Grading Out Maryland’s Performance Against Towson

Another week, another disappointing performance and another day of awful play-calling from the Maryland coaches. This time, however, the Terps ended up with a victory, beating the Towson Tigers 28-3. Let’s rundown who did well and who did…not so well in our weekly handing out of Testudos.

Five Testudos :

Justus Pickett, Tyler Cierski, Joe Vellano, and Antwine Perez. For Pickett and Cierski, who both had good games in their own right, there’s simply one reason they get the five Testudo honor – scoring their first collegiate touchdowns. Pickett scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and finished with 82 yards on 14 carries. Cierski scored on his first collegiate touch, a five-yard reception from Danny O’Brien in the fourth quarter. Vellano was undoubtedly Maryland’s best player on the day, with nine tackles (two and a half for a loss) and one and a half sacks. Perez, the recently graduated former starting strong safety, had the comment of the day with this tweet.

Four Testudos :

Tyrek Cheeseboro, Kevin Dorsey, Davin Meggett and Nick Ferrara. Cheeseboro, a true freshman, was an absolute monster on special teams and recorded two tackles. Dorsey continued to prove that he’s far and away Maryland’s best receiving option, catching four passes for 44 yards and a score. Meggett had a strong day, running 16 times for 102 yards and catching two passes for 28 yards, but did not score. Ferrara had an excellent day punting, landing all four of his kicks inside the twenty yard line, but had a field goal blocked.

Three Testudos :

Demetrius Hartsfield, Titus Till, Kenny Tate, A.J. Francis, D.J. Adams, Lorne Goree, Austin Walker and David Mackall. Hartsfield moved over to Will from Mike and nothing changed – he still led the Terps in tackles in an otherwise unremarkable performance (his performance this season reminds one of Alex Wujciak). Till got his first career start and padded the stats as well, with eleven tackles but with nothing that really stands out. Tate continued to struggled at linebacker, but had an acrobatic interception and 10-yard return. Francis, who is out of the starting lineup for unknown reasons during Andre Monroe’s injury, recovered a fumble. Adams scored a touchdown in the first quarter and then disappeared – the coaches are to blame, not him. Goree only had two tackles in his first start at middle linebacker, but did have an interception of his own. Walker was great on special teams all night and forced a fumble on a kickoff late in the fourth quarter that was recovered by Alvin Thomas. Mackall had two sacks, but fell for an ungodly amount of playfakes.

Two Testudos :

Danny O’Brien, Ronnie Tyler, Quintin McCree, and Matt Furstenburg. O’Brien was better than he was against Temple…but he still wasn’t good. He finished 14/23 for 123 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions – pretty alright, but not the DOB we’ve come to expect. Tyler and McCree, back from suspensions, combined for four receptions for 51 yards but didn’t make a huge impact. Furstenburg caught four passes for only 15 yards, and suffered a (seemingly) minor injury late in the game.

One Testudo :

Gary Crowton and Todd Bradford, or as TT said – Gary Crwtn and To Brafor. Sense a pattern? Every week, these two show up at the bottom of our list, and for good reason – they both have woefully ineffective and predictable strategies coupled with baffling playcalling. For Crowton, the zone read-bubble screen option has not been working in any way shape or form, and the Terps managed less than a handful of sustained drives against an FCS opponent. For Bradford and the defense, three points is well and good – until you realize that’s largely due to penalties and drops on the part of Towson’s offense. The Towson Tigers outgained Maryland by 40 yards last week, and that’s an indictment of both coordinators.