Maryland football left to search for positives
COLLEGE PARK here comes a point in every lost season when nothing is going right and there’s really not much left to do but try to maintain your poise and learn from an otherwise miserable experience.
That’s where the Maryland football team found itself after last week’s loss to Rutgers. The Terps’ bowl hopes were all but dashed and the remaining schedule promised a string of games like their discouraging 35-10 loss to Michigan on a gloomy late Saturday afternoon at Maryland Stadium.
So, what are you supposed to do when you’re down to your fourth quarterback (Ryan Brand) and you’re pretty much overmatched at the line of scrimmage against a perennial Big Ten powerhouse? The answer: Not this. The Terps stumbled all over themselves in an ugly first half and didn’t give a real hint of competing with the Wolverines until it was too late to make things interesting. Michigan certainly isn’t the best team in the Big Ten, but was made to look like it on the way to a quick 28-point lead because of the myriad opportunities presented by Maryland’s incoherent game plan and consistently poor execution.
It should have been obvious which direction this day was going when offensive coordinator Walt Bell started breaking out the trick plays in the first quarter when the Terps – at least theoretically – were still in the game. Can’t blame him for that, given the circumstances. But it’s a lot tougher to dish up that kind of razzle-dazzle when your quarterback is 13 minutes into his first college start.
Sure, desperate times call for desperate measures, but faking a punt deep in your own territory early in the second quarter when the game is not close to being out of hand is simply a prescription for the game getting there even faster.
Of course, it did just that when Michigan quarterback Brandon Peters hit Zach Gentry with a 33-yard touchdown pass on the very next play to give the Wolverines a 21-0 lead with 11 minutes left in the half. And then there was a blocked punt and another quick touchdown and you know the rest.
The Terps can be forgiven for not being able to compete effectively against the top teams in the conference after losing three quarterbacks. Any chance of finishing this season with a winning record probably evaporated the moment that promising
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