Nov 24, 2012; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer reacts on the sidelines in the fourth quarter against the Michigan Wolverines at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Michigan Wolverines 26-21. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

According to a report by ESPN, the Big Ten will dissolve the Legends and Leaders divisions within their conference in favor of a new format.

Coinciding with the arrival of the Maryland Terrapins and Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 2014, the B1G will be divided into an East-West format based almost entirely on geographic location. Six of the seven teams in the West division, for example, are within the Central time zone; the lone exception is Purdue, as Indiana runs on the Eastern time zone.

Both new arrivals, Maryland and Rutgers, will be lumped into a division featuring Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State. The only debate was whether Purdue or Indiana would be in the West division, and that basically came down to geography as well since Purdue is technically west of Indiana. In 2016, B1G teams will switch to a 9-game conference play format, and the only protected game under this new realignment is actually Purdue vs Indiana.

So what does this mean for the Maryland Terrapins in 2014? A whole lot.

The Terrapins are about to be placed in a division where, as of now, they are realistically the second worst team. Five of the other six teams in the division finished with a record above .500 and played in a bowl game in 2012 – 2013. The lone exception to that rule is Indiana, who has had about as much bad luck as the Terrapins in recent seasons; they’ve only won 14 games over the past four years, narrowly edging out the Derps (17 wins).

Maryland will need to seriously step it’s game up to compete with the tradition surrounding a lot of these programs like Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. Each one of these teams tends to come with a lot of firepower every season, and have coaching staffs that consist of SEC and BCS Championship winner (Urban Meyer), an NFL coach (Bill O’Brien), and a Big Ten Coach of the Year (Brady Hoke). These guys know football, and know how to win at a very competitive level. They all recruit well and tend to be tough outs every time on the gridiron.

Speaking of coming to town, playing in the tradition-heavy East division means another thing: their fan bases travel. So not only will the football team have to step their game up, so will the Terrapins fan base. You’d better believe that Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan fans travel in throngs. Whenever the Terrapins play these guys, there is a very good chance the Terps will have a relatively packed stadium (something that rarely happens in College Park.) Byrd will be full of red, unfortunately it’ll be Buckeye red. Leaving the ACC was all about money, and this is going to be one example of that fact. More fans equals more money, but it also might mean less home field advantage.

Either way, this move is going to benefit the Terrapins by allowing them to face stiffer competition week in and week out. Sure, they might have some very rough bumps along the way, but it’s going to be exciting seeing such high caliber football come to College Park. When I think about a B1G schedule based on these divisions, there’s basically no game I can honestly say “No shot I’m going to that.” That’s a good thing. Hopefully some of that tradition rubs off on the Terps. No matter what, it beats playing Duke ever again.

Nov 26, 2011; Raleigh, NC, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Randy Edsall on the sidelines against the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the first half at Carter-Finley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-US PRESSWIRE

Maryland football head coach Randy Edsall has named freshman Perry Hills the starting quarterback heading into their game against William & Mary, according to his Twitter account:

Naming Perry Hills the starting QB. Caleb Rowe will be our #2 and Devin Burns our #3 heading into William & Mary game week.

— Randy Edsall (@RandyEdsall) August 21, 2012

Hills is replacing the injured C.J. Brown, who tore his ACL last week during a non-contact drill. Brown, technically a junior, is expected to miss the entire season recovering. Hills is set to become the first true freshman quarterback since Calvin McCall in ’99 to start the opening game for the Terrapins.
The move allows Maryland to have a definitive plan going forward, and wasn’t an unexpected one in the least. Most reports coming out of College Park have been that Randy Edsall favors Hills, the Central Catholic quarterback out of Pittsburgh, PA, so this makes the most sense. Hills can handle Edsall’s run-heavy offensive attack by mixing in a few short completions. When I got to see him play, what stood out to me is that he is more than capable of making safe, short throws that at the very least aren’t going to be picked off. He can also run pretty well, and his body type (he was a former wrestler) ensures that he can handle a little punishment.

It’s not like Maryland had many other options, anyway. Rowe threw a few too many picks in their scrimmage last Saturday despite having a competent arm, and Devin Burns has played more wide receiver in college than he has quarterback. Hills is a safe choice, and here’s hoping that he’s a good choice, too!

According to Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times, the report seems to indicate that the injury occurred during a non-contact drill late Tuesday night.

Just when head coach Randy Edsall thought he might actually have some stability at the quarterbacking position, this news puts the entire program in a very tough predicament. After last year’s swapping between Brown and former Maryland but now-Wisconsin quarterback  Danny O’Brien, the certainty of having one starter was a welcome feeling. But now, coach Edsall is going to have to hand over the reins of the offense to one of two true freshman quarterbacks.

Outside of the starting job, there was a battle between Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe for the number two spot on the depth chart. Reports recently indicated that Perry Hills had pulled ahead of the Rowe as recently as yesterday, so it would appear that he will step in under center now.

True freshman do not typically have even a modicum of success as quarterbacks in college. Hills, who was ranked the #77 quarterback in his class by ESPN, is far from being heralded as a potential superstar. Rowe, on the other hand, was ranked #157 by ESPN, received offers from Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb before finally deciding on Maryland.

This is a tough pill to swallow for Terrapin fans, and will put an enormous amount of pressure on Edsall, who already struggled during year one. This was supposed to be his coming out campaign, but Brown’s injury has the potential to land him in serious hot water if things don’t go well in the passing game and the offense stagnates.

Editor

Image from blueandgold.com.

There aren’t really many changes to Maryland’s depth chart this week. Jamarr Robinson is listed as healthy, as expected, and is sharing the starting quarterback position with Danny O’Brien. Everyone Maryland hoped would be healthy (David Mackall, Desmond Kearse, Devonte Campbell, Torrey Smith) is listed on the depth chart, while Travis Baltz still has the starting placekicking job over Nick Ferrara.

With the loss of Dave Stinebaugh to injury, a change had to be made at “Y” tight end. Matt Furstenburg is still the starter at “F”, with Devonte Campbell as his backup, but now Furstenburg and Will Yeatman are sharing duties as starting “Y” tight end. I guess the coaches just want to make it clear that Furstenburg will play virtually all one tight end sets, with Yeatman coming in when two tight ends are needed. Walk-on Ryan Schlothauer is behind the two of them at “Y”.

We’ll see how the tight end rotation works out this Saturday at Clemson.

Adrian Moten. Image from WaPo.

Men’s Soccer – Moves up to 6th from 8th in the NSCAA Poll after defeating Duke at home, 2-0.

Women’s Soccer – Falls from 7th to 8th in the NSCAA Poll after their first lost of the year.

Field Hockey – Drops to second in the NFHCA Poll after their first lost of the year.

Women’s Volleyball – Ranked 81st in the NCAA’s RPI Ratings.

Football – Still no votes in the AP Poll or the USA Today Poll.

Punter/placekicker Travis Baltz has been named a semifinalist from the 2010 William V. Campbell Trophy, informally known as the “Academic Heisman”.

Heather Dinich highlighted the important parts of the release:

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, semifinalists must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first-team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The trophy was renamed last fall in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF’s Gold Medal.

The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 15 finalists and announce the results on Oct. 28. Each finalist will be recognized as part of the 2010 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The Campbell Trophy winner will have his scholarship increased to $25,000 and receive a 25-pound bronze trophy at the NFF’s Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 7 at the prestigious Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

The last ACC Player to win the award was UVA’s Thomas Burns in 1993. Miami’s Joaquin Gonzalez won the award in 2001, but the Hurricanes were still a member of the Big East Conference at that time.

Men’s Soccer – Dropped from 5th to 8th in the NSCAA poll after a loss at North Carolina.

Women’s Soccer – Moves up from 8th to 5th after drawing at home against Duke.

Field Hockey – Overtakes North Carolina as the #1 school in the country in the NFHCA poll. Interestingly enough, North Carolina has 31 first place votes to Maryland’s 12, but apparently quite a few pollsters had UNC ranked lower than second. The Terps have had one of the toughest schedules in the country, and have played (and beaten) more Top 25 teams than the Tar Heels.

Football – No votes in the AP Poll or the USA Today poll.

Image from Baltimoresun.com.

After a stellar 250 yard, two touchdown performance against FIU in his first collegiate start, redshirt freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien has been named the ACC Freshman Player of the Week. Most impressively, however, O’Brien did not throw a single interception against a staunch FIU defense that had picked off five passes in their first two games.

Image from sai.cup.edu.

Remember Josh Portis? Of course you do. A highly touted recruit coming out of high school, Portis transferred to Maryland after one year at Florida. Although he spent three years in College Park, he was only able to play during one of them – sitting out one due to NCAA transfer rules, and another one after being caught cheating on an exam. During that one season, Portis was Chris Turner’s backup and was mostly used as an option quarterback, finishing with 31 carries for 186 yards and a touchdown (oh, and one completion for 4 yards).

Before the 2009 season, he transferred to a Division II school, California University (Pa.). Last year, he passed for a school record 3,421 yards with 36 touchdowns against 9 interceptions and ran for 449 yards with one touchdown while leading the Vulcans to their fifth-consecutive PSAC West Title. Cal U also advanced to their third straight NCAA Semifinals.

Portis has cooled down a bit this season. Through four games (all wins for the 4th/6th ranked Vulcans), the cousin of Clinton has 814 yards through the air with 9 touchdowns against 4 interceptions and has run for 101 yards. Portis’ best game came against Saginaw Valley, who was ranked 11th at the time, when he threw for 203 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 41 yards in a 42-41 overtime victory.

It seems like the Vulcan coaches have been using Portis as more of a passing quarterback, which is interesting considering his former role at Maryland. It’s hard to argue against it considering the success he’s had at this level, and he seems to have the tools for any kind of offense.

He looks like one of the few D-II guys who will get a shot at the next level, and I’m sure NFL Scouts have been taking notice. We’ll see if he gets invited to the combine.

• The Terps’ offense can score without Justin Gilbert. Maryland was able to put up 42 points tonight, and Pete DeSouza and co. played surprisingly well. Danny O’Brien was sacked only once and the running game found success at times.
• The defense needs to learn how to tackle. Tackling and hitting are not the same.
• O’Brien looks like the real deal. 250 yards and two touchdowns aren’t outrageous stats, but he didn’t make a single mistake and looked incredibly poised at quarterback. The quarterback battle may be all but over.
• The defense needs to know where the first down marker is and play accordingly. Too many times an FIU player was hit two yards before the first during third down and was able to fall forward.
• Special teams is still a huge strength. Travis Baltz looked good punting (but not so good as a placekicker), and you can’t say enough about Tony Logan.
• Defensive coordinator Don Brown has to adjust his strategy against the spread. They were killed on third downs when they blitzed, and still didn’t manage a single sack against Wesley Carroll.