I’d like to welcome Josh Burton to the community of writers at All Sports Discussion. Josh will contributing articles on the ACC and Maryland Terrapins.
Maryland now stands at 2-2 after yesterdays victory over Towson 28-3.
September Month-in-Review
Record: 1-2
September 5- Win vs Miami(FL) 32-24
Maryland’s first game of the year resulted in a close win over the injury and suspension-depleted Miami Hurricanes. Danny O’Brien looked very good in the pocket against an overmatched Miami secondary missing their best safety and one of the best in the country, Ray-Ray Armstrong, due to suspension resulting from the Nevin Shapiro incident. DOB had 364 passing yards and running back Davin Meggett supplemented the Terps offense with 92 yards on the ground.
Maryland’s defense was uneven throughout the game. The pass defense looked strong with Cameron Chism and Kenny Tate each picking off Miami quarterback Stephen Morris with Chism’s interception being returned for a touchdown. However, Canes running back Lamar Miller ran all over the Terps for 118 yards in 19 carries with a 41-yard TD in the 2nd quarter. In the end, QB Danny O’Brien and the Terps were just too much for the depleted Miami team.
September 17- Loss vs West Virginia 37-31
Maryland’s only lead in this game was 3-0 in the first quarter and they were down 24-3 in the 2nd. The Terps were able to fight that lead down to 34-31 early in the 4th but West Virginia’ s explosive offense lead by quarterback Geno Smith was just too much for Maryland to handle. Danny O’Brien looked completely out of place at times and had an uneven 3-interception game. He tried to force throws to contested receivers a couple of times during the game. However, the Maryland was on against the West Va defense and Davin Meggett ran for 113 yards on 19 carries with a TD and D.J. Adams added in 2 rushing touchdowns as well.
The real reason Maryland lost this game was because of their poor defensive play. The run defense was solid, only giving up 92 yards on the ground on 31 carries leading to a very good 3.0 yards per rush by the West Virginia running backs. The pass defense was dreadful though. Geno Smith torched the Terps secondary for nearly 400 yards and three West Virginia receivers had over 100 yards receiving. All in all, West Virginia’s athleticism was just too much for the Terps in this game.
September 24- Loss vs Temple 38-7
The Terps loss vs Temple was the classic example of a team overlooking an opponent due to their conference affiliation (MAC for Temple) and the mid-major team then goes on to blow out the team from the Power-6 conferences. Nothing went right for the Terps and everything went right for the Owls. Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien threw for 156 yards, had an abysmal 52% completion percentage, and threw an interception. O’Brien was also benched later in the game. Owls quarterback Chester Stewart was perfect going 9-9 on his throws and managed a game as perfectly as possible.
The real story for Temple in this game was star running back Bernard Pierce who rushed for a school-record 5 touchdowns. On the other hand, Maryland running backs combined for a mere 60 yards on the ground. Whenever a team gives up 5 rushing touchdowns in a game, especially to one player, the defense is to blame. And that definitely was the case for Maryland against Temple. A dud if there ever was one, the Terps fell to 1-2 after this trouncing by the Owls.
Individual Statistics Through Three Games
Passing:
Danny O’Brien- 63.6% CMP (82-129) 790 YDS 2 TDs 5 INTs 112.4 QB-RAT
C.J. Brown- 100% CMP (4-4) 42 YDS 1 TD 0 INT 270.7 QB-RAT
Rushing:
Davin Meggett- 49 CAR 225 YDS 1 TD 4.6 AVG
D.J. Adams- 15 CAR 64 YDS 2 TDs 4.3 AVG
C.J. Brown- 2 CAR 29 YDS 0 TD 14.5 AVG
Justus Pickett- 10 CAR 29 YDS 0 TD 2.9 AVG
Danny O’Brien- 12 CAR 22 YDS 0 TD 1.8 AVG
Receiving:
Kevin Dorsey- 22 REC 264 YDS 1 TD 12.0 AVG
Kerry Boykins- 14 REC 177 YDS 0 TD 12.6 AVG
Matt Furstenburg- 12 REC 137 YDS 0 TD 11.4 AVG
Tony Logan- 7 REC 64 YDS 0 TD 9.1 AVG
Davin Meggett- 8 REC 53 YDS 0 TD 6.6 AVG
Ronnie Tyler- 6 REC 43 YDS 1 TD 7.2 AVG
Quintin McCree- 7 REC 39 YDS 0 TD 5.6 AVG
Surprise Player: Kevin Dorsey, WR
The 6-2 Dorsey has been one of Danny O’Brien’s favorite early season targets since the graduations of former starting WR Torrey Smith and TE Will Yeatman. Dorsey has great hands and catches almost anything that comes his way. He has really had to step it up this far through the season because original starters Ronnie Tyler and Quintin McCree have missed some times due to suspension. Dorsey started the year at 4th on the WR depth chart and the fact that he has been this productive has served as a welcome surprise to Coach Randy Edsall.
Disappointment Player: Danny O’Brien, QB
O’Brien was a revelation last year for former Coach Ralph Friedgen last year in his true-Freshman season. For the whole season, DOB threw 22 TDs and only 8 interceptions. This year through only three games, his interceptions numbers are more than halfway his last year’s pick total. At times during this season, O’Brien has tried to do too much with his passes and has ended up forcing passes to receivers in double-coverage. This has led to most of his interceptions this year. He has been experiencing the traditional sophomore slump for quarterbacks.
Grade for September: D+
This has been an extremely disappointing beginning of the year for the Terps. The Miami game was a gimme due to their suspension and injury problems. It would have also been nice to beat a ranked team like West Virginia but the Terps’ D wasn’t good enough. Finally, its simply embarrassing to get blown out or simply lose, at home to a team from the MAC. Coach Edsall should be very disappointed with the Terps’ effort and results through 3 games.
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