“I wouldn’t be surprised if we won our last five games. It’s just the way these kids are. If they could just punch through and get some confidence and growth, that would not surprise me in the least.”

- Coach Ralph Friedgen, at his weekly press conference

Friedgen made a couple of similar comments throughout his roughly 24-minute presser today at the Gossett Football Team House.

The Terps, despite a 2-5 record and little realistic chance to make a bowl game this season, are still playing and practicing hard, according to the ninth-year head coach. Friedgen had a couple of theories as to why. It could be because there are so many younger guys on the team looking to improve for next season, or it could just be in the players’ character. It could be a combination of both things.

But one thing’s clear: Friedgen genuinely believes the Terps’ struggles haven’t come from a lack of effort. He even got a little choked up when reflecting on how much he enjoys coaching this group, just because it continues to work hard.

Maybe there’s something to that. While winning all five remaining games would be shocking even if the team was playing well, one would think the Terps’ simply can’t keep turning the ball over at their current rate. The Terps are an astounding -13 in turnovers this season.

So if that changes, then theoretically the Terps could make some progress during this last stretch of games, even if making a bowl is virtually impossible. That’s the sense you got from talking to the players today as well.

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.