Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The No. 9 ranked University of Delaware football team knew it could compete against the University of Maryland, and it did just that Saturday afternoon at Chevy Chase Field at Byrd Stadium as the Blue Hen held tough all day long before bowing out 14-7 in a defensive struggle.

Playing their season opener in front of a national ESPN television audience and 49,119 fans, the largest crowd a Delaware football team has ever played in front of, the Blue Hens (0-1) almost pulled off their second Football Bowl Subdivision upset in two years before falling short.

The Blue Hens’ lone score came on a one-yard touchdown run by Johnathon Smith (top right) with 5:20 left in the game that cut the lead to 14-7, and Delaware gained possession with the chance to tie, but couldn’t pull out the victory.

Despite the narrow loss, Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler was not about to talk about moral victories.

“I told the players I was proud to be their coach and every Blue Hen out there watching was proud of them,” said Keeler, who led the Blue Hens to a 59-52 upset win over FCS foe Navy last season and a 21-17 victory over the Mids in 2003 . “But we did not come down here to see if we could compete. We came down here to win a football game and we didn’t do it. That’s not okay. We made some mistakes and missed some opportunities. But I was proud of our intensity and our ability to play to the end.”

Smith’s run capped an impressive 10-play, 80-yard drive by the Hens, led by junior quarterback Rob Schoenhoft. The transfer from Ohio State made his first collegiate start under center, and he completed 14 of 22 passes for 128 yards with one interception. Smith, making his first start for the Blue Hens, led the Blue Hen ground game with 57 yards on 18 carries. Aaron Love and Kervin Michaud each caught four passes for the Hens.

It is Schoenhoft and Smith who will be trying to replace the loss of a pair of Blue Hen legends in All-Americans Joe Flacco and Omar Cuff. Flacco set 20 Delaware passing records a year ago was a first round draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens while Cuff scored 39 touchdowns a year ago. The two helped lead the Hens to an 11-4 record a year ago and a berth in the national championship game.

After stopping Maryland (1-0) on three downs late in the fourth quarter, the Hens got the ball back at their own 28-yard line with 3:32 left. But Schoenhoft was intercepted by Maryland’s Terrell Skinner on the first play of the drive to dash Delaware’s hopes. The Terrapins, who advanced to the Emerald Bowl last season as part of a 6-7 campaign, then ran out the clock to earn the win.

Delaware’s defense often bended, but only seldom broke. The Blue Hens allowed 271 yards on the ground, including 197 from the Terps’ Da’Rel Scott and 126 yards through the air, but only gave up two touchdowns. The first Terrapin touchdown came on a 12-yard run on a reverse by Darrius Heyward-Bey with 8:03 left before halftime. That score was all the Terps could manage in the first half as Delaware’s defense stiffened in the red zone and forced Maryland into three missed field goal attempts.

Maryland’s Devin Meggett, who gained 52 yards rushing on the day, gave the Terps some much-needed insurance with a 14-yard scoring dash around the left end with 3:56 left in the third quarter to up the lead to 14-0.

“Our defense played well, but we are not satisfied,” said Delaware sophomore cornerback Anthony Walters (bottom right), who posted a team-high 13 tackles and intercepted a Maryland pass at the Blue Hens’ two-yard line to end a Terrapin drive early in the third quarter. “The game for us is our defense against their defense and they gave up less points today. But it was a great feeling every time we stopped them today and it gives us some optimism for the rest of the season.”

“We knew is was going to be a tough game,” said Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen, who has led the Terrapins to a post-season bowl five times in the last seven season. “They’re a good football team and I think we got something out of this game. It was a hard-fought win. I think field position was a big part of this game and once we got good field position today, we were able to put the ball in the end zone.”

The Hens received the opening second half kickoff and tried a reverse pass on the first play from scrimmage, but wide receiver Aaron Love’s pass intended for Mark Duncan was intercepted near midfield. On the very next play, captain Erik Johnson intercepted Maryland quarterback Jordan Steffy’s pass at the Delaware 38 and returned it to the Maryland 49. The Blue Hens picked up one first down, but were stopped on 4th and 1 at the Maryland 20-yard line.

Missed field goals dominated the first half, but Maryland did manage to get on the board to take a 7-0 lead into the locker room thanks to two big plays from wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey. Bey caught a 36-yard pass from Jordan Steffy to the UD 12-yard line and scored on a reverse on the next play to put the Terrapins up 7-0 with 8:03 left in the first half.

The Terrapins moved 37 yards on their first drive before a 48-yard field goal attempt by Obi Egekeze hit the front crossbar to end the drive. Minutes later, Maryland drove 65 yards, including a 40-yard run by Da’Rel Scott, to the Delaware 27-yard line. But again, Maryland came up short when a 44-yard attempt by Egekeze went wide right.

Delaware couldn’t put much together on its first three drives of the day and were forced to punt each time with Stuart Kenworthy landing two punts inside the Maryland five-yard line. The Hens finally put a drive together midway through the second half as they drove 44 yards on nine plays, moving all the way down to the 29-yard line. But they came up short as Jon Striefsky’s 46-yard field goal attempt was tipped at the line by Alex Wujciak and fell way short. Striefsky, who earned All-American honors in 2007, missed from over 40 yards for the first time in his career in six tries.

Maryland had one more chance in the opening half to increase the lead, but Egekeze missed on a field goal once again, pushing his kick from 41 yards to the right as the first half ended.

Notes....the previous highest crowd that Delaware played in front of was vs. Temple in 1974 when the Delaware-Temple game drew 37,265 fans to Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia....Mark Duncan caught three passes to reach 101 for his career, becoming just the 13th player in UD history to reach the mark....Aaron Love caught four passes for 49 yards and surpassed the 2,000-yard receiving mark for his career, becoming the fifth UD player to accomplish the feat....Maryland defeated Delaware for the third straight but the teams had not met since the Terrapins posted a 21-0 win in 1948...Delaware true freshman Rob McDowell started at left guard, becoming the first true freshman offensive lineman to start the opener for Delaware since 1951...Kervin Michaud extended his pass-catching streak to 24 straight games while Love extended his streak to 23 straight...Delaware has now scored in 149 straight game since the 1996 season.