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With today’s loss at NC State, the Maryland Football team will not be able to get the sixth win to become bowl eligible.  It was a tough loss today as Chris Turner left the game in the first half with a knee injury (MCL and status unknown), and Isaiah Ross has an ACL tear, and will be out for the season.  Even with the injuries and the fact that Russell Wilson passed the ball all over the field with the greatest of ease, the Terps were still in position to force overtime.

Even with Turner in the game the Terps were kept in the game in the first half thanks to a 70 yard TD return of an interception by Alex Wujciak.  It was the first defensive TD in over three years.  In the second half, Torrey Smith helped keep the game close with an 82 yard yard kick return for a TD.

Though the defense did allow 482 yards of offense, they did force three turnovers today.  That is two weeks in a row they have done that, but the results remain the same.  This weeks killer was the yellow lingerie on the field.  The Terps committed  10 penalties for a  season high 91 yards.  Several were killers, including a hold on a would be TD by Davin Meggett, and an offensive face mask on a 30 yard pass to Torrey Smith.

I am tired of recapping losses, so just know they did.  What we can take from this game is Jamar Robinson might be a capable QB after all.  He showed he has the arm to throw deep, though he did over throw a pretty wide open Isaiah Williams that could have been a touchdown.  He certainly showed he can take off and run with the ball when he is under pressure.  He did manage to lead the team in rushing with 38 yards.  Most importantly, with the inexperienced offensive line allowing him to get pressured any time he dropped back, he did not look scared, and made his throws even knowing he was about to get hit.  He has the athleticism I think we  have all been waiting for since Ralph Friedgen took over at Maryland.  He has one thing Turner doesn’t have, the ability to keep a play alive when pressured.  Sure he had a couple of throws that weren’t on target, but I wouldn’t mind see him getting a start next week, the only problem is that Virginia Tech comes to town, and I would hate for him to get his first career start against him.  At this point if Turner is not 100% healthy, I think they need to go ahead and give him starter reps in practice and see if what this kid has.  Even if his stats weren’t great today, he showed me a lot of toughness, when he took those hits in the pocket, and lowered his head on a run to pick up the first down.

So with the all the season’s goals out the window, it will be interesting to see if there is a shift in playing time for more of these younger kids.

The offensive play calling was a little more imaginitve today.  I did like some of the calls, and had Williams been able to get a little more on that WR pass, Adrian Cannon would have had a TD, and maybe we are talking about a win, but the way this season has gone, it does not surprise me.  The one thing I liked, was the quick screens to Cannon and Smith.  There is no doubt they can make some people miss once they get the ball.  That has to help spread the field for the running backs.

Well there are three games left, and there is a real chance this could be a 10 loss season for the Terps.  A number I never really thought I would see under Coach Friedgen, but with games against VT, and BC at home, and a trip to Florida State, it could very well happen.  So with that good news, I will remind you the Basketball season tips off on Friday!!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 6:01 pm 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.