Alex Wujciak News

Share + Nov 29, 2009 3:32 pm US/Eastern COLLEGE PARK, Md. Maryland's dismal football season is over, yet one important question remains unanswered: Will Ralph Friedgen return as head coach? The Terrapins finished with a seven-game losing streak and a school-record 10 defeats.

The Eagles are 7-4 while the Terrapins are 2-9 and by all accounts the university is seriously considering putting an end to the Ralph Friedgen era.

The Terrapin football team will focus only on what it can control this week. The mantra was echoed time and time again yesterday in the first media availability for players since reports surfaced that the Athletics Department might be considering buying out the remaining two years of coach Ralph Friedgen's contract.

Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen reiterated Tuesday that his attention remains fixed on the Terrapins' season finale Saturday against Boston College despite speculation about his future.

The Seminoles were only a couple minutes away from a devastating loss to Maryland when the freshman darted 48 yards with a punt return.

Presented with an opportunity to collect an elusive victory, Maryland came together Saturday to produce perhaps its most united team effort of the season.

The University of Maryland trails Florida State 14-13 at halftime, powered by an 82-yard interception return by Alex Wujciak that set up a one-yard touchdown run by Davin Meggett .

The Maryland football team could use some good news this week. The Terrapins have lost five straight and seven of their last eight after a 1-1 start.

Russell Wilson made a rare mistake. On fourth-and-6, Wilson forced a pass into coverage thatA Alex Wujciak intercepted and returned 70 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 14-14 with 4:57 remaining in the second quarter.

Give credit to NC State and Maryland for being gracious competitors. The Wolfpack's Homecoming Day football game was an enjoyable a contest as the weather was pleasant in Raleigh Saturday afternoon.

Never before has a Ralph Friedgen-coached Maryland team entered the final month of the regular season under these circumstances: The Terrapins likely will be underdogs in all four remaining games, and they have to win all of them to become eligible for a bowl game.

An abundance of turnovers, sacks and injuries have sapped much of the drama out of the final third of Maryland's season, but coaches and players returned from a bye week with renewed optimism. They insist that the team has shown gradual improvement -- specifically in pass protection and on defense -- and cling to hope of a strong finish.

While the winner of Saturday's Maryland-North Carolina State game faces an uncertain fate the rest of the season, the ramifications for the loser are clear: It will be the first ACC team eliminated from bowl contention and, at least for now, will earn the title as the conference's worst team.

No teams in the conference have struggled as mightily as the two that will collide at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Neither has won a game in more than a month. They have a combined 2-11 record against division I-A teams. Narrow and not-so-narrow defeats, plus injuries, have left both grasping for signs of hope.

Right tackle R.J. Dill grew up in a military family, his father a Navy grad. By the time he arrived in College Park last year, his dad already had passed along plenty of wisdom on the subject of leadership.

The 2-6 University of Maryland football team spent the bye week licking its wounds - literally and figuratively.

There is still a possibility this season could extend into December for the Terrapin football team.

Like a bad Southwest Airlines commercial, the Terrapin football team wants to get away.

Another week, another sloppy loss for the Terrapin football team. The Terps lost at Duke, 17-13, on a wet and dreary afternoon Saturday and are now off to their worst eight-game start to a season since 1998.

The turnovers, the injuries, the rain, the weight of yet another defeat -- they all seemed to wear on a Maryland Terrapins team that is mercifully heading to a bye week after a 17-13 loss to Duke on Saturday that was their fifth loss in the past six games.

The Terrapin football team's defense provided an effort Saturday good enough to win.

Linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield played Saturday with his broken hand encased in a black, club-like wrap.