COLLEGE PARK, Md. – They were so dead, a hopeless football team without even the hint of a pulse, that you started to count the bodies.

Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi had to go, because giving up 35 points in the first half to the 111th ranked offense in the country was inexcusable. But why stop there? What about head coach Kyle Flood, whose team was on its way to fifth blowout loss in the Big Ten, and this time to a good but hardly great Maryland team? What about athletic director Julie Hermann, who extended his contract in September? What about the guy who drove the bus here from the team hotel?

Be honest: If you were a Rutgers fan watching this one at home or here in the cold at Byrd Stadium, you had your own list going. There wasn't enough pink paper in all of Piscataway for the slips the way this team was playing down 35-10 in the second quarter.

And then …

Something funny happened. Something incredible happened. Something historic happened for this Rutgers program, and the fans who were determined enough not to throw their turkey leftovers at the television were lucky enough to see it.

Rutgers came from 25 down, came back from the dead, to stun Maryland in College Park in its final regular-season game, and this 41-38 victory will – and should – change the overall feeling of first Big Ten season.

Start here: Kyle Flood will be the head coach in 2015. Win seven games in the first Big Ten season, when four of the games on the schedule were against the four very best teams in the league, and you've earned a shot to keep building this program.

"For me, it just confirms how I've felt about this group all along," Flood said. "Even in the games that we couldn't come back, I never felt like they ever quit. For the rest of their lives, they will be able to say that they were part of the biggest comeback in the history of the program."

Flood took heat last week from many (including yours truly) about praising his team's second half effort in a 45-3 blowout against Michigan State. This time, not only was the effort there, but so was the execution at a time when it would've been easy for this team to quit. Rutgers played its best half of football at the perfect time, confirming that this team had not given up at the end of that brutal stretch of games.

But the win does more than that. It opens up the discussion of a better bowl trip. Would the Foster Farms Bowl in San Francisco be interested in a seven-win Rutgers team? Or a trip to Nashville to face an SEC opponent? Is there hope beyond Detroit or Dallas for the holidays?

That's possible now, thanks to 90 wild minutes in Maryland, and there's almost too much to digest. It was a triumphant return for Ralph Friedgen, the proud former Maryland head coach who was kicked to the curb after a coach-of-the-year season in College Park. It was the redemption (the latest version, at least) for quarterback Gary Nova, whose roller-coaster career will end at the top of the hill.

"Yeah, I'd say it was," Nova said when asked if this was the highlight of his career. "But not just for me. Being a part of this group, with these guys, and the way we fought through adversity, it was great."

And to think, it started so innocently, with a roughing-the-kicker penalty that extended a Rutgers drive at the end of the first half. Nova threw one touchdown pass just before intermission, then another one early in the third quarter half after a long Janarion Grant kickoff return, then another on the very first play of the fourth quarter.

Now, what looked possible had – in the span of just 15 minutes – felt almost probable. This same Rutgers team that was obliterated on the road last weekend in East Lansing, Mich., one that didn't sniff the end zone, suddenly unstoppable.

Maybe most surprisingly, the defense that couldn't even get in Maryland's way in the first half started playing with confidence again. Because when freshman running back Robert Martin fumbled with the Scarlet Knights trying to run out the clock, you couldn't help but fear that the comeback would be for naught.

Then, it was a fourth and 1 at the Rutgers 46, and defensive end Kemoko Turay was barreling through the line of scrimmage to stop running back Brandon Ross for no gain. Of all the ways for this to end, the biggest play was a defensive stand.

Nova took one final knee, and the Rutgers players gathered in front of the visiting fans to celebrate their improbable victory. You wonder: How many of those fans thought about getting into their cars when it was 35-10 and starting the long, dreary drive back up the I-95 corridor?

And how many would still be buzzing straight across the Delaware Memorial Bridge into New Jersey, straight into bowl season? It was a game that changed so dramatically, and for this Rutgers team, a victory that changed the feel of an entire season.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.