Trailing 35-14 early in the fourth quarter, the Maryland football team was making one last push against Virginia Tech in College Park on Saturday night. Terrapins quarterback Malik Washington was their best player on the field offensively, making throws to give his team a chance to win.
Maryland closed the gap to 35-26 with just over five minutes remaining in the game, but never saw the ball again as the Hokies were able to close out the nine-point win. However, there was one decision early in the fourth quarter that was very head-scratching and opened the door for the Terrapins to lose a big thing in the game: momentum.
Mike Locksley explains mind-blowing decision against Virginia Tech
Momentum was slowly turning in the Terrapins’ favor, and they cut the deficit to 35-20 with 12:36 left in the game when Washington connected with Dorian Fleming for a 2-yard touchdown pass. Kicking the extra point would have cut the deficit to 14 points. Instead, Locksley decided to go for two points and failed to connect. Instead of chasing 14 points, they were chasing 15. After the game, the eighth-year coach explained his decision.
“We were playing to win,” said Locksley. “Obviously, I’m not going to step in and say it’s just analytics because I also make the decision.”…