Probably four dozen questions related to Maryland's kicking game have been asked of Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen since camp began in August.
There's a new leader in the clubhouse for the season's best.
The scenario was posed to Friedgen at his Tuesday press conference. Down three and needing a 45-yard field goal, does he
* Call upon senior Travis Baltz, a punter moonlighting as an emergency kicker whose range is still enough of a concern that Friedgen thought better of kicking a 32-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter at Boston College on Oct. 23?
(In fairness, that is a choice that could be justified as wanting to get a touchdown as much as eschewing the field goal; passing on a 50-yard attempt earlier in the drive cannot be justified in this way).
* Restore deposed sophomore Nick Ferrara to the kicking throne and see if he responds to his latest opportunity with mirth rather than a miss?
* Haul out his rosary and pray football becomes like soccer and adds stoppage time for just a single game?
Yeah, not an easy one, huh?
"I'd go with Ferrara," Friedgen said. "If I felt confident it wouldn't get blocked, I would send Ferrara. Nick kicked very well last night. We're going to kick today and have a head-on-head competition and see how we do. Nick kicked better than Travis last night. He kicked better than he has all year last night. We'll see how it goes.
"Nick has a strong leg. That wouldn't be the decision, whether he could make it or not or having a good opportunity to make it. The decision is 'If I get this thing blocked, is it going to get me beat.'"
Here's the thing. If there's five seconds left and it's a three-point game, the kick can veer left, fall short or get blocked and returned for a touchdown and the result is the same --- Maryland loses.
In any case, that would suggest Ferrara would get a longer attempt with the game on the line. And considering the last time Maryland sent a shaky kicker who had done virtually nothing of note all year out for a winning field goal of 40-plus length, it became Nick Novak's breakthrough game at Georgia Tech in 2001, maybe the chance for an improbable winning storyline would be too difficult to pass up.
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