College Football Talk

The Associated Press named its 2007 All-ACC football team this week.

Maryland Defensive Tackle Dre Moore and Linebacker Erin Henderson were first team All-ACC selections. Offensive Lineman Andrew Crummey made the second team and Running Back Keon Lattimore was an honorable mention.

I would have liked to have seen Running Back Lance Ball get an honorable mention as he and Keon formed a dynamite 1-2 punch for the Terps this season.

The annual Army-Navy game is Saturday at noon in Baltimore. I went to this game once in Philadelphia in 1996 with my friend Drew. His nephew Chuck was a senior at Navy then and it was an incredible experience. Army won this game 28-24. Before the game it was neat seeing both the Cadets and Midshipmen march into the stadium. At the end of the game, the Alma Maters of the losing team and then the winning team are played and sung. The winning team stands alongside the losing team and faces the losing academy students; then the losing team accompanies the winning team, facing their students. This is done in a show of mutual respect and solidarity and one of the great traditions in all of sports.

This year's game will be exciting to watch. Army's seniors have never beaten Navy, and they'll definitely come into this game with great incentive. Navy is 7-4 and headed to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego December 20th. Army is 3-8 and has lost five straight to Navy.

Army-Navy stories

Army-Navy face off on gridiron for 108th time

Sean Taylor: 1983-2007

I didn't know Sean Taylor but I rooted for him each Sunday as he wore the burgundy and gold of my favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins. The Redskins have brought my friends, family and even total strangers together over the years so Taylor's tragic death hit me hard when I found out about it early this morning. Hearing this news reminded me of the day when Maryland basketball great Len Bias died back in June 1986. Taylor was having his best season as a Redskin before he was injured a couple weeks ago. He was just 24 and he left behind an infant daughter.

To summarize Sean Taylor: He was the Redskins most dominant defensive player. At free safety, he was able to shut down plays with a single hit. He was like an extra linebacker out there. WR Terrell Owens never had a 100 yard game with either the Eagles or the Cowboys when Taylor was in the secondary. Two weeks ago against the Redskins, T.O. went nuts with 4 TD's as Taylor was out injured.

As tough as it is, the Redskins will play on.

Post article

Mike Wise

Maryland 37, N.C. State 0

Two years ago, the Maryland Terrapins and North Carolina State Wolfpack were in the same situation. Both teams needed a victory to become bowl eligible. In 2005 N.C. State beat Maryland. This year it was the same situation, win or go home. Today it was Maryland's time and they avenged that 2005 loss by cruising to a 37-0 victory today at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC.

It was a rare afternoon where I could sit back and comfortably relax while watching this team play.

Today the defense was incredible, getting their first shutout since 2004 and holding N.C. State to 10 yards rushing for the game. RB's Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore each scored two touchdowns for the Terps and QB Chris Turner was 19-24 for 206 yards. Turner also had a 41 yard run that set up a touchdown. For the game Maryland rushed for a season-high 249 yards.

Before the game, Head Coach Ralph Friedgen reminded his team of their loss to Wake Forest in their home finale in 2006, a defeat that kept them from reaching the ACC championship game.

"Last year, we were playing for a bid to go to Jacksonville, at home, and I said, "We let it get by us" Friedgen said. "This is a game that's going to be for a bowl game. Who wants to go to the bowl more?"

The Terps responded by taking a 24-0 lead at halftime and they didn't look back.

So the record shows the Terps finished the regular season at 6-6. But this has been a season where the Terps battled, got kicked, did some kicking back and played with a lot of heart and emotion while battling injuries at several key positions. As I said in my last post, I'm not a big fan of 6-6 teams going to bowls. However, the way this team has fought back when they were counted out, they deserve a chance at a bowl and a chance to finish the season with a winning record. All this adversity has brought this team together. For example, I would scan the sidelines with my binoculars and see several players on crutches working with their teammates and using their experiences to help out. No one was on the sidelines sulking when it must have hurt not to be out there on the field. Just a great display of unity.

One example of how close this team is: Senior Guard Andrew Crummey came back and played today after fracturing his fibula October 6 vs Georgia Tech. He's a NFL prospect and he could have taken the safe way out and not played today. Watching on TV, he was playing in some pain today. Friedgen praised Crummey during his post game press conference. He said that Crummey came out of the game because several Wolfpack players landed on his bad leg. He went on to talk about the fact that he told Crummey that he was coming up on NFL tryouts, he appreciated him giving it a shot today but a repeat injury of that leg would have been devestating to his chances at a pro career. But Crummey insisted on getting back into the game because it meant more to him that he support his teammates. Friedgen said it was "rare"--"You just don't see that. This is an extraordinary young man".

Couldn't agree more. Its been a pleasure watching him develop during his four years at Maryland and he will go on to a successful NFL career.

The Terps will know where they are headed after the ACC Championship game next Saturday night. According to the e-mail I got from the Terrapin Club, the Terps could end up in the following bowls:

Emerald Bowl
San Francisco, California
December 28, 2007 at 8:30 PM EST

Humanitarian Bowl
Boise, Idaho
December 31, 2007 at 2:00 PM EST

Postgame Notes

Florida State 24, Maryland 16

Same old story today. Mistakes and Maryland made several key mistakes once again and as a result they lose to Florida State 24-16. For the game the Terps committed eight penalties and a couple of those stopped what could have been scoring drives. QB Chris Turner struggled early in the game. An example of the Terps frustration occurred on the very first series of the game. Maryland was just penalized for a false start penalty and that put them into a second and long situation. Turner completed a pass to RB Lance Ball for an apparent first down. But wait...WR Isaiah Williams didn't start from the line of scrimmage and the Terps were called for an illegal formation penalty and that nullified the first down. Then on the next play, Turner threw an interception that Florida State returned to the Maryland 26-yard line. A couple plays later and it was 7-0 Florida State.

The Terps forced five Seminole fumbles, but could only recover one. Plus they couldn't find an answer for WR/RB Preston Parker, who ran for 133 yards and scored one TD. Parker also caught a pass for 21 yards, returned four punts for 40 more yards and totalled 194 all-purpose yards.

So while Maryland stumbled around in the first half, Florida State took a 21-6 lead at the break. It looked like the Seminoles were on cruise control. However, the Terps didn't quit, getting to 21-13 midway through the third quarter when Turner hit WR Darrius Heyward-Bey on a 14-yard TD pass.

Key part of the game came in the fourth quarter. Florida State just added three more points to go up 24-13 thanks to a 30 yard field goal by Gary Cismesia. On the ensuing kickoff, Maryland's Da'Rel Scott received the ball at the two yard line, juggled it, then took off and raced 60 yards to the Seminoles 38 yard line. The Terps got a first down but the offense couldn't do anything else. Then Kicker Obi Egekeze (3 of 4 FG's today) missed a 45 yard attempt. The Terps just had to score after such a nice kickoff return but couldn't take advantage of that.

"We seemed to find some ways to shoot ourselves in the foot" said Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen on his post game radio show.

For the game, Turner completed 16 of 32 passes for 242 yards, but threw that costly interception on the opening drive and was sacked four times. On defense, Dave Philistin had a game-high 10 tackles and LB Erin Henderson played well despite numerous injuries that has forced him not to practice the past couple weeks.

Florida State went to 7-4 and this win gave Head Coach Bobby Bowden his 300th career win at the school (#372 overall) and a 16-2 career record against Maryland. From what I've heard from a couple real sportswriter's I know, Coach Bowden's one of the nicer guys in the college game and someone I've liked and respected a long time.

Despite the loss, I found some positives:

QB Chris Turner: Sure, he started shaky and was benched for two series in the second quarter, but he played well in the second half. He had a couple of gutsy runs that picked up first downs for the Terps. He stayed in bounds and got the extra yardage needed when he could have ran out of bounds short of the first down marker.

The Defense: After Florida State went up 21-3, it looked liked they were going to rout the Terps. But the Maryland defense forced the Seminoles into eight straight punts and gave up just three points in the second half.

Da'Rel Scott: He continues to impress me and I can't wait to see him get the ball more as his career at Maryland progresses.

The Offensive Line: Friedgen's putting in guys who are playing injured with guys who have little experience and they played pretty well today despite Turner getting sacked four times.

So Maryland (5-6) needs a win at North Carolina State next week to become bowl eligible. I'm not much of a fan of 6-6 teams getting bowl bids but this would give the team extra practice plus an extra game to play. That would be a huge benefit to this team headed into Spring practice next year.

Redskins-Cowboys Week!

As a kid growing up in the DC area, the Redskins-Cowboys was THE rivalry, period. They've been bitter rivals since 1960 when the Cowboys began play. These two have had some epic battles, last minute finishes and battled each other for divisional and conference championships. Now, it's not such big a deal as Steve Czaban points out in his blog. And he's right. The Redskins have won just two playoff games since 1993 and have been mired in mediocrity for a long time.

This is a big game for the Redskins if they want to remain in playoff contention, especially after a very disappointing loss to the Eagles last week. Win, and the Redskins are very much in the postseason hunt at 6-4. If they lose, at 5-5 that will hurt their postseason chances as there are several teams in the NFC playoff chase.

So I wore my Redskins coat to work every day this week, just like I wore my coat to school when I was growing up and I engaged in friendly smack chat with co-workers who are Cowboy fans. Come Sunday I will be front and center as these two battle one another.

So all that said, here are some of my favorite Redskins victories over the Cowboys.

October 19, 1987: The Replacements. The Redskins replacement players signed during the 1987 strike, beat a veteran Cowboy team who had most of their stars playing, 13-7 on Monday Night Football.

October 8, 1973: Ken Houston stops Walt Garrison at the goal line to preserve the Redskins 14-7 victory on Monday Night Football.

November 2, 1975: Kilmer's sneak over Walt Sweeney gives the Redskins a huge OT victory.

December 22, 1996: Last game at RFK Stadium was a Redskins victory over the Cowboys.

October 2, 1978: Joe Theismann holding the ball aloft in the end zone after voluntarily taking a safety rather than risking a punt. Redskins win 9-5.

December 11, 1983: "No, Danny, No!" Redskins and Cowboys battle it out for the NFC East title. The infamous shot of Cowboys coach Tom Landry yelling at his QB Danny White not to try to draw the Redskins defense offsides. Redskins win 31-10 in Dallas.

January 22, 1983: Super Bowl Bound as the Redskins win the NFC Title at RFK Stadium 31-17.

December 31, 1972: Kilmer to Taylor will be forever etched in my mind as the Redskins go to their first Super Bowl with a 26-3 win over the Cowboys at RFK Stadium.

Some tough losses as well.

November 28, 1974: Longley to Pearson ruined Thanksgiving.

December 16, 1979: Season over. Redskins blow a 13 point lead, lose 35-34 and at 10-6, miss the playoffs.

September 5, 1983: Cowboys comeback. Down 23-3 at halftime, Dallas wins 31-30 at RFK. This was the debut of long time Redskin Darrell Green, who raced 70 yards and stopped Cowboy RB Tony Dorsett from scoring a TD.

September 9, 1985: Happy Birthday Joe Theismann. Cowboy fans sing Happy Birthday to Joe following a 44-14 rout.

November 24, 1991: First loss. Redskins enter the game 11-0 but lose to the Cowboys 24-21. Redskins later would win their last Super Bowl.

One thing I'll always remember was getting Sports Illustrated delivered a few days after the win so you could bask in the glory of the victory a little longer. The issues were always keepers and stashed away at Casa Benjamin are these two covers.



Finally, I made my live radio debut in December 2002 when WTEM was giving away a pair of tickets to the Redskins-Cowboys game. They were broadcasting live from Fair Oaks Mall and you had to come up with the best reason why you wanted to go to the game. So I took Weena and she saw what a knucklehead her husband was as I got on the air. I lost out, but felt proud I busted out my Redskins version of Big Bad John that I used to yell at 'Skins games in honor of John Riggins

Thru the blood and guts of this man made hell, walked a giant of a man the Cowboys knew well.

As the huddle broke, they began to moan...Like a giant oak tree he stood there alone. And the Cowboys wished they'd all stayed home...Big John!