Fifty-one points. Pretty damn fun game to watch.
THE GOOD:
Offense from all over! So many different plays, so many different guys, so many downfield passes. This isn’t the Terp offense I’ve watched drag through games for the last four years. It was simply a fun game and if they can keep the playbook open, they should definitely be able to translate that into more success.
THE BAD:
Did anyone play well on defense? I believe the biggest problem for the Terps’ defense may just be conditioning. These guys seem to really wear down if they have to stay in the game for extended drives. Either the players must toughen up or the rotations must be quicker and more aggressive.
THE UGLY:
The secondary situation is simply attrocious. They need more help than normal from linebackers, which is why the linebackers looked so bad Saturday. Injuries are killing the Terps in the secondary, and Dominique Herald’s knee injury surely won’t help matters.
ajosephdbk@gmail.com
Adi,
I believe that the defense and the secondary did play atrociously like you said, but on the note of conditioning, some blame can be put on the offense. For many of the first and second quarter drives, Maryland’s offense did not stay on the field for an extended period of time.
Eastern Michigan seemed to dominate time of possession, causing the Maryland defense to get sucked into long drives. The defense’s inability to convert third downs made kept them on the field.
Hopefully, Maryland will be able to control time of possession against Clemson next week, or their defense will be in for a long game as we have seen for the last three weeks.
With Clemson’s running attack the Terps better learn how to stop the run fast or they will be on the field all day while Clemson tries to control the game on the ground with James Davis. Whether its conditioning, tackling, scheming, or something else, the Terps D has to figure it out fast if we want to beat our second ranked opponent this year. Or we can just have Barnes stick Davis so hard that he knocks out another premier starting running back.