Up 25 points, Maryland suffers inexusable loss

Up 25 points (35-10) in the 2nd Quarter, Maryland suffered an inexcusable 41-38 loss to Rutgers.

With the defeat, the Terps finish their regular season at 7-5, and 4-4 in Big Ten play.

(Discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Quick Hits:

1) College games go on forever, but you can not lose 25 point leads – certainly not at home.

2) Maryland won 5 regular season games on the road this year, but at home was just 2-4.

3) Yes, Craddock had just missed his first FGA of the year (from 54 yards) minutes earlier; but he needed to be given another attempt to tie the game there in the closing minutes. The decision to keep the offense on the field on 4th and 1 defies explanation. I would imagine the rationale will be that Coach Edsall wanted to give his offense a chance to win the game. That’s not good enough.

4) On the FGA that Craddock missed, I disliked that Timeout was called prior to the kick. MD should have known what they were going to do on 4th down, if their 3rd down pass went incomplete.

5) It was a team collapse, but the defense gets some special kudos for their second half failures. I think the defense performed valiantly many times this year – with players missing, and limited production in conference play from their offense. Today, this loss is on them. Between the last 3 minutes of the 2nd Quarter and into the 4th Quarter – Rutgers had 5 consecutive series which resulted in points. TD, TD, TD, TD, FG.

6) Losing today, feels like Lucy taunting Charlie Brown with the football. If MD wins today, they finish their regular season with 8 wins. Finish their first season in the Big Ten with a winning record. Instead, they finish .500 in league play. MD could have spent the next Month feeling good about whatever bowl they were selected to (with the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Outback Bowl in Tampa, and Citrus Bowl in Orlando all being possibilities). Now, with the loss… who knows where they wind-up?  Even if the narrative about winning at Penn State, and Michigan was a bit flawed; you still could have pointed to that – pointed to the new indoor facility, shown the year-to-year incremental improvement and felt good about the direction of things. This loss doesn’t erase those things, but it does leave a very sour taste in your mouth.

7) In the 2nd half, MD’s offense went Punt, FG, Punt, Missed FG, Turnover on Downs. Maybe pinning much of the blame on the defense is a bit much.

8) MD was 7 of 13 on 3rd down, Rutgers was 8 of 14.

9) The offense certainly looked better with an ability to run (281 yards today).  CJ Brown had 107 yards. Brandon Ross had 108 on his 10 carries. This was Ross’ first game with 10 or more carries since the opener vs. James Madison. What a waste.

10) Goins has had a nice year at FB, but his 2nd Quarter penalty changed the game.

11) When Diggs, and Long were lost to injury last year – Etta-Tawo made plays. This year he was regulated to the bench. Nice 71 yard score today on his lone catch.

12) I rarely rant in Game Threads. I did today. I know these are kids and not professionals, but I’m incredibly disappointed in the result. There was opportunity in-front of everyone associated with MD Football to take an incremental step forward; and instead MD was collectively knocked two steps back.