Bonus points

It’s time to talk about a momentous day in Maryland football history.

October 14, 2006.

SEE RELATED:

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That was the day the Terrapins erased a 20-0 halftime deficit at Virginia.

The cap to Maryland’s 28-0 run that day was Erin Henderson‘s 45-yard interception return.

Sure, that rally turned the Terps’ season around. But it also included the last defensive or special teams touchdown Maryland has scored.

Put another way, the Terps’ offense has accounted for every touchdown in the last 31 games. Granted, some scores were set up by defense and special teams work. But those units have not visited the rectangular nirvana in more than two years.

Now let’s look at Boston College, which has played 32 games since Oct. 14, 2006, with the extra game coming in last year’s ACC title game.

In that span, the Eagles have a whopping 16 defensive or special teams TDs. For the sake of thoroughness, here’s a little chart to sort it all out:

Date	Opponent	Player	Return	Yds	Score
10-21-06	@Florida State	DeJuan Tribble	INT	36	W, 24-19
11-18-06	Maryland	Jolonn Dunbar	FUMBLE	14	W, 38-16
	Maryland	Jolonn Dunbar	FUMBLE	38
	Maryland	DeJuan Tribble	INT	42
11-23-06	@Miami	DeJuan Tribble	INT	22	L, 17-14
9-8-07	N.C. State	Jolonn Dunbar	INT	14	W, 37-17
10-6-07	Bowling Green	Jamie Silva	INT	65	W, 55-24
	Bowling Green	Nick Larkin	INT	7
12-1-07	vs. Virginia Tech	Jamie Silva	FUMBLE	51	L, 30-16
9-27-08	Rhode Island	Mark Herzlich	INT	60	W, 42-0
10-18-08	Virginia Tech	Rich Gunnell	PUNT	65	W, 28-23
10-25-08	at North Carolina	Kevin Akins	FUMBLE	13	L, 45-24
11-1-08	Clemson	Roderick Rollins	BLOCKED PUNT	25	L, 27-21
11-8-08	Notre Dame	Paul Anderson	INT	76	W, 17-0
11-15-08	at Florida State	Marcellus Bowman	INT	87	W, 27-17
11-22-08	at Wake Forest	Mark Herzlich	INT	34	W, 24-21

So much of this rests on good fortune, whether it’s having a clear path to the end zone on an interception or a friendly bounce on a fumble or simply deploying a dangerous punt returner.

But at some point, the cause of a disparity of non-offensive touchdowns between two teams moves from luck to something else. I’m not exactly sure what that “something else” is (though “overall talent” and “coaching” are the clubhouse favorites). But that shift of explanation —- whatever its cause —- probably happens well before that gap grows to 16-0 between teams in the same conference.

—- Patrick Stevens