Attention to detail pays off for Maryland

In the month leading up to Maryland's 42-35 Roady's Humanitarian Bowl victory against Nevada on Tuesday, the Terrapins' offensive line went back to school and their defense studied Boise State's.

The attention to detail paid off as Maryland established its ground game and grounded Nevada's on Bronco Stadium's blue turf.

"That's the story," Maryland defensive lineman Jeremy Navarre said. "(Our offense) ran all over them and then we shut (the run) down. Everybody had an assignment, a guy they had to cover on that option and we played it perfectly."

The Terps ran for 258 yards against Nevada's third-ranked rushing defense and limited the Wolf Pack's second-ranked rushing offense to 114 yards - their second-lowest total this season.

"We did a lot of polishing up, a lot of fundamentals, a lot of technique, form, making the right calls and doing everything the right way - things you should learn and hold onto when you're a freshman," said senior Maryland center Edwin Williams, a first-team all-ACC selection. " There was no magic. We just wanted to run the ball."

In its five losses this season, Maryland averaged 62 rushing yards, including two negative-yardage games. In their eight wins, the Terps averaged 195.3 rushing yards per game.

"When we're running and blocking, we're pretty good, we just don't do it every game. If I knew (why), I'd fix it," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said.

Da'Rel Scott led Maryland's ground game with 14 carries for 174 yards and two TDs, Morgan Green added 72 yards and a TD and Davin Meggett had 35 yards.

On defense, Maryland turned to Boise State, which limited Nevada to 144 rushing yards in a regular-season victory on Nov. 22.

"We specifically watched the Boise State game on film and they did very well against Nevada, so we took some of the stuff they did and put it in our defensive scheme," said Maryland linebacker Alex Wujciak, who finished with 12 tackles - 2.5 for loss - and 1.5 sacks. "We really looked at how they were keying the quarterback and the running back."

Wolf Pack running back Vai Taua managed 101 yards on 23 carries, but the Terps limited dual-threat sophomore quarterback Colin Kaepernick to 15 rushing yards. Kaepernick entered Tuesday's game averaging 92.9 rushing yards.

Maryland's success stopping the run forced the Wolf Pack to go to the air. Kaepernick did throw for 370 yards, but completed only 24-of-47 passes, was sacked three times and threw two interceptions.

"... Our defensive coordinator stressed that if we got them off schedule on first down, we'd be in good shape," said Wujciak, a second-team all-ACC selection. "Throwing the ball is not Nevada's forte."