Maryland vs Virginia Tech

[slowey404]

Did Turner even attempt a throw to the endzone, after VT muffed the punt.

[Dr. FLK]

That was the sorriest tackling team I've seen Maryland put on the field in a long time. They made a good RB look like a super star. They should be embarrassed.

[Tony-OH]

This game went pretty much how I expected. The minute the team starts to get some respect (ranking), as soon as bowl reps and the national audience starts watching....they lay an egg. The offense did nothing really and the defense was below average.

Yet another game where the defense lets a guy have a career game against them.

Instead of coming out, being aggressive & creative, making a statement that they belong, they come out and show their true colors. The game you saw tonight was typical Terps football the last few years. It wasn't their best game (vs. Wake) and it wasn't their worst game (vs. VA), it was simply their typical average performance. It's fine versus an NC State but versus a physical, well coached team it doesn't get the job done.

I tend to agree with this. The problem is that the Terps best player is a WR and their QB is a below average college QB. With Scott being banged up, they really couldn't get the running game going and VT was just way more physical and athletic.

Maryland just seems to always miss out on those big opportunities to show they belong in the top 25 but it's probably because they don't. They are just way too inconsistent and I didn't think the offensive game plan was very creative either.

[clapdiddy]

I tend to agree with this. The problem is that the Terps best player is a WR and their QB is a below average college QB. With Scott being banged up, they really couldn't get the running game going and VT was just way more physical and athletic.

Maryland just seems to always miss out on those big opportunities to show they belong in the top 25 but it's probably because they don't. They are just way too inconsistent and I didn't think the offensive game plan was very creative either.

Hammer, meet nail.

The Terps are a middling college football team...nothing more, nothing less.

I thought after Freidgen took over (especially after their first season under him), they'd be a consistent top 25 team. I thought with his mind for offense and the decent amount of recruits in this area, they'd be in the ACC title hunt year in and year out.

He just doesn't get it done. They don't have enough size or athleticism to compete year in and out. I think the problem is that they are getting a lot of "sloppy seconds" in recruiting. They never get the top echelon players, and chance are that they never will, unless Maryland takes a bold step and hires a "name" coach.

[Dracula]

Agree with the sentiment here, who didn't see this coming?

How does Heyward-Bey only have 30 receptions on the year? That is a crime. He may be the best WR in the nation...1st round talent at least. He has 2 games with ZERO catches. He is on pace for the lowest amount of catches and receiving yards in his career...how does that make any sense.

Freshman: 45 for 694 yds

Sophomore: 51 for 786 yds

Junior: 40 for 661 (projected totals)

Force feed this kid the ball...he averages 16.5 yds per catch and 19.2 per rush this season. An amazing talent that is being wasted at MD. The best WR I've ever seen put on a MD uniform.

[DrungoHazewood]

He just doesn't get it done. They don't have enough size or athleticism to compete year in and out. I think the problem is that they are getting a lot of "sloppy seconds" in recruiting. They never get the top echelon players, and chance are that they never will, unless Maryland takes a bold step and hires a "name" coach.

I think you can win with those recruits. You just can't win in a conventional way. In 1999 Tech was still not getting top-shelf recruits, and regularly was graded out as a 30th, 40th, 50th recruiting class by Rivals and other publications.

But they won, and went to the BCS Championship game, at least in part, by doing weird stuff. They made Corey Moore a 215 lb defensive rush end, and he won national awards. He never made it in the NFL because he was too small to be a linebacker, much less a DE.

Beamer has this reputation for special teams because Tech really does use most of their best players on special teams and they really do block an ungodly number of kicks. When he started doing this 20 years ago it was really innovative.

Bud Foster used all kinds of crazy blitzing defenses. They ran the wide-tackle six defense 30 or 40 years after everyone else had abandoned it. They had straight-on placekickers 20 years after everyone else switched to soccer-style, maybe because it was a market inefficiency; no one else wanted them.

The service adacamies win with lesser recruits by being different. Georgia Tech has been fairly successful this year with recruits that probably aren't much better than MD's, and they're running the wishbone.

Anyway, my point is Maryland probably could win with lesser recruits. But they need to be creative with it. Run the wishbone, or the spread, or the 46 defense or something. But just lining up in the pro-set and hoping to outplay everyone else at their game probably won't work.

[DrungoHazewood]

Agree with the sentiment here, who didn't see this coming?

How does Heyward-Bey only have 30 receptions on the year? That is a crime. He may be the best WR in the nation...1st round talent at least. He has 2 games with ZERO catches. He is on pace for the lowest amount of catches and receiving yards in his career...how does that make any sense.

I think he has 0th round talent.

Freshman: 45 for 694 yds

Sophomore: 51 for 786 yds

Junior: 40 for 661 (projected totals)

Force feed this kid the ball...he averages 16.5 yds per catch and 19.2 per rush this season. An amazing talent that is being wasted at MD. The best WR I've ever seen put on a MD uniform.

Some of it may be playcalling, but a lot of it is probably that the other team sees him as their only real weapon and they do whatever they can to shut him down. Last night Macho Harris was marked on him a lot, and Macho is at least a first round talent, too.

[OregonBird]

Hammer, meet nail.

The Terps are a middling college football team...nothing more, nothing less.

I thought after Freidgen took over (especially after their first season under him), they'd be a consistent top 25 team. I thought with his mind for offense and the decent amount of recruits in this area, they'd be in the ACC title hunt year in and year out.

He just doesn't get it done. They don't have enough size or athleticism to compete year in and out. I think the problem is that they are getting a lot of "sloppy seconds" in recruiting. They never get the top echelon players, and chance are that they never will, unless Maryland takes a bold step and hires a "name" coach.

Dead on....

I think most people will now admit that Fridge won with Vandy's recruits. I miss some of those guys. They didn't necessarily have the measurables that Fridge is so enamored with but they were blue collar football players. A lot of those guys weren't highly recruited but they played with chips on their shoulders. Those are the guys that manhandled Tennessee in the Peach Bowl.

Nowadays we've got all this supposed talent with 3-4-5 star guys etc, but I'm wondering where the mental/physical toughness are as well as the football IQ. I'm not convinced there is that much talent either. Heck, one of the guys w/the most talent is at QB (Portis), mired to the bench, because he can't comprehend the playbook or make reads. Please bring in some guys lunch pail guys who will play "pissed off" on Saturdays!

Last point. We do need a real QB. I like Turner, he's a servicable QB, kind of like a decent 4 or 5 starter on a solid pitching staff. If I look across the Top 25 there isn't one team he'd be the starter on. Heck, there are plenty of teams he wouldn't even be the backup on. There are so many QBs that I see on Saturdays that where I say to myself.."See, why can't we take a chance on a hard nosed kid like this?". Granted the kid is only 6'1 but he's heady, can make the throws, and will run.

[clapdiddy]

I think you can win with those recruits. You just can't win in a conventional way. In 1999 Tech was still not getting top-shelf recruits, and regularly was graded out as a 30th, 40th, 50th recruiting class by Rivals and other publications.

But they won, and went to the BCS Championship game, at least in part, by doing weird stuff. They made Corey Moore a 215 lb defensive rush end, and he won national awards. He never made it in the NFL because he was too small to be a linebacker, much less a DE.

Beamer has this reputation for special teams because Tech really does use most of their best players on special teams and they really do block an ungodly number of kicks. When he started doing this 20 years ago it was really innovative.

Bud Foster used all kinds of crazy blitzing defenses. They ran the wide-tackle six defense 30 or 40 years after everyone else had abandoned it. They had straight-on placekickers 20 years after everyone else switched to soccer-style, maybe because it was a market inefficiency; no one else wanted them.

The service adacamies win with lesser recruits by being different. Georgia Tech has been fairly successful this year with recruits that probably aren't much better than MD's, and they're running the wishbone.

Anyway, my point is Maryland probably could win with lesser recruits. But they need to be creative with it. Run the wishbone, or the spread, or the 46 defense or something. But just lining up in the pro-set and hoping to outplay everyone else at their game probably won't work.

Excellent points, here.

As a comparison, you could look at the MD basketball championship team. The players were not top recruits, but fit Gary's style. Friedgen's pro-style offense is fine, if you've got a top-notch college QB. The Terps don't have that QB.

I like your idea about running a different offense.