Hokies tear up Terps, 23-13

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By Patrick Stevens

BLACKSBURG, Va. | Maryland toiled for nearly two weeks preparing for one of three quarterbacks from Virginia Tech.

It turned out it was a tailback the Terrapins should have worried about the most.

Redshirt freshman Darren Evans ran for a school-record 253 yards as the Hokies reassumed their role as Thursday night bullies with a 23-13 defeat of the No. 23 Terrapins at raucous Lane Stadium.

Maryland (6-3, 3-2 ACC) emerged from its bye week unable to ignite its own running game. The Terps managed minus-12 yards on the ground, the worst figure in coach Ralph Friedgen's eight-year tenure.

But for all those foibles, it was the flattening of the Maryland defense that dictated the outcome - and flew in the face of the message Friedgen delivered coming out of his team's second bye week.

"We made that a real point this week," Friedgen said. "I figured that's what they were going to do. I talked to our players the whole two weeks about stopping the run and what we had to do to stop the run. Last thing I talked to them today was about stopping the run, and we didn't do it. That's a credit to Virginia Tech. They just ran the ball right down our throats."

Evans needed 32 carries to ransack the Terps and create a season's worth of memories on one night. The Hokies (6-3, 3-2) improved to 15-3 on Thursday nights since ESPN began its midweek broadcasts last decade and did so in dominant fashion.

It was a breakout night for Evans, who owned only two runs of at least 20 yards entering the night and none of more than 24 yards. He scampered 50 and 45 yards to reverse shaky field position on two occasions and almost single-handedly killed the clock to snuff out a potential Maryland rally in the fourth quarter.

"He was a very physical running back," linebacker Alex Wujciak said. "I didn't think he was going to be that strong. He has some very powerful legs. Running behind that line helped him a little bit, too."

It was far from a debilitating blow to Maryland, which remains in control of its Atlantic Division fate. But it was far from the performance the Terps, who have lost five straight Thursday night affairs, desired on a national platform.