COLLEGE PARK - For three quarters yesterday before a sellout crowd at Byrd Stadium, sophomore cornerback Domonique Foxworth and every other member of the Maryland Terrapins' secondary looked helpless in trying to stop North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers and wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery.

But in the wake of Maryland's come-from-behind, 24-21 homecoming victory that put the Terps in sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, few players stood as tall as the 5-foot-11, 175-pound cornerback from Randallstown.

More than anything, Maryland celebrated because its defense - following a chewing out by head coach Ralph Friedgen - finally put the clamps on Rivers in the fourth quarter, with Foxworth leading the way.

"I'm twice as good as I was last year, I'm a lot better than I was last week and I plan to be a lot better next week," Foxworth said.

Foxworth was plenty good yesterday. First, he blunted the Wolfpack's momentum five minutes into the final period by intercepting Rivers on a play in which N.C. State receiver Bryan Peterson fell down. Foxworth returned the ball 26 yards down the left sideline, setting up a 21-yard touchdown run by quarterback Scott McBrien that tied the game at 21 with 9:26 left.

On the next Wolfpack possession, Foxworth appeared to be beaten by Cotchery (12 catches, 144 yards) down the right sideline on a third-and-four, but at the last instant, Foxworth leaped and deflected Rivers' slightly underthrown pass.

The next pass was batted down by defensive tackle Randy Starks, the Terps took over on downs at their 36 and N.C. State managed just one first down the rest of the way.

"I thought those were the two big plays of the game," Friedgen said of Foxworth's highlights. "I would like for [Foxworth] to tackle a little better, which I thought he did today. He's turned into a really good cover corner. He's getting a little swagger and a little belief in himself."

Foxworth, who played at Western Tech High School, recorded six tackles, pulled into a second-place tie in the ACC with his fourth interception and broke up two passes after entering the contest with a league-leading 15 deflections.

Perry takes a hand

Junior tailback Bruce Perry finally returned for real yesterday. Last year's ACC Offensive Player of the Year, who had been limited to one play this season due to stomach, groin and shoulder injuries, carried the ball 10 times for 23 yards, and scored on a nine-yard run to cut North Carolina State's lead to 21-14 with 2:47 left in the half.

Perry also kept the previously-active Josh Allen, a freshman, on the bench all day.

"I thought he was rusty. He missed a couple of cuts," Friedgen said of Perry. "I'm happy that he's back. Hopefully, he'll stay back and get better and better each week."

Special contributions

By kicking his game-winning, 28-yard field goal, Nick Novak improved to 15-for-18 for the season, and leads the conference with an 83.3 percent success rate. Punter Brooks Barnard entered the contest atop the ACC standings and averaged 41.6 yards on seven punts. And return man Steve Suter, who already has tied an NCAA record with four punt returns for touchdowns, averaged a solid nine yards on four returns.

Is there a better trio of specialists in the college game today? Novak just smiled.

"Special teams make the difference in close games, and they made the difference today," Novak said.

Et cetera

Maryland has committed a total of 22 penalties in its past two games, including 10 yesterday, three of which were for delay of game. ... Representatives of the Gator and Peach bowls attended yesterday's game. ... Yesterday's attendance of 52,915 was the fourth largest in Byrd Stadium history.