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Underdog Maryland blanks Wake Forest

Oct 18, 2008 - 10:38 PM COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (Ticker) -- Maryland's defense knocked Wake Forest out of the rankings.

Running back Da'Rel Scott threw his first career touchdown pass and the defense was dominant as the Terrapins posted a 26-0 victory over No. 19 Wake Forest on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference upset.

"I think we finally put a whole game together," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. "I think this is by far the best we've played all year."

Obi Egekeze kicked four field goals for Maryland (5-2, 2-1 ACC Atlantic), which had its first shutout since besting North Carolina State, 37-0, last season.

"We have been thinking about a shutout all year; today it just all actually came together," defensive back Terrell Skinner said. "We jelled as a defense and we were communicating well out there, something that I think we were lacking all season."

The Terrapins used some trickery to cap their opening drive with a touchdown. Scott had his first career completion in three attempts, finding Darrius Heyward-Bey for a 9-yard score to give Maryland an early 7-0 edge with 10:59 left in the first quarter.

"It's big to get on the board first," Heyward-bey said. "It puts the other team in the bind to try and make them feel like they have to score right away too, and our defense did a great job holding them down."

Scott finished with 72 rushing yards and Heyward-Bey hauled in 11 receptions for 102 yards.

The Terrapins' defense took over from there, holding the Demon Deacons (4-2, 2-1) to just 219 yards from scrimmage. Shane Popham did not help Wake Forest's cause, missing a pair of field goals in the first half.

"We were very well-prepared for a lot of things we thought that they were going to do," Friedgen said. "I thought the key to the game was when we turned the ball over twice in our territory and we stopped them; they got no points."

"We didn't play very well, and that's the bottom line," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. "I am disappointed we didn't play better. I didn't think we kicked the ball very well, I didn't think we played defense as well as we are capable, we gave up some good plays."

Before Maryland put the contest away when Chris Turner connected with Danny Oquendo for a 50-yard TD strike with 4:33 left in the game, Egekeze made field goals of 40, 39, 35 and 26 yards.

Turner passed for 321 yards and a touchdown for the Terrapins.

Riley Skinner completed 14-of-30 passes for 127 yards and added 30 yards on the ground for the Demon Deacons, who had their four-game conference winning streak snapped and were blanked for the first time since 1998.