At the start of the second half with Maryland up 6-0, Chuck Amato said that what his State team needed to do was quit beating themselves. Stop making mistakes.
So what happens? On the first play from scrimmage to start the half, after a good gain, Andre Brown fumbles and the Terps recover, setting up a 31-yard Maryland scoring drive.
Then after the ensuing kickoff, Daniel Evans is intercepted, setting up a 24-yard Maryland scoring drive. And just like that, it's 20-0 Maryland, and it was uphill the rest of the way.
State did make it interesting before losing it 26-20, but you can't turn it over and give the opponents the short field and expect to win, and you can't have those costly penalties. State had plenty of those, and when will they ever learn the excessive celebration rule?
Last week against Wake Forest, it was the end of the first half that did the Wolfpack in. This week, it's the start of the second half as State falls to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the Conference.
In this scrambled-up ACC, State is still in the thick of things in the ACC's Atlantic Division, but the euphoria of those wins over Boston College and Florida State is well in the past. While those upsets were great, the last two weeks have evened them out.
Daniel Evans is steady and he's smart and yes, he's still learning. But he's not your strong-armed, every game miracle worker and his interceptions were costly.
On Saturday, the Wolfpack shot themselves in the foot and limped away with a loss in what was thought to be a winnable road game. Maryland had just 280 yards in total offense, but that doesn't matter when a team has nothing but the short side of the field to work with.
Amato says it's not over and there's a lot of football to be played and he's right, and Daniel Evans says yes it's frustrating, but State always seems to bounce back from situations like this.
Up-and-down State. The Pack can pull off some big wins, but many times in the Chuck Amato era, those great wins always seem to be neutralized. They had their chance to be in a great position in the ACC race. It's much tougher now, and with a young team that makes so many mistakes, you wonder if the best this season has to offer is in the past.
We'll see. Personally, at this stage of the season I thought State would be better than 3-4.
The coach said it. There is a lot of football left to be played and State has the talent to make some good things happen. The question is, will they?
