Terrapin Truthiness: What I Know About ODU At Maryland

Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

After a two week hiatus from TSMD, I’m back and ready to serve up some Terrapin Truthiness

1.) Taylor Heinicke will probably give Maryland a hard time…but not really

There’s a lot of concern about the Monarchs quarterback, Taylor Heinicke, coming into College Park and rolling off last week’s 300+ yard performance and wanting to continue that success. Well, I bid you good fortune, sir, because that’s the same scenario Maryland faced with last week’s QB, Jake Medlock.

Medlock came into last week’s game a very similar player to Heinicke: accurate (he hadn’t thrown an interception in 300+ passes), consistent (65% completion rate), and capable. Well then the Terps thrashed that o-line and tossed him around like a ragdoll, causing him to average 1.7 yards per attempt. And Medlock had a whole lot of D1 experience.

Heinicke has one D1 game under his belt, and he performed admirably…against East Carolina. Isn’t that the same defense that gave up 50+ points to both Navy and Marshall last year and returns an even more untested line? Yep.

I’m not one to knock accomplishments, and what the Monarchs quarterback did was great for his program, but I don’t think it’ll be a repeat performance against the Terps, who have far more talent than East Carolina on the defensive end and two very solid corners.

In the words of Nas, “Oh you

went platinum

threw for 300 yards? Yeah that’s nice. Now let me see you do the same thing twice.”

2.) Both Stefon Diggs and Deon Long will top 100 yards, and conversely, we’ll find out who is 1A and 1B.

Barring something going horribly wrong, Stefon Diggs and Deon Long are going to get quite a bit of work today. Last week, it was 9 receptions and 110 yards for Long, and 5 receptions for 98 yards for Diggs. The Monarchs are still going through an adjustment period on defense, and were absolutely throttled by East Carolina, aka the best team in C-USA. I think Maryland has just as much firepower on the receiving end, and an even better quarterback. That should spell disaster for the Monarchs.

I also said coming into this year that in zone read offenses, there is almost always a 1A and 1B when it comes to receivers. Four more targets for Long is definitely not a significant number, but after a couple weeks of four more receptions they start to add up. Will CJ Brown continue to utilize Long more? Or will he be utilizing Stefon Diggs this game? Does it even matter?

This isn’t some controversy as much as it is a testament to how dangerous this offense can be. Even if Deon Long appears to be getting more receptions, when defenses start to target him more, the rest of the offense is going to open up even further. Still, I think we find out who Brown’s favorite is after this week.

3.) Old Dominion won’t top 85 yards rushing.

I can’t really see where Old Dominion gets their points from. Their air-raid game is going to get dismantled by McDougle and Johnson, and their running game is mostly their quarterback and a running back in Colby Goodwyn who is just OK. If Maryland shuts down the passing attack and forces the Monarchs to rely on a ground game to slow down the clock a bit, it’ll be a pretty easy victory.

My prediction?

Terps win by two scores and more than likely top 30 points again.