Under the blue Miami skies yesterday, the Maryland Terrapins were on the verge of securing their 7th victory of the season. Unfortunately the Terps were not able to close out the Hurricanes, and returned to College Park at 6-3, 3-2 overall.
If there was an immediate consolation for Maryland, it is that their Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division foes Florida State, and North Carolina State also lost. Of course those losses from the Seminoles, and Wolfpack only further illustrate the reality that an opportunity was lost.
It was an interesting game yesterday. The Terps had been very strong against the run against ACC competition coming into this game, but were gouged for 125 yards from Miami’s backup RB Lamar Miller.
Miami believes in their athletes, and they run a defensive scheme that incorporates straight man-to-man coverage. It appeared that QB Danny O’Brien and the Maryland offense took awhile to get comfortable with this. O’Brien gets rid of the ball so quickly, that he is very hard to defend with zone defenses. Against a man-to-man defense, your athletes have to beat their athletes. That meant longer drops for O’Brien, more time pass-blocking for his line, and O’Brien’s widereceivers had to make plays on the outside. The offensive player that stepped-up for the Terps was WR Kevin Dorsey. (3 catches, 63 yards, 1 TD). Dorsey was a prized 4star recruit, and it is good to see him emerging.
The Maryland defense let-up 500 yards of offense to the Hurricanes, but it was not all bad. (At-least until the last series) Maryland was basically running a bend but do not break defense. I think when the Terps review the film, they will be happy with how they ran to the ball collectively but upset with their tackling. The lack of tackling allowed the Hurricanes to repeatedly pile-up additional yards, and keep drives going. Despite the yards allowed, the Terps were in position to win because some of their defensive playmakers had stepped-up. Alex Wujciak is known for his tackling, but his 2 picks (including the return for TD) were huge. Text-book examples of an experienced Senior knowing where to be and reading the eyes of the inexperienced Freshman. David Mackall had 2 sacks, and Isiah Ross also contributed with 1.
My biggest issues of the game were:
1) The 28 pass attempts for O’Brien vs. the 20 combined carries of Meggett, Scott, and Watson. Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald had just told us the other day that if he was game-planning against the Hurricanes, he would run directly at their defense. Included in Meggett’s 70 yards was a 37 yard scamper. Watson had 2 carries, 1 was for 15 yards. DJ Adams is Maryland’s best downhill runner and had zero carries. I would have liked to have seen Franklin used a Jumbo package and attack Miami that way.
2) In the 2nd Quarter, Maryland had 1st and Goal on the Miami 2 yard-line. O’Brien missed a pass to the right, when H. Brown slipped on 1st down. On 2nd down Robinson came in at QB, and dropped the snap for an 8 yard loss. O’Brien was incomplete on 3rd down. The Terps had to settle for 3, in a series where they absolutely needed to come away with 6.
3) Maryland had dodged a bullet in the 4th Quarter when the Hurricanes were called for a phantom face-mask which eliminated their sack, and fumble return for a TD. The Terps used that penalty to go down and kick a FG to move ahead 20-18 with just over 9 minutes left.
The Terps defense then stands-up and forces Miami to punt with 5:30 on the clock. Maryland takes over on offense (with the Hurricanes having 0 timeouts) needing a couple of first-downs. Now, the Maryland offense gets conservative and hands the ball to Meggett for 3 consecutive carries. The first two rushes were the correct calls. The decision to run on 3rd and 6 yards to go is what I question. Yes, by doing so the Terps did run another minute off of the clock – but it was extremely unlikely Maryland was going to pick-up the first-down. If you do not pick up the 1st, that means you are going to punt back to the Hurricanes (only needing a FG to win) in their home-stadium with over 3 minutes left in the game.
That extra minute of clock time you ran, meant less than running a play that had a better chance to result in a 1st down.
4) The Hurricanes get the ball back for their last drive and wind-up facing 3rd and 11 on the MD 49 yard-line with 53 seconds left. I am not sure if there was a spy on the Miami QB or not, but I do know it was embarrassing to allow him to run for a 16 yard gain. That never should have happened. Maryland still reeling from that play, allows a 35 yard TD throw on the next play. That is as bad as it gets.
Up-Next:
ACC Atlantic Standings (and remaining schedules for leaders):
Florida State: 6-3 overall, 4-2 ACC (Clemson, @UMD, Florida)
NCST: 6-3, 3-2 (Wake, @UNC, @UMD)
MD: 6-3, 3-2 (@UVA, FSU, NCST)
For Maryland to have a chance to win the ACC Atlantic Division, they are going to have to win at Virginia. The Cavaliers lost a shoot-out at Duke yesterday.
Go beat the Cavs, and give yourself an opportunity to make those last two home games very interesting.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.