College-Football Notebook: Two key Terps could miss game

Wake Forest

■ Running back Da'Rel Scott and left tackle Bruce Campbell, two of Maryland's best offensive players, are expected miss Saturday's game at Wake Forest.

Both were injured in the Terps' 24-21 victory over Clemson. Scott, who rushed for 1,133 yards and eight touchdowns last season, broke his forearm, and Campbell injured the medial-collateral ligament of his left knee.

Coach Ralph Friedgen said he hopes that Scott can return by Nov. 21, when Maryland will play at Florida State. Campbell had an MRI to determine the extent of the damage and has been ruled out for Saturday.

Scott has struggled this season, losing three fumbles in two games in September. He had no yards on three carries before his injury against Clemson.

Friedgen said he will need sophomore Davin Meggett and redshirt freshman Gary Douglas to compensate for Scott's absence and that he is considering playing freshman D.J. Adams. Meggett gained 27 yards on 10 carries against Clemson, and Douglas gained 24 yards on seven carries.

■ Coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest was glad to see Darrius Heyward-Bey leave Maryland for the Oakland Raiders, at least until he saw what Torrey Smith has done over the Terps' first five games.

"We thought when they lost Heyward-Bey we got a deal, and now this kid pops onto the scene and maybe scares us more than Heyward-Bey,'' Grobe said.

Smith, a sophomore receiver and kick returner, became the first player in the NCAA bowl subdivision to gain 1,000 all-purpose yards this season. He ranks second in the ACC with 89.9 receiving yards a game, behind Demaryius Thomas of Georgia Tech and just ahead of Wake Forest's Marshall Williams. Through five games, Smith has 21 catches for 449 yards and three touchdowns.

"I think he's got the same kind of stuff as Heyward-Bey speed-wise, and I think his hand-to-eye coordination and his ball skills are better,'' Grobe said. "He's just a really nice receiver, and you throw the speed into mix, now you've got a guy who goes and catches the football really well as a possession guy but he can run past anybody back there in the secondary.

"So he's a really dangerous guy.''

■ Wake Forest's opponents knew last season that if they controlled Demir Boldin they could put a serious crimp in the passing game. Boldin led the ACC with 81 catches. Marshall Williams, the No. 2 receiver, had 26 catches.

This season quarterback Riley Skinner has more viable options.

Williams is having a breakout junior season with 26 catches for 401 yards and four touchdowns, but he's hardly the only threat in the receiving corps. Sophomore Chris Givens has 21 catches for 240 yards and three touchdowns, and Devon Brown has 20 for 275 yards and one touchdown.

"I think it's a new experience for Riley because at times in the past we've run routes specifically to get it to a certain route,'' Grobe said. "Now he's just got more options. He's got more people to look to and I think he's enjoying that.''

■ The punt coverage team continues to be a strength for Wake Forest.

The Deacons led the nation last season in punt-return yardage defense, allowing just nine returns for a total of 9 yards. The longest return was 2 yards.

Through five games this season, Wake Forest has allowed three returns for 17 yards.

Other ACC

■ N.C. State will be taking donations at its home game against Duke on Saturday to aid the fight against a cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma in a cause that is personal to Coach Tom O'Brien.

Mark Herzlich, one of O'Brien's former players at Boston College, has the condition and is sitting out this season while undergoing treatment. Ewing's Sarcoma is a malignant tumor that most often is found in bone or soft tissue.

The N.C. State players have already raised more than $2,000, according to O'Brien, by donating their meal money. O'Brien talked last Friday to Herzlich, the ACC defensive player of the year last season, and Herzlich is confident that can resume playing football.

"He's very up-spirited," O'Brien said. "He got a good (medical) report. He's very positive."

■ If teams continue to have trouble blocking Robert Quinn, a North Carolina defensive lineman, they can blame his parents.

Quinn is one of the quickest ends in the ACC, and had three sacks last week of Jameel Sewell of Virginia.

Both of Quinn's parents were on the Charleston Southern track team in college, and his father once tried out for the U.S. Olympic team.

"Christian Wilson (a UNC tight end) said I was born running a 4.7," Quinn said.

■ Coach Ralph Friedgen of Maryland remembered a point made by legendary Vince Lombardi last week in a game against Clemson.

And it almost cost his team a win.

Friedgen recalled that Lombardi said that if a team can't gain six inches on fourth down that it doesn't deserve to win. All Maryland needed was four inches just outside its 30-yard line with six minutes left.

Quarterback Chris Turner was held for no gain, but Clemson missed a field goal that would have tied the score. Maryland won 24-21.

"The kids wanted to go for it," Friedgen said. "I knew our defense was tired so I went for it. I was kicking myself for doing it. I was letting my emotions get involved and not my brain."

Other

■ Coach Urban Meyer of top-ranked Florida says that a decision on whether quarterback Tim Tebow will be able to play against No. 4 LSU might not come until Saturday night but that medical staff told him to prepare for the game as if there is a chance that Tebow will play. Tebow practiced Tuesday for the first time since suffering a concussion against Kentucky on Sept. 26.

■ Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw has been ordered to complete an anger management course to resolve a misdemeanor domestic violence and harassment case.

A Tuscaloosa County District Court official said yesterday that Judge Joel Chandler gave Upshaw until Dec. 9 to complete the course.