In 2011, the Maryland Terrapins opened strongly, defeating Miami, and playing a BCS West Virginia team very tight, but that’s as far as we can go regarding highlights, in a 2-10 season. There was no fear of the turtle last year, and probably won’t be this year. The Terps closed the season on an eight game losing streak.
New regimes take time, so maybe year two will be better? Don’t count on it, Randy Edsall has a mess on his hands. New offensive coordinator Mike Locksley is not the answer either.
2011 was: pretty bad, and now QB Danny O’Brien, one of the team’s strengths, is gone to the Wisconsin Badgers football program. You’ve heard the movie catch-phrase “crab cakes and football- that’s what Maryland does! Well, not at this level kid. The biggest problems were with the waves of transfers out of the program, like rats deserting a sinking ship in Chesapeake harbor. If that’s really over for good now, then perhaps the rebuilding can truly begin.
2012 will go smoothly if: Locksley doesn’t choke anyone (yeah, he’s kind of nuts) and doesn’t coach like he did at New Mexico. The Terps BADLY need to improve their defense: passing (109th overall) scoring (102nd) and total defense (108th). They also couldn’t score on offense.
2012 will be rough if: it resembles last year in any way shape or form; which it very well might. LB Kenny Tate was all ACC in 2010, he returns after missing all of 2011 with injury. If he isn’t himself, the D will have issues again.
BMOCs: C.J. Brown is the new signal caller; he’ll have a stud TE to work with in Matt Furstenburgt and WR Stefon Diggs, a high impact freshman who was heavily recruited. You might have heard of Diggs’ Twitter snafu- his racist comment about Jeremy Lin. DT Joe Vellano could be an impact guy as well. The running back situation is largely unsettled.
Bottom Line: There are too many issues in the secondary, OL and offensive skill positions for this team to matter. They’ll probably be bad on both sides of the ball. Sure you have some returning starters on defense, but the d was horrible last year. Four wins would be pushing it. At least college basketball season and the promise it always brings soon follows- oh wait, that program is a mess as well.
All the 77s
#76 Minnesota
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, MSN and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too