Grading Out Maryland’s Performance Against Virginia

So that’s the season, I guess. With yesterday’s loss to Virginia, Maryland is now 2-7, out of postseason contention, and in serious danger of not winning a game for the rest of the year. Let’s run through yesterday’s game as quickly as possible.

Five Testudos :

Darin Drakeford, Joe Vellano, and Kerry Boykins. Drakeford had arguably the best game of his career, posting eleven tackles (one for a loss) with a fumble forced and an interception. Vellano continued his fantastic year, with ten tackles (one for a loss, and that was a fantastic solo effort on fourth down) and a fumble forced. Boykins caught six passes for 101 yards, and didn’t drop as many passes as Quintin McCree, who we’ll talk about in a second.

Four Testudos :

Eric Franklin, Dexter McDougle, Davin Meggett, and Quintin McCree. Franklin was the leading tackler on the day, with twelve tackles (ten solo, one for a loss) and was there repeatedly to make up for the front seven’s inability to stop the ground game. McDougle had maybe the best game of his career, and he wasn’t even involved in a turnover – he had four tackles (one for a loss) and a pass defended, and just had an overall great game. Meggett continued to do his thing (that is, to average more than five yards per carry on a ridiculously low amount of carries) with nine rushes for 52 yards. McCree had another great game statistically, catching seven passes for 117 yards, but that was after a first quarter where he dropped a ton of passes.

Three Testudos :

Demetrius Hartsfield, Devonte Campbell, and Ronnie Tyler. Hartsfield returned to the fold and recorded twelve tackles (one and a half for a loss) with a fumble recovery and a pass defended, but only three of those tackles were solo efforts. Campbell caught his second pass of the year, and it was his second touchdown reception from C.J. Brown as well (a 13-yarder in the second quarter). Tyler only caught two passes for ten yards, but was the most effective kick returner Maryland has had all season, averaging 25.6 yards per return on five attempts.

Two Testudos :

Danny O’Brien, C.J. Brown, and Justus Pickett. O’Brien threw for 241 yards, but completed less than half his passes and had two interceptions with no touchdowns. Brown was 4/7 for 28 yards with a touchdown and ran for another 24 on two carries, but threw an interception of his own. Pickett finished with six rushes for 13 yards, but had a nice ten-yard run during the game.

One Testudo :

Danny O’Brien and C.J. Brown, Todd Bradford, Gary Crowton, and Randy Edsall. The first one here could technically fall under the jurisdiction of the last two, as it is the decision of Edsall and/or Crowton to continue using the quarterbacks in the way they do, but I feel it deserves its own section to be discussed. I have no problem with a two quarterback system. Used correctly, it can work – see Florida’s Leak/Tebow national championship. However, Maryland’s coaches seem to have decided that they’ll just pull each quarterback after they make a mistake, which can decimate their confidence and gives the Terps no idea who is going to play quarterback when. Bradford seemed clueless again with his defensive playcalling, and Maryland was yet again unable to stop their opponent on the ground. Crowton once again insisted on passing the ball all day long when Maryland’s strength was on the ground, and the team just looked unprepared – which falls to Edsall.

Hey, at least the basketball team’s undefeated.