Terps left to find something positive in lost season

freshman QB Kasim Hill tore up his knee in the Maryland’s first loss of the year against UCF.

Instead, they have become the poster team for the out-sized importance of the quarterback position, because they have decent offensive talent everywhere else and – at least until a couple of offensive linemen got banged up on Saturday – they had been able to stay healthy all season at the other 10 offensive positions.

The trick play now for head coach D.J. Durkin is to find a way to make something positive out of this season-ending string of games against ranked teams, which obviously is not going to be easy. Michigan figured to be the most vulnerable of the three, and the Terps appeared to be in a disturbing state of disarray in the first half.

They were able to calm things down in the third quarter and Brand moved the offense well in the second half, but an end zone interception and a missed field goal attempt kept them from doing more than make the final score slightly more presentable.

Brand finally drove the Terps for their only touchdown in the fourth quarter, hitting wideout Taivon Jacobs with a 10-yard scoring pass.

By that time, the Terps and Wolverines might as well have been playing in Ann Arbor, Mich., because the Maryland faithful started filtering out of the stadium at halftime and the stands behind the Wolver- ine sideline were still well-populated with Michigan fans.

Durkin and his coaching staff can take some solace in the way his team refused to quit in the second half and outscored the Wolverines in the final two quarters, but No. 12 Michigan State and No. 14 Penn State lie ahead. It’s the Big Ten. What exactly did you expect?