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The point spread for Saturday nights game has bounced back and forth from 21 to 22 points.  That is a huge margin.  Either the odds makers know something we don’t or they don’t have a clue.  Yes, this Maryland team is very young.  However they have veteran players at several key positions.  Lets look at why I think the Terps will surprise Cal on Saturday.

1.  Chris Turner, Da’Rel Scott, and Davin Meggett-  Turner is a senior and has proven to be a big game quarterback.  Yes he seems to falter against lesser teams but he has won games in years past that no one expected us to win.  The Rutgers game comes to mind.  Scott and Meggett are proven runners and are great one two punch.  Scott has breakaway speed and Meggett can be very elusive.  All the hype is surrounding Jahvid Best but we saw what happened last year when the Terps shut him down.

2.  Travis Baltz- An excellent punter.  Field position will be critical in Saturdays game.  He may be the best in the ACC. 

3.  Coach Brown’s new 4-3 defense.  From the reports it sounds like the defense has really bought into the new system.  If they attack like they have been in practice, we will hopefully win the turnover battle.  Kenny Tate is a force at Safety.  Anyone coming across the middle will have to be aware of him.  The defense lost some key guys but they still have players with game experience out there.  There is plenty of game film to study of the Bears and their QB Riley from last season.  Lastly no one has seen this defense with the Terps before so the Bears won’t be able to plan 100% for it.  The element of surprise is in the hands of the Terps. 

4.  The offensive line.  For months now we have heard how inexperienced the o-line is.  We all know it’s a work in progress and some days Friedgen and Franklin make it sound like the offensive line is going to be terrible.  Why would you constantly tell your opponent that your very weakest link is your offensive line?  My thoughts are that maybe they are a lot better than advertised.  Friedgen might just be trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the Bears.  If the line can keep Turner on his feet I think the Terps offense will be fine.  If the Bears are overly aggressive MD can run screens to put them back on their heels.  I wouldn’t be surprised if all of this talk about the young offensive line isn’t just a bit of gamesmanship by Friedgen.   Tell everyone you stink then come out and win the darn game.  You can then tell the press you must have been a lot better than you thought.

5.  Preparation.  The Terps are going out to California on Thursday.  They have some time to get acclimated unlike Cal coming east last year.  Lastly, what 18-21year old kid isn’t wide awake at 10pm.  I don’t think playing a late game on a Saturday night in California will have much of an affect on the Terps. 

Those are my thoughts on the upcoming game.  I’m sure the guys will have their own while out in California starting on Wednesday.  This is going to be an exciting game, win or lose.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 8:25 am and is filed under Maryland Terps Football. 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.