Maryland vs Miami

[billybud]

The fact that Maryland, playing at home, could not put away a Miami team missing eight of its starters, was a small surprise. Many did not realize that the Canes did not have a defensive front line starter in this game.

I had the Terps for the win, but it was closer than I thought it would have been, Give Miami back it's defensive line studs a little later in the season and they might be a handful for anyone.

Maryland can pass...but their running game will get stuffed versus teams like FSU and UNC. The red zone will see Maryland's kicker a lot this year, I think. Trading three for seven will lose them some games. O'Brien will move them down the field. He is a marvelous passer and can hit windows that are dish cloth sized.

[GoBoilers]

All the gamblers had heart attacks! The line was 5 Maryland and that TD swung everyone's bet. LOL!

[WoVeU]

The WVU-Maryland game is shaping up to be interesting. Marshall since, I think, mid-game 3 games ago, have stacked the box and decided to stop the run at all costs. WVU threw much more and much earlier this game. I know Marshall has an All-American type on the D-Line and another that is very good. I'd give Marshall the edge on Maryland there, but no where else.

WVU has just been awesome against the run for years now...but that isn't Maryland's game. So...???
WVU is good against the pass on D, but they free lance and gamble a good deal and bait QBs...that could be serious gambling against O'Brien.
WVU's D is very tough in the Red Zone, Maryland does not execute well in the RZ. 25% is probably all they will be able to convert to 7.

I was not impressed with Maryland's ability to stop the run...I thought both by circumstance and preference that Miami did not run enough. But WVU has a bunch of RB's but all of them young. I just checked the schedule and WVU got very lucky...Maryland has a bye next week. WVU's effective experience going into that game will be about 1 and a quarter. So, so lucky here they have been gifted an experience advantage in this game.

I think the game will hinge on...
1) WVU's ability to run the ball.
2) Maryland's ability to execute the controlled passing game (short and mid).
3) WVU getting pressure on the QB.
4) Maryland getting more in the Red Zone (no way the will post NCAA upper tier numbers here but something half-way respectable.)

[Cane from the Bend]

I watched the game in its entirety. My somewhat jumbled early morning thoughts...

....The uni's were so bad that they did distract from the viewing experience...almost as bad as Boise's blue on blue field. She Who Must Be Obeyed (my darlin' wife) asked me if any team could wear what ever they wanted. "Blame bell cow Oregon and the west coast's slick, sunglass wearing, marketing fashionista's for this nonsense", I grunted. My knowledgable sweetie asked "and who will hold the guns on the Penn State stands when the Lions come out wearing something that looks like a a badly painted crash test dummy?"

....Miami needs its starters back on defense. Maryland had nine drives, eight of which went to the red zone. The CB's were having real problems. The Canes started bring them up to contain the run and swing pass and then O'Brien would find his deep and intermediary reads.

....Morris played better than I had expected. He looked better than he ever has (well, he has been pretty horrible). Some of that was Maryland's defense.

....Maryland doesn't have the running power to punch into the end zone on a very short field.

I haven't much to add; I think Billybud hit all points I would have made.

The big problem when your defense is thin, is rotation. Most of our backup defensive players were already in the game. And Maryland was taking advantage of that fact, by running quick tempo, no huddle.

The Big guys up front got winded early, so there was little pressure on Maryland's qb in passing situations. Which they did, most of the game.

The Defensive backfield would have been less deficient, if Ray Ray Armstrong & Sean Spence had been out there. (but that's what happens when you cheat)

Our RedZone D looked better than it probably is, because Maryland is inept when they get close to the goal.

A couple of stupid mistakes cost us the game. Fumbling before the end of the first half changed everything for the Terps.

The road is not getting any easier, with Ohio St coming into town on the 17th.

We'll see what we have then. But Harris threw a few blunders to the Buckeye defense last year. And since he's now going to be the starter for the `Canes headaches are abound.

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[Spence]

Jury is out on Ohio State. No one knows if they are any good or not right now.