Maryland V. West Virginia Halftime Thoughts

We’re at halftime of the very rainy Maryland-West Virginia game, and the Terps definitely have their work cut out for them as they’re down 28-20. The Mountaineers put up some major points against the Terrapins defense early, with Clint Trickett doing a ton of damage through the air from start to finish as he’s got 307 yards already. The Terps aren’t getting a ton offensively outside of a Stefon Diggs touchdown, and Brown has not looked fantastic as a whole. Let’s get into some halftime thoughts…

Clint Trickett will continue to excel if Maryland can’t get any pressure on the QB

The Terrapins can fully expect Clint Trickett to continue his aerial onslaught if the defensive line isn’t able to get pressure on the kid. Trickett has had all day long to go through his progressions today, and that’s a credit to the Mountaineers offensive line. Still, the Terps have not done a good job of finding a point of attack to get to him. The defensive line doesn’t seem to have it today when WVU gets into the shotgun formation.

But even more of a problem is the fact that Maryland is getting burnt off screens repeatedly. The Terps linebackers and secondary look pretty slow today in getting to those receivers off the quick screens. As a result, Kevin White has been torching Maryland for a ton of yards, and Mario Alford is doing the same. Brian Stewart needs to pinch the corners a bit more and take a risk, and he did just that towards the end of the second half.

There’s still a QB controversy.

No question about it, there is a QB controversy happening in College Park. Late in the second quarter we saw what absolutely no one wanted to see: Brown leave the game after taking a shot to the head on a questionable West Virginia hit. Brown needed to take a knee and eventually headed to the sideline, which gave way for Rowe to come in. What did Caleb Rowe do? He proceeded to throw a touchdown pass to Jacquille Veii on his first drive downfield.

Brown shouldn’t lose his job due to injury, but in this writer’s personal opinion if there is a concussion issue going on with him, someone should take on a leadership role and sit him. When a player has such a track record of concussions and injury woes, maybe it’s time to consider the long term ramifications of taking that many shots to the head. Brown has taken some devastating hits during his career, and if there’s any question about whether he’s good to go, he shouldn’t go. I’m not suggesting he quit for good, but concussions are a genuinely scary thing that every athlete should be as cautious as possible with.

That said, Rowe looked like a good passer in his short stint. I’m not sure he should start for the Terps in the second half, but he certainly seems to reinvigorate the offense. Rowe has a better arm than Brown, but Maryland’s offensive line needs to get better before he can stay in the game for good. Brown, when healthy, still might be the better option.

Stop getting penalties

Both teams are guilty of this. These refs haven’t been fantastic, but neither have the players; there have been nine penalties combined. The referees need to do a better job of A.) letting the teams play and B.) actually making solid calls. There were a few late hits that were in question but weren’t called, and a few ruling that were inaccurate.

Welcome to 2014, Stefon!

Diggs finally made it into the end zone on a wide open ball from Brown. Simply put, let’s see more of that.