COLLEGE PARK, Md. — For the third straight game, the Wolfpack came minutes away from a tie or a victory but walked away from the field with nothing.
State has not won a game since Sept. 20 against East Carolina, since suffereing from a four-game slide. The last three losses have been decided in the final minutes of the game and two have been by a touchdown or less.
“It hurts,” DeAndre Morgan said. “Going in after the game and seeing my guys with their heads down — the devastation on each guy’s face is horrible. To come so far and fight for 60 minutes, then get nothing, it hurts. We came way too close to be shut out.”
The latest loss for the Pack, still the only team in the conference without an ACC win, came Saturday at the hands of Maryland. The offense started the game strong, scoring on the game’s first possession when redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson used his tight ends to tear through the field before passing to running back Andre Brown for the touchdown.
“The offense is stepping it up and our defense seems to be going backwards,” linebacker Robbie Leonard said. “We just needed to settle down. We weren’t playing Wolfpack defense. They weren’t doing anything special that we weren’t expecting them to do.”
In the slick conditions, State missed too many costly tackles, allowing Maryland running back Da’Rel Scott to rack up 163 yards of offense and letting Maryland eat up the clock with long drive at the end of the game reminiscent of Boston College’s game-winning drive three weeks ago.
“Time after time we would stop them, and then we give up a big play,” Leonard said. “They were breaking tackles and finishing plays, so kudos to them.”
To reach bowl eligibility, State would have to win out, starting in two weeks with a trip to Duke. The Pack sits at the bottom of the ACC with still upcoming games against one of the conference’s preseason favorites in Wake Forest, and two, young upstart teams in North Carolina and Miami.
“We can’t find a way to get over the hump and find that spark to ignite us,” O’Brien said. Our backs are to the wall, and we’ve got to come out firing and do it.”
For O’Brien, though he was happy with individual performances, the last three games have come down to making a play when it counts the most. And in that area, the Pack just hasn’t measured up.
“We seem to get a great effort out of a lot of different people, but we just can’t seem to make that play, which means we’re not quite good enough,” O’Brien said.
Saturday it was the same old story, only with an even more heartbreaking ending.
“We keep getting closer and closer, but it’s starting to get old,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to finally put it together and win a game.”