiseman said. "That's what coach Friedgen preached throughout the week, but it didn't go our way."

edetweilerdbk@gmail.com