Nov. 4, 2000

Box Score

Maryland 35, NC State 28, 2OT

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- By halftime, Maryland had already yielded 19 first downs and 282 yards. The Terrapins trailed North Carolina State by 15 points and, to make matters worse, lost starting quarterback Calvin McCall a high ankle sprain.

At that point, it was hard to imagine that the game would end with thousands of fans running onto the field to celebrate the Terrapins' most significant victory under fourth-year coach Ron Vanderlinden.

Backup quarterback Shaun Hill engineered a brilliant second-half comeback and scored the deciding touchdown in the second overtime Saturday as Maryland shocked the Wolfpack 35-28.

It was the third straight victory for the Terrapins (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had dropped four in a row and eight of nine against NC State.

"When we started out 2-4, we had to scratch ourselves off the bottom of the tank," safety Tony Jackson said. "It gives us satisfaction knowing that we came out and actually beat a good football team."

The Wolfpack (5-3, 2-3), seeking to rebound from a 58-14 loss to Florida State, instead lost for the third time in four games. It was their first defeat in three overtime games this season.

Maryland got the ball first in the second overtime. After Hill ran 21 yards on a third-and-7 from the 22, he scored on a quarterback sneak.

The Wolfpack then faced a fourth-and-14 from the 16, and after Philip Rivers' pass in the end zone fell incomplete, Maryland fans celebrated.

In the first overtime, Rivers threw a 22-yard pass to Koren Robinson to put NC State up 28-21, but LaMont Jordan scored on a 25-yard run on Maryland's first play to force a second session.

The victory kept alive the Terrapins' hopes of going to a bowl game for the first time since 1990. It was Maryland's first overtime game since the NCAA began using the procedure, and its biggest comeback since wiping out a 23-point deficit against Wake Forest in 1993.

"We have the makings of a good football team," Vanderlinden said. "It's a big win, a good win."

NC State, hoping to impress Peach Bowl representatives at the game, instead was denied its bid to clinch a winning season.

"We played a team that got the momentum and we couldn't take it away," Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato said. "(Hill) answered the ball and he answered it well."

Down 21-6 at halftime, Maryland rallied behind Hill, who entered after McCall hurt his ankle late in the first half. Hill, a junior college transfer, made it 21-14 by throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to James Lynch and then running in the conversion early in the third quarter.

Hill threw an interception inside the Wolfpack 5 on Maryland's next possession, but tied it by capping a 58-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Guilian Gary with 10:59 left.

Hill went 15-for-24 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, his first at the Division I-A level. He started the opener, but hurt his shoulder and missed the next five games before playing briefly last week.

"I don't see it as pressure, I see it as an opportunity," Hill said. "I saw a great opportunity in front of me and made the most of it."

Ray Robinson ran for 178 yards in 40 attempts for the Wolfpack, but 126 of those yards came in the first half. He has seven career 100-yard games, three against Maryland.

Rivers, a freshman, went 16-for-35 for 183 yards and two touchdowns. He has thrown at least one touchdown pass in eight straight games and now owns the school record for TD passes in a season (20), breaking Jamie Barnette's record of 19 in 1997.

But Rivers completed only six passes after halftime, and NC State made only six first downs after the first half.

Down 6-0, NC State scored 21 points in the second quarter. Rivers threw touchdown passes to Koren Robinson and Andy Vanderveer before Ray Robinson made it 21-6 by scoring from the 5 with 67 seconds left in the half.