Well after the throng of cameras and reporters dissipated on Saturday, Maryland quarterback Chris Turner was informed of two drastically different numbers about the Terrapins’ offense.
In the first six games of the season, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey was targeted on 30 passes. In yesterday’s 26-0 rout of No. 21 Wake Forest, Turner threw to the junior 17 times.
“Nice,” Turner said. “You can see what our game plan was featuring today.”
More importantly for the Terps (5-2, 2-1 ACC), it worked as well as could be expected.
Heyward-Bey hauled in a career-best 11 receptions — nearly doubling his season total — for 101 yards and a touchdown as the crucial element in Maryland’s offense.
That was perhaps counterintuitive given both recent developments and the strength of the Demon Deacons (4-2, 1-1). Heyward-Bey was held without a catch in Maryland’s last two games, and Wake Forest entered Byrd Stadium as the nation’s leader in pass efficiency defense.
Yet there was Heyward-Bey, catching a quick pass on the first snap of the game — one coach Ralph Friedgen said was called 15 times in past games. He was targeted three more times on the first drive, a stretch capped when he nabbed a 9-yard touchdown pass from Da’Rel Scott.
“Every game, I go in thinking the first ball is going to go to me,” said Heyward-Bey, who later made an acrobatic 41-yard catch in double coverage to set up a field goal. “Even if I caught 20 passes against Virginia, I’m thinking the first ball is going to go to me.”
It is telling of how limited Heyward-Bey’s role was in the first half of the season, for a variety of factors. His spot in Turner’s reads, his ability (and sometimes inability) to get open and a failure to fully exploit what few chances he received all contributed to some quiet games.
But several things broke in his favor against the Demon Deacons. Maryland re-committed itself to a series of short passes, and many of Turner’s throws came almost immediately after the snap. The Demon Deacons wanted to keep stout run-stopping linebacker Aaron Curry in the box, which led to even more passes.
Wake, meanwhile, didn’t do as much to immediately fluster Heyward-Bey at the line of scrimmage, relying instead on cornerbacks Alphonso Smith and Brandon Ghee (the latter whom was injured in the first half) to contain him.
Put together, it opened up plenty for Heyward-Bey, who produced his first 100-yard game in more than a year.
“We knew we were going to have to throw the ball,” Friedgen said. “In the past, that’s been a problem for us. When we don’t complete the passes or they cover us, then we’re kind of stuck. The fact we came out and made some plays and that got things going for us.”
Perhaps it will again in the future. Offensive coordinator James Franklin reiterated that Maryland attempts to get Heyward-Bey touches each week, though sometimes the events of a game prevent it from happening.
Heyward-Bey, though, said he wasn’t upset about a limited role — only that Maryland had stumbled 31-0 at Virginia before surging back into the ACC Atlantic Division title chase yesterday.
“It was fun because we were winning on top of that,” Heyward-Bey said. “That was basically it. I know you guys were talking about the Virginia game and having no touches, but that’s only frustrating when you lose.”
Still, there is a startling change in Maryland’s offense when Heyward-Bey serves as its nexus. Turner threw for 321 yards in part because the Demon Deacons eventually had to mind Heyward-Bey more than secondary options Dan Gronkowski and Danny Oquendo.
The Terps maintained possession for a season-high 34:17, and produced five drives of at least seven plays — scoring on each of them. The constant was Heyward-Bey, who made a catch for a first down on each of Maryland’s first four scoring drives.
“It’s a huge difference because it opens up the run, it takes guys out of the box, it opens up receivers,” Turner said. “It opens everything up because he’s such a threat. He can burn you at any time.”
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