College Park--

After a disappointing opening to the 2009 season, the Maryland Terps and their young team hoped to rebound with a convincing victory over JMU tonight in their home opener. What they got was exactly the opposite of what they expected. What they got was a tough JMU team who switched quarterbacks before halftime and managed to take the Terps into overtime, only to fall short by a field goal.

JMU had the first crack in overtime, but managed to move the ball just one yard in three plays before Dixon Wright was wide right on a 41-yard field goal try. The second chance for the Terps was all they needed to drive the ball down the field for a field goal of their own.

The Dukes capitalized on many Terps mistakes on offense and used the first turnover of the game tinto a tie the score at 21 with 3:05 left in the third quarter. After Kenny Tate fumbled on a punt return and Corwin Archer recovered at the Maryland 45, Drew Dudzik threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Mike Caussin, who made a great catch in the end zone over linebacker Adrian Moten.

"There are a lot of things we need to get corrected. Defensively, we have to tackle better and play our responsibilities better. We have to make more plays. We are not making as many plays as I thought we would be. Offensively, we need to limit the penalties. Those are the things I am going to get corrected this week,” said Terps Head Coach Ralph Friedgen.

The Terps offense at times looked a big sluggish behind Chris Turner, but his   25-38 236   yard passing effort was much improved over last weeks effort against Cal where their offense was almost non existant.

"In my experience, any win is a good win and I think there was a lot to learn from this game. Obviously, we have a lot of corrections to make and we made too many mistakes. I threw that interception and that needs to be corrected, but we have one of those games under our belt now. We have two big experiences now, on the road in a big game and home in an overtime game. We just have to learn from it,” said Terps Quarterback Turner.

The Terps continue their stretch of home games next weekend against Middle Tennessee State.