COLLEGE PARK - Much has changed since last year for the Maryland football defense, which has a younger cast of players, blitzes less because of large leads and faces offenses more hip to its schemes.
Yet the bottom line remains the same for the Terrapins, who do the best job of keeping opponents from scoring among teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, just as they did last year when they won the league title.
Until Saturday's 24-21 win over North Carolina State, Maryland (8-2, 4-1 ACC) had gone nearly two months before allowing more than two touchdowns. Overall, the team leads the league by allowing only 15.1 points per game, down four points from the 19.1 it limited opponents to in 2001.
"That's our job, that's our mission," said Maryland defensive coordinator Gary Blackney. "The most important statistic in defensive football - that's no Einstein - is defense vs. the score. If they don't score on your defense, you have a chance to win."
But doing it without six starters from the previous year's 10-2 squad doesn't seem so simple. Nor does it seem easy when opposing teams are copying the defensive scheme you used - giving those offenses the chance to practice against you every day - nor when you're on the field for the majority of every game.
"We just have the attitude of a competitor and play as hard as we can," inside linebacker Leon Joe said, trying to explain the team's success. "I don't think it has anything to do with the other teams as much as what we're doing."
After the Terps' Orange Bowl appearance in January, the coaching staff needed to replace two first-team All-ACC selections - strong safety Tony Jackson and cornerback Tony Okanlawon - as well as nose tackle Charles Hill (now with the Houston Texans), free safety Randall Jones and linebacker Aaron Thompson. Another starting linebacker from that team, Mike Whaley, was dismissed from school.
Some fixes were going to be easier than others. Randy Starks filled in for Hill, Domonique Foxworth for Okanlawon, Dennard Wilson for Jackson and Towson transfer Madieu Williams for Jones. But Maryland's outside linebacker spots were still unspoken for as of August before Leroy Ambush and Jamahl Cochran replaced Thompson and Whaley, respectively.
Only five starters from the 2001 opener started in this year's first game against Notre Dame. But the Terps, while on the field 41 minutes, limited the Irish to five field goals. Though they absorbed a 22-0 loss - the other score coming off of a punt return - the team served notice that its defense would lose nothing from before.
"We lost some good players," Wilson said. "But if one falls aside, there's always someone to stand up in their place."
Said Blackney: "That was the first time when I saw our team compete and accept the challenge. The consistency was the big thing and it was important that we maintain that. There was a lot depending on our ability to keep teams out of the end zone."
As with last year, Maryland's offense struggled the first few weeks this season, particularly in the early parts of games, so the team had to lean on the defense. With the exception of one quarter against Florida State (a 24-0 run in a 37-10 loss), the defense has served that purpose, though it finds itself challenged against offenses wanting to beat the team's pressuring style.
"What you're seeing a lot more is [maximum protection] and a lot of three-step drops, more than they have in the past, because we pressure so much," coach Ralph Friedgen said, noting that other teams have picked up the team's "30 dime" package, which uses a lot of zone blitzing. "We were one of the first teams to do that stuff. Now everybody uses it."
That is one of the factors that has the Terps looking more relaxed on defense. All-America linebacker E.J. Henderson, the ACC's Player of the Year in 2001, doesn't sense the same frenzied quality of play that caused confusion for opponents a year ago.
By himself, Henderson had 28 tackles for loss in 2001's 12 games. In 2002, Maryland has only 27 as a team over 10 games. The team's turnover margin, plus-16 last year, is a third of that now.
"Last year, we got after people a lot more and our turnover ratio was a lot better," Henderson said, anticipating that the improvement may come soon. "We show signs of it, but I don't think we're doing it on a consistent basis ... compared to last year, where we did it whenever we could."
The biggest factor may be the team's ability to score - 34.6 points per game. Unlike last year, when a sack or a turnover could be big in a tight game, Maryland had outscored opponents 268-57 in the six weeks leading into the N.C. State game.
With such advantages, the Terps have the luxury of laying back and waiting for the opponent to make the big mistake.
"We're also ahead so much, in all of our games, why blitz and stub your toe?" Blackney said. "What you want to do is take the time off the clock, so you can get in the shower and go home."
NOTE: Henderson yesterday was named one of three finalists for the Butkus Award, which is given annually to the nation's top linebacker, and one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award, given to the top defensive lineman or linebacker.
Henderson was a Butkus Award finalist last year as well. This season, he has 113 tackles and 12 1/2 tackles for a loss, 4 1/2 coming on sacks.
Oklahoma's Teddy Lehman and Notre Dame's Courtney Watson are the other two Butkus finalists. The winner will named Dec. 4.
The other Lombardi finalists are Tommie Harris of Oklahoma, Redding Corey of Texas and Terrell Suggs of Arizona State.
Staying on the defensive
Maryland's defense suffers by comparison to last year's group in most areas, but the unit still excels in keeping opponents off the scoreboard.
................2001....2001.......2002......2002
Category....stat....ACC rank....stat....ACC rank
Total defense...331.1 ypg...2nd...345.6 ypg...4th
Rush defense...90.6 ypg...1st* (9)...132.5 ypg...5th
Pass defense... 240.5 ypg...7th...213.1 ypg...3rd
Turnover margin...+1.45...1st*...(4)...+0.50...4th
Scoring defense...19.1 ppg...1st*...(18)...15.1 ppg...1st* (7)
*-Nationally ranked in the top 20 (ranking in parentheses)
Next for Terps
Matchup:No. 19 Maryland (8-2, 4-1) vs. Clemson (6-4, 4-3)
Site:Clemson Memorial Stadium, Clemson, S.C.
When:Tomorrow, 7:45 p.m.
TV/Radio:ESPN2/WBAL (1090 AM)
Line:Maryland by 4 1/2