Some observations compiled during the Terps’ 35-27 win against Cal.
-After two weeks of getting no pressure on the quarterback, linebacker Moise Fokou recorded the Terps’ first sack of the season on Cal’s first drive, setting the tone for a tremendous performance by the Terps’ defense. The Terps got more creative with their blitzes this week and finished the game with five sacks. Considering the Golden Bears scored 66 points last week, and all but six of their points came in the fourth quarter Saturday, holding them to 27 is a pretty big accomplishment.
-The Terps scored as many points in the first 6:19 of the game as they did in each of their first two games of the season. Go figure.
-Da’Rel Scott’s 24-yard touchdown run in the first quarter is the first known instance of a college football player scoring a touchdown in an endzone painted with a state flag. He doesn’t throw a very crisp pass on trick plays, though.
-It’s amazing what can happen when the Terps can sustain drives and use up some clock on offense.
-If Jahvid Best is comparable to Reggie Bush, then Terps’ cornerback Kevin Barnes must be like Sheldon Brown. Barnes’ ferocious hit on an exposed Best late in the second quarter was reminiscent of the hit the Philadelphia Eagles’ cornerback put on Bush in a 2006 NFC Divisional Playoff Game.
-Watching Scott walk off the field after landing awkwardly early in the third quarter was not a promising sight. It was later announced in the press box that Scott injured his left shoulder, and it was being x-rayed.
-Not going to lie, I kind of like that ominous 3rd down music that plays when the Terps are on defense.
-Wide receiver Danny Oquendo made a case for MVP of the game when he recovered two onside kicks and smartly batted a third one out of bounds.
-As a certain Diamondback columnist pontificated earlier this week, this game proved to be exactly what the Terps needed to erase the memory of Middle Tennessee and begin to turn the season around.
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