#21 Terps at Temple

[Tony-OH]

20 minutes ago, TonySoprano said:

Kick the FG in the first half, then you only have to play for another FG at Temple 12 with 2 mins to go.    Instead, incomplete at 12 and turn the ball over on downs. 

Great point. I didn't even address how poor a decision that was by Locksley. That fake FG was ridiculous and showed how cocky Locksley was. This game was hopefully a wake up call for him but it also may highlight why Locksley had been such an awful head coach in the past.

Great recruiter, and probably a great O-coord, but he may be over his head as a head coach. He failed his players and program today and gets a grade F- for his in-game decisions.

[OsEatAlEast]

I kept waiting for some play action or draw plays. That's football 101 when dealing with over zealous LB's and DE's. Make them think you're passing when you're running and running when you're passing.

[OregonBird]

I see a win against Rutgers and a close loss against Indiana at home.  Other than that I see a lot of boat race losses.  The inability to develop guys to win in the trenches and failure to develop a QB continues to doom this program.

[Tony-OH]

19 hours ago, OsEatAlEast said:

I kept waiting for some play action or draw plays. That's football 101 when dealing with over zealous LB's and DE's. Make them think you're passing when you're running and running when you're passing.

I'm searching my brain to see  if I can remember worse red zone play calling. So far I have not been able to call up with worse. 

I will say I'm not real happy to read Locksley's comments after the game. He didn't take any responsibility at all and that's unfortunate. Makes me concerned.

[jarman86]

I see Temple as I follow Navy, they aren't a bad football team.  I think they've been to bowl games the past five years.  Their coach got a head gig at Georgia Tech and they walloped us last year.  I'm not saying this loss didn't hurt, but I don't think it was as horrendous as you make it sound.  My hope is this serves as a wake-up call to the guys and that this happening early in the season will help.  Those two wins may have gotten to everybody's heads a bit.

[Tony-OH]

On 9/16/2019 at 1:19 PM, jarman86 said:

I see Temple as I follow Navy, they aren't a bad football team.  I think they've been to bowl games the past five years.  Their coach got a head gig at Georgia Tech and they walloped us last year.  I'm not saying this loss didn't hurt, but I don't think it was as horrendous as you make it sound.  My hope is this serves as a wake-up call to the guys and that this happening early in the season will help.  Those two wins may have gotten to everybody's heads a bit.

I don't think this was a case of players and coaches overlooking Temple or letting the big wins get to their head, this was a case of a QB who struggled under the first pressure he saw and awful play calling, particularly in the red zone. 

The fact that Temple tried to give them the game twice and the awful play calling kept trying to stuff it up the middle, when they have Piggy, McFarland and Leake. Are you telling me that anyone here thinks if they had spread out the defense, put Piggy in shotgun with McFarland and Leake that they don't think they could get a yard with a option play?

My biggest concern is that the game calling is always going to be this unimaginative and awful in the red zone when the line is going to be dominated. Good coordinators understand their weakness and strengths and play to their strengths in personnel and don't try the cookie cutter old school approach.

I'm also concerns that Jackson will continue to struggle when he pressured. He's not very mobile back there and once he was under pressure his decision making and accuracy dropped off significantly. That's a yellow flag for me.

This game was a giant let down because they had an opportunity to go under a Nationally televised game ranked against Penn State but instead, looked like the same old Terp football program that shrinks as soon as it as a chance to shine.

I also have concerns that Locksley did not over rule the play calls and also went for that awful two-point conversion. Had they gone for field goal and made it, the Terps could have gone ahead with a field goal instead of being stuffed twice on the goal line in the 4th QTR.

It was one game, and people can improve and learn, but what I saw was a coaching staff and quarterback that appeared to be over their heads in their first real test of adversity. 

Now if they can come out and play a good close game against Penn State it might heal some things, but only a win would erase this debacle.

[Tony-OH]

8 hours ago, birdwatcher55 said:

I always enjoy your analysis Tony. You're always on the mark and I consider you the Bible when it comes to this stuff with your background in scouting. That said, I was distressed to see Maryland bring back a second rate coach in Locksley. It was like reliving a nightmare of past seasons when he was on this staff. I don't know who to blame here other than the administration who keeps rolling in these guys and expect to realistically compete in the Big 10. Perhaps some day before they shovel gravel on me I'll see a real football coach here who can at least develop a legitimate quarterback.

Well thanks, but I'm just a fan when it comes to to football vs a scout.

I'm not ready to jump off the Locksley train yet, but I do have some concerns after the way they lost and his lack of leadership and questionable in game decisions. 

Let's see if they recover against Penn State and watch how decisions are made in the future.

[jarman86]

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 10:11 AM, Tony-OH said:

I don't think this was a case of players and coaches overlooking Temple or letting the big wins get to their head, this was a case of a QB who struggled under the first pressure he saw and awful play calling, particularly in the red zone. 

The fact that Temple tried to give them the game twice and the awful play calling kept trying to stuff it up the middle, when they have Piggy, McFarland and Leake. Are you telling me that anyone here thinks if they had spread out the defense, put Piggy in shotgun with McFarland and Leake that they don't think they could get a yard with a option play?

My biggest concern is that the game calling is always going to be this unimaginative and awful in the red zone when the line is going to be dominated. Good coordinators understand their weakness and strengths and play to their strengths in personnel and don't try the cookie cutter old school approach.

I'm also concerns that Jackson will continue to struggle when he pressured. He's not very mobile back there and once he was under pressure his decision making and accuracy dropped off significantly. That's a yellow flag for me.

This game was a giant let down because they had an opportunity to go under a Nationally televised game ranked against Penn State but instead, looked like the same old Terp football program that shrinks as soon as it as a chance to shine.

I also have concerns that Locksley did not over rule the play calls and also went for that awful two-point conversion. Had they gone for field goal and made it, the Terps could have gone ahead with a field goal instead of being stuffed twice on the goal line in the 4th QTR.

It was one game, and people can improve and learn, but what I saw was a coaching staff and quarterback that appeared to be over their heads in their first real test of adversity. 

Now if they can come out and play a good close game against Penn State it might heal some things, but only a win would erase this debacle.

Fair, I've only seen 3 games on Jackson, as I can't tell you since the Terps left ACC the last time I watched VT play, so I have that small sample size to go off of.  As you said, I saw a potential "real" QB in first 2 games.  This third one does give me caution, but I'm not off anyone's train yet either, which is why I'm giving that one up to benefit of the doubt.  New coaches, new players.  Maybe Locksley let the O-coord keep the reigns because he viewed it as a game to prove himself before the big competition and will be quicker to take them back when we play the big boys, I don't know.  My point was more that Temple is not a cupcake team that they were going to waltz all over either, and I take that into my factor as well.  They turn out NFL defensive players fairly regularly and have a pretty consistent record of being a good team, we do not.