Have you ever seen a team score a touchdown off a kick-catch interference call? If you were watching Maryland and West Virginia, you nearly did. The Mountaineers have taken a 28-21 lead to the half in College Park, Maryland, but momentum seems to be solely on the side of Maryland.
West Virginia moved right down field on the Terrapins on the first drive of the game, using the quick release of quarterback Clint Trickett right away to catch the Maryland defenders behind a step or two. The first play of the game was a 50-yard pass play to Wendell Smallwood, with the majority of the yards coming after the catch. It took just two plays for the Mountaineers to get into the red zone, but West Virginia then took to the ground to push closer and closer to the end zone. Running back Rushel Shell took six out of the next eight plays needed to pick up the early touchdown, which came on a 4th and goal from the one-yard line.
This game has been all about West Virginian moving the ball through the air. Trickett is already has a 300-yard afternoon after passing for 307 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He has completed 19 of 23 pass attempts in the process, using the deep ball and short slant passes without fail. A late half interception gave Maryland a chance to cut the deficit to single digits. Kevin White leads all players with 116 receiving yards and Mario Alford has caught two touchdown passes for West Virginia.
Maryland’s Stefon Diggs took advantage of possible broken coverage in the second quarter to score a long touchdown to cut into the West Virginia lead. He absolutely should see more passes from C.J. Brown thrown his way. Maryland looked to have cut even more into the lead on a bizarre sequence on a punt return, but the officials took a score off the board. West Virginia was called for a kick-catch interference as Maryland called for a fair catch.
The ball was knocked loose and picked up by Maryland. As the play continued, with a penalty flag on the field, a Maryland player broke loose from two defenders trying to wrap him up and he raced to the end zone. The touchdown held until the officials gathered to discuss the ruling. Because a fair catch was called for, Maryland’s touchdown did not count because the ball could only be returned by the player calling for the fair catch. The good news for Maryland is they still ended the drive with a touchdown to make it an eight-point game at the half.
