Not long ago, I brought up an interesting stat related to Maryland’s special teams —- that the Terps had not lost a game in the Ralph Friedgen era in which they’d yielded a tying or go-ahead field goal in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime.
In fact, opponents had been 1-for-7 when facing such attempts. Well, until Alan Gendreau knocked a 19-yarder through last night to give Middle Tennessee a 32-31 victory.
SEE RELATED:
This little stat is already up on the D1scourse Twitter feed (and please follow for regular updates), but it turns out it was the first time Maryland lost on a last-minute or OT field goal since 1994, when N.C. State’s Steve Videtich connected from 35 yards out with six seconds left to give the Wolfpack a 47-45 victory.
Maryland hasn’t specialized in losses by three points or less since then. The list of those:
* 1995: Virginia 21-18. Terps needed a Buddy Rodgers TD run with 3:17 left just to make it that close.
* 1999: Duke 25-22. The Blue Devils took the lead with 1:42 left when Spencer Romine tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Scottie Montgomery, sending the Terps into a four-game, season-ending death spiral.
* 2000: North Carolina 13-10. Truly a horrid game all around featuring a pair of teams with coaches soon to be shown the door. The Tar Heels took the lead for good with 7:24 left when Ronald Curry scored on a 25-yard scamper.
* 2004: West Virginia 19-16 (OT). The Mountaineers’ Rasheed Marshall connected with Chris Henry from seven yards out to win it after Nick Novak opened OT with a field goal for the Terps.
* 2004: Clemson 10-7. Reggie Merriweather‘s 2-yard dive with 23 seconds left put the Tigers on top.
* 2007: Virginia 18-17. Mikell Simpson scored from a yard out with 16 seconds remaining. The two-point conversion fails, but no matter.
* 2007: North Carolina 16-13. Maryland trailed 16-3 before a late rally fell short.
And that’s it.
In any case, the Maryland loss on an end-game field goal is rare —- more rare, of late anyway, than a loss to Middle Tennessee.
—- Patrick Stevens
