Quarterback C.J. Brown lies on the turf at Doak Campbell Stadium after taking a vicious hit in the second quarter of the Terps’ 63-0 loss at Florida State on Oct. 5, 2013.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It had the makings of a typical C.J. Brown play. The Terrapins football quarterback would slip out of the pocket, avoid a rusher and fire the ball downfield. He might take a hit, but he would pop right back up like he’d done through the first month of the season.
It’s how things worked during the then-No. 25 Terps’ 4-0 start.
But in Saturday’s 63-0 loss at then-No. 8 Florida State, Brown didn’t get up after taking a vicious hit from Seminoles nose guard Jacobbi McDaniel. He knelt on the Doak Campbell Stadium turf with his head on the ground. Trainers came out and rolled Brown onto his back, his legs splayed out. After about three minutes, he got up and walked straight to the locker room. He suffered a concussion, and his status is uncertain for this weekend.
At the time, the Terps trailed the Seminoles, 14-0, in a tentative tug-of-war. One big play could bring them back into a game in a hostile environment in which they’ve never won. Instead, one big play put the Terps down for the count.
“I think it did change the game,” nose tackle Darius Kilgo said. “When your quarterback goes down, it hits a place in everybody’s heart. We just didn’t respond like we needed to.”
On the play, McDaniel drove his helmet into Brown’s chest as middle linebacker Christian Jones collapsed from the right and caused Brown’s head to snap back violently. It was akin to a car crash, causing most of the announced 74,909 in attendance to gasp before settling to a low murmur as trainers worked on the quarterback, who has been so plagued by injuries that he was granted a sixth year of eligibility.
“It was tough,” center Sal Conaboy said. “Didn’t really know what was going on, didn’t really see the hit, so I just kind of turned around, saw him on the ground. It was tough to see a friend down on the ground like that. It’s always tough when you see a teammate go down.”
Most Terps, including coach Randy Edsall and backup quarterback Caleb Rowe, said they didn’t see the hit. They were too busy following the ball’s flight downfield, where it would fall incomplete after almost being intercepted.
Even before Brown’s injury, though, the Terps offense was scuffling against a far superior Florida State defensive front. Brown was 6-of-14 passing for 82 yards, and he rushed for three yards on three attempts.
Rowe replaced Brown and immediately completed a 19-yard pass to wide receiver Deon Long. It was a brief glimmer of hope, but it was soon replaced by a feeling of inevitable loss as the Seminoles piled on touchdown after touchdown.
Rowe would finish the game 9-of-17 for 119 yards in his first game action since he tore his ACL last season at Boston College on Oct. 27. He was poised, but Florida State’s defense and the size on the defensive line overwhelmed the Terps.
“I think Caleb went in and did some good things,” Edsall said. “But as I told our team afterwards, we’re not a one-man team. It’s unfortunate that injuries happen here and we feel bad for C.J., but what has to happen is when somebody goes down, everybody has to step up, not just the person that is going in to replace that injured person. Everybody has to step up.”
Unlike last season, when the Terps were left with mostly unknown freshmen commodities in Rowe and Perry Hills after Brown tore his ACL, the Terps coaching staff knows what they have in Rowe this season. Rowe said he received extra reps with the first team offense during the bye week, and he’s confident he can execute in an offense that was averaging almost 40 points per game entering Saturday.
Whether Brown misses an extended period of time or comes back against Virginia this weekend, Rowe is confident the Terps won’t miss a beat. They already suffered an injury deluge last season, and they survived that. They can do it again this year.
“Going through summer with these guys, going through all the workouts that we’ve had to go through, I know their heart,” Rowe said. “It’s a tough loss, but it’s something we can overcome. We’ve had the experience of overcoming things from last year. I’m not worried about it, and Florida State’s a great football team. We just didn’t play our best game, and we have time to improve.”
