Terps again come up small in big time

Losing is a habit, or so Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen will tell you.

With a flurry of wins this year, the Terps have managed to break from the shadow of last year's 10-loss season.

But they still have one bad trend they can't seem to shake: losing key games in the final weeks of the season.

In a prime-time, "blackout" game against Florida State on Saturday, the Terps suffered a defeat that knocked them out of contention for the ACC Championship and a premiere bowl game.

The 30-16 loss in the Terps' penultimate regular-season tilt was closer than the score indicated, with the Terps in contention until the final minute, when quarterback Danny O'Brien threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown to seal the defeat.

But poor performances to end the season have been a persistent plague. In the final two games of the previous five seasons, the Terps have a 1-9 record, a mark that has led to missed opportunities for berths in the ACC Championship and bowl games.

Two years ago, the Terps faced Florida State in a nationally televised "blackout" game the weekend before Thanksgiving with a shot at the Atlantic Division title on the line. But the team fell flat, getting crushed, 37-3. Instead of a spot in the ACC Championship and a possible trip to the Orange Bowl, the Terps lost their next game at Boston College and ended in Boise, Idaho, for the Humanitarian Bowl against Nevada.

The Terps' opponent this Saturday had a hand in jump-starting the Terps' forgettable recent stretch of late setbacks. In 2005, the Terps lost at N.C. State in the last game of the regular season following a loss to Boston College in Byrd Stadium the week before, leaving them one win shy of bowl eligibility.

After clinching bowl eligibility in 2006, as the Terps already have this season, they lost at Boston College and at home against Wake Forest in their final stretch, leaving them to watch the ACC Championship from home despite a 5-3 conference record.

The Terps (7-4, 4-3 ACC) hope to end this season as they did in 2007. After losing to the Seminoles in their penultimate game, they beat the Wolfpack in their regular-season finale, springing them to an Emerald Bowl invitation.

"I told the kids after the [2007 Florida State] game, ‘Winning's a habit, and so is losing, and you better get out of the habit because we should have won that football game,'" Friedgen said then.

Saturday's game still has plenty riding on it, even if much of the pressure on the Terps has lifted. With a win at Byrd Stadium, the Wolfpack (8-3, 5-2) would clinch a spot in the ACC Championship against Virginia Tech.

"I would be disappointed if we weren't ready for N.C. State," Friedgen said.

"We've responded pretty well to losses all year," O'Brien said. "But we've got to do it again."

kyanchulis@umdbk.com