Instant Analysis: Maryland-Rutgers

The phrase "going the extra mile" is overrated and overused. LaQuan Williams and the Maryland Terrapins merely went the extra foot, but that was more than enough to join the fun on college football's 2007 version of "Upset Saturday."

Ralph Friedgen's Terps pulled off an incredible accomplishment Saturday evening in New Jersey--not just because they bumped off a top 10 team on the road, but because the Turtles were coming off the baddest, bluest bonecrusher of a breakdown: a loss to Wake Forest after leading 24-3 late in the third quarter and having the ball in Wake's red zone. A 100-yard interception return spurred a stunning Wake comeback that was completed by a tying touchdown with three seconds left in the game, followed by a winning score in overtime. Normal assemblages of 20-year-old human beings don't usually get off the canvas to play an inspired football game a week later. But in this pigskin passion play in Piscataway, Maryland competed and performed with unusual valor and quality. While every white-shirted Terp made the victory possible--including backup quarterback Chris Turner, who filled in more than adequately for Jordan Steffy--one play by LaQuan Williams captured the game's storyline while strongly affecting its end result.

Maryland outplayed Rutgers throughout the second half, but after a third quarter in which the Terps repeatedly cracked Rutgers territory but scored zero touchdowns, the boys from College Park needed to strike gold. Facing a 3rd and 12 at the Rutgers 29 with roughly eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Maryland was about to settle for another field goal attempt and give Rutgers--a determined and resilient team under the impassioned guidance of Greg Schiano--new reason to believe.

Enter Williams stage left, and exit Rutgers stage right.

Turner lofted a pass inside the 5, roughly 10 yards from the sideline. Williams had a couple steps on the nearest Scarlet Knight defender, but the ball was slightly overthrown. If you've watched football for any appreciable length of time, you know that open receivers usually relent just a little bit when a ball is overthrown. The desire to catch the ball is countered by frustration at the quarterback for not putting the ball right in the breadbasket. This frustration produces just enough of a split-second distraction in the heat of the moment to prevent the receiver from making the effort needed to grab the football. Incomplete passes usually accompany these kinds of plays. But there would be nothing usual about LaQuan Williams' effort on this particular pass.

Summoning up his inner Lynn Swann, Williams hung in the air for an eternity while laying his body out in a fully horizontal position. None of Wiliams' extremities were anything less than fully extended. The suction-cup hands plucked the pigskin, and then stayed on the ball when--at full force--those same hands hit the ground. A 27-yard catch wasn't produced by an extra mile, but merely an extra foot... and an uncommon amount of willpower. The Terps would score on the next play to take a 10-point lead, and after a final defensive stand with just over two minutes left, the upset was complete.

LaQuan Williams might have many more football weekends ahead of him, but after a catch for the ages, it's doubtful that the young man will ever make another play as significant or as memorable as the one he pulled off against Rutgers today.