Maryland Football: Five takeaways from nonconference play

The Maryland football team may have struggled offensively in 2015, but they still managed to run the football at a highly successful rate.

Brandon Ross rushed for 958 yards and 10 touchdowns on 150 carries during his senior campaign. He closed out his career with a bang as he rushed for 418 yards and six touchdowns over the final two games.

With Ross gone and Wes Brown being suspended at the end of the season, the future was extremely cloudy at the running back position.

However, the Terps were able to add Virginia Tech transfer Trey Edmunds in addition to DeMatha (Md.) standout Lorenzo Harrison to join Brown and Ty Johnson.

During Maryland’s three nonconference games, the running game has been absolutely flawless.

In fact, the Terps are currently second in the Big Ten in rushing offense with 266.7 yards-per-game. Maryland also is averaging 5.8 yards-per-carry, which is right behind Ohio State.

Part of the reason for that has been the emergence of Harrison.

Harrison has totaled 208 yards on 32 carries (6.5 yards-per-carry) during the first three games. He’s also scored a touchdown in each of those contests and became the first Terp since Josh Allen (2002) to find the end zone in his first three career games.

The former Stag has really displayed tremendous vision and provided more than a few highlight reel runs. He’s been one of Maryland’s most consistent players on the offensive side of the ball.

The Terps have also gotten production from Trey Edmunds (148 yards) and Ty Johnson (129).

Running the ball effectively takes a lot of the pressure off the quarterback. If Maryland can continue to have success on the ground, they could win quite a few games this season.