Lewis, late turnovers drown Terps

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Thaddeus Lewis has been carrying Duke lately. This time, it was the defense's turn to bail out the Blue Devils.

Lewis threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns and Duke forced two late turnovers to wrap up a 17-13 victory over Maryland yesterday.

The Atlantic Coast Conference's leading passer was 30 of 43 with touchdowns covering 24 yards to Donovan Varner and 1 yard to Danny Parker in his third straight 300-yard performance for the Blue Devils (4-3, 2-1).

Duke never trailed, outgained Maryland 394-249, withstood the Terrapins' late charges and held on for the Blue Devils' third win in four games. They also claimed consecutive conference victories for the first time since 1994.

"It isn't about picking them up - we know we're going to face adversity at times during the game, but it's just about rebounding, coming back," linebacker Damian Thornton said. "The offense knows what the deal is. They get our back whenever we're down. We get their back. It's about being a team."

More than one-fourth of Maryland's offense came on one play - Chris Turner's 67-yard touchdown pass to Davin Meggett. Turner was 16 of 23 for 182 yards and moved past Boomer Esiason into second place on the school's career passing list. But Turner couldn't keep the Terps (2-6, 1-3) from losing their third straight game and fifth in the past six.

"It just seems like no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to break through," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said.

Still, the Terrapins gave themselves some chances in the fourth quarter before the ACC's most turnover-prone team had problems keeping hold of the ball.

After forcing Lewis to fumble at the 2 and later forcing a punt with about 5 minutes left, the Terrapins gave it right back moments later when Turner's pass to Ronnie Tyler was intercepted by Vincent Rey. Duke ran some clock before punting with just less than 2 minutes left, but Tony Logan fumbled and Brandon King recovered to seal it.

"Disappointed in yourself to let that one go," Lewis said of his fumble, "but it's good to know that the defense has your back."

Both teams kept the ball in the air despite rainy conditions - Maryland was held to 67 yards rushing, the fourth time in five games that the Terps failed to crack triple digits as a team, and Duke finished with just 23.

Duke seemed to take complete control with Lewis' second touchdown pass - a pretty play-action flip to Parker that made it 17-6 with about 5½ minutes left in the third and came after a 44-yard down-the-sideline heave to Connor Vernon.

The Terrapins responded moments later with their only touchdown.

Turner dumped off a screen pass to Meggett, and he cut back to the left, dashed down the sideline and ran through a tackler at the goal line to make it a four-point game.

"I thought it was a big-time answer," Friedgen said.

For Duke, it was a rare matchup with an ACC rival it hadn't beaten in a decade, and an even rarer position - as a 4-point favorite. The expanded conference's rotating, divisional schedule kept Maryland off the Duke schedule since 2004.

With representatives of the Champs Sports and Chick-fil-A bowls looking on, Lewis picked up where he left off two weeks ago when he threw for a career-high 459 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-28 victory over North Carolina State.

Lewis regularly found receivers open across the middle, with his 24-yard pitch-and-catch to Donovan Varner making it 7-0 about 7½ minutes in. Varner and Vernon - the ACC's only two players averaging at least 100 yards receiving - each hit that mark in this one, with Varner catching eight passes for 120 yards and Vernon finishing with five catches for 102 yards.

They helped Duke open 4-3 for the second straight season; the Blue Devils closed last year with five straight losses.

But perhaps of even more significance for the Blue Devils is this: They committed three turnovers and were penalized 12 times for 101 yards - and still won.

"It's good for Duke to win ugly," coach David Cutcliffe said. "Is that a change or what?"

DUKE 17, MARYLAND 13

Maryland 3 3 7 0 - 13

Duke 7 3 7 0 - 17

First Quarter

Duke-Varner 24 pass from Lewis (Snyderwine kick), 7:24.

Md-FG Ferrara 25, 1:37.

Second Quarter

Md-FG Ferrara 40, 8:34.

Duke-FG Snyderwine 35, 3:31.

Third Quarter

Duke-Parker 1 pass from Lewis (Snyderwine kick), 5:35.

Md-Meggett 67 pass from Turner (Ferrara kick), 4:30.

A-24,650.

Md Duke

First downs 11 19

Rushes-yards 31-67 28-23

Passing 182 371

Comp-Att-Int 16-23-1 30-43-1

Return Yards 13 6

Punts-Avg. 5-40.4 4-37.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-2

Penalties-Yards 3-25 12-101

Time of Possession 27:55 32:05

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Maryland, Meggett 9-38, Porzel 15-28, Turner 6-2, Smith 1-(minus 1). Duke, Lewis 14-14, Hollingsworth 6-10, Kurunwune 2-8, B.King 1-1, D.Scott 1-1, Team 4-(minus 11).

PASSING-Maryland, Turner 16-23-1-182. Duke, Lewis 30-43-1-371.

RECEIVING-Maryland, Cannon 6-66, Porzel 3-24, Meggett 2-68, Smith 2-13, Tyler 2-8, Dorsey 1-3. Duke, Kelly 9-67, Varner 8-120, Vernon 5-102, Williams 4-47, Hollingsworth 3-34, Parker 1-1.