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Maryland rallies to KO Clemson

Sep 27, 2008 - 9:17 PM CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- Clemson made it look easy in the first half against Maryland. Maybe too easy.

Chris Turner threw a 6-yard touchdown pass, helping to rally Maryland to a 20-17 upset of the 19th-ranked Tigers on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.

Darrius Heyward-Bey's 75-yard scamper on a reverse set up Turner's scoring pass, and Da'Rel Scott added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter as the Terrapins (4-1, 1-0 ACC Atlantic) won their third straight game.

After watching Clemson roll up 260 total yards to just 93 in the first half, Maryland turned the tables after intermission, limiting the Tigers to four first downs in erasing a 17-6 deficit.

"It was a credit to our players that they could hang in with them," Terrapins coach Ralph Friedgen said. "We weren't playing well and Clemson was playing very well.

"We were 11 points down at half and I told them, 'We are fortunate to be in the situation we are in.' We took advantage of it and maintained our composure."

Maryland's defense turned in the biggest play with 5:42 left in the game, stuffing Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper on 4th-and-goal. The Tigers never got the ball back, as the Terps beat a ranked opponent for the fourth straight time.

"They made plays when they needed to in the second half, and we didn't," Tigers coach Tommy Bowden said. "They came out of the locker room with defensive adjustments and they capitalized on that."

James Davis rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown and C.J. Spiller added 107 yards and a score for Clemson (3-2, 1-1 Atlantic).

"I'm disappointed in the loss, but we've got to move on to Wake Forest," Davis said. "We've got to be two-dimensional; we just couldn't get our offense together in the second half."

Turner finished 16-of-30 for 174 yards as the Terrapins won for the third time in four trips here under Friedgen.

Clemson, which had a three-game winning streak snapped, could not get on track offensively in the second half after dominating the opening 30 minutes.

Despite three first-half turnovers, the Tigers limited Maryland to just a pair of field goals. Davis and Spiller nearly had 100 yards rushing each in the first half as Clemson had a 14-3 edge in first downs.

We came back after halftime and played more of straight-up defense," Friedgen said. "We tried to disguise our coverages because they were doing a good job of reading them. We took blocks one-on-one. Davis and Spiller are really good backs. All they need is a crease and they gain yardage."

Maryland failed to capitalized on the early miscues by the Tigers. The Terrapins twice had to settle for short field goals by Obi Egekeze after moving inside the 10-yard line, including a 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line on the first play of the second quarter.

Clemson took a 10-0 first-quarter lead when Spiller capped a nine-play, 95-yard drive with a 35-yard scoring burst up the middle.

After the Terrapins pulled within 10-6 early in the second quarter, Davis rumbled 35 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing possession, extending the margin to 17-6 with 7:17 left in the half.

The momentum-changing play came courtesy of Heyward-Bey, who took a pitch on a reverse down the right side and cut back across the field before behind hauled down at the 4-yard line.

Turner lofted a 6-yard pass to Torrey Smith in the left corner of the end zone two plays later to cut the deficit to 17-13.

"We self-imploded today," Bowden said. "We had critical points in the game where we made mistakes, especially with penalties and fumbles. We didn't play sharp today and that was the reason we lost."