A Fork in the Road
I live for weekends like this. Autumn is in full swing (why some in the Baltimore area may even be getting their first frost of the year) and the Terps are playing a huge game down in the Piedmont of Central Virginia. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know most guys are still upset about the Edsall hire, I get it, and this transition has been painful, but we could be coming to an end of this phase of the rebuild.
Granted has we pulled out the UConn game, things would be so much different, but we didn’t. That being said, this is a huge opportuinty for the Terps to improve to 4-2 and 2-0 in the ACC. Again, not great, but I’m pretty psyched about the chance to pull within 2 games of Bowl eligibility.
Don’t discount what that means for recruiting. The Terps pulled in a solid class last year with a team that had NOTHING going good for them. In fact how that class wasn’t one of the worst pulls in school history is beyond me. But it wasn’t. Now take those same guys recruiting, give them the ability to say, hey look at all this young talent, and things can get even better.
That’s one way this game can go on Saturday. The other way is we lose, in which case we are back to 3 and 3, and just about out of realistic Bowl Contention (I see a few more chances for wins on the remaining schedule, but not many). Still, not a disaster like last year, but with Clemson and FSU on the schedule, the potential for a losing season is pretty high.
Granted last year was so bad that even at 3-9 we can claim we’ve made progress, I’m not willing to settle for that. But how this season pans out will have a lot to do with how this UVA reacts on Saturday. The Hoo’s have had their troubles and are vulnerable, but playing in UVA has always been tough for our Terps.
Needless to say, I’ll be glued to the TV this Saturday watching the Terps and waiting to see whether or not this team is growing up. Here’s to hoping they are.
NOTES: Wes Brown is out for the UVA game, as is Matt Robinson and Nick Ferrara’s career at Maryland is over. He will be graduating this winter and leaving the program. It’s yet to be determined if he will try to finish out his eligibility elsewhere, but his injury will keep him out for all of 2012 and apparently beyond. I will always remember Nick as being the lone defended of Randy Edsall in a season where everything fell apart. Congratulations on graduating Nick, and best of luck to you, whereever you end up
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October 12th, 2012 at 11:55 am
Fork in the road is the perfect metaphor. Here’s how I see it. If we can win the two winnable games (this being one), I think we feel pretty good about a 5-win season and even look to find some moral victories later in the season if we’re able to hang tough with the big boys. And how exciting it will be for each game to mean so much. If we lose, I think, not only will the team begin a downward spiral, but by the end of the season our 4 wins, as decent as it seems and feels now, will be long forgotten. And this Terp fan will be right back to where I was at the end of last year…pissed. In short, WE NEED THIS!