Kyle Decker Posts

Bowl bids are announced and Maryland will be facing Purdue at the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on December 29th at 8PM. Although I'm glad that the Terps are going to a bowl, after the loss in the last two games, I started losing interest in what bowl we could go to. The prospect of a BCS bowl or the Gator bowl is exciting, but the Terps are now in a bowl that is muddled in with every other mediocre bowl, all sponsored by every company in existence.

This will be a nice encore after a pretty good season. Much like the Terps, the Boilermakers didn't lose many games that they shouldn't. All but one loss to Penn State were losses to ranked teams. It should make for a good game against two teams that were good, but not great.

I'll have to do a little research on Purdue since I don't know much about the Big 10 team. I'll do that and report back.

Terps fans were all hoping for a shot at the ACC title and a BCS Bowl bid, but those plans fell through. After that, a lesser bowl is not that exciting. However, Maryland hasn't been to a bowl game in a couple years so just getting to a bowl is a step up. It's not what we were hoping for in the height of the season, but it's an extra game in December. And that's something we haven't had in Maryland in awhile.

Tonight's game is possibly the last game of the Terps season -- if they don't win. Last reports were that it's still uncertain if Terp's big offensive playmaker, receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, will play.

I say he plays. He suffered a concussion last week during the last place of the first half against BC, but Coach Friedgen didn't really elaborate. He did say that he hopes he plays and the doctors think he'll be ready. That's all you need. It's all on the doctors. If he gets the green light, he's going to play. Maybe if this were an early game in the season, the Terps would air on the side of caution, but this isn't. It's the last regular season game. If they win this game, they go to the ACC title game. If they lose, the go -- or in this case stay -- home. He'll play.

And let's hope he does. During Friedgen's postgame conference, which you can always watch on FridgeTV.com, he talked about Sam Hollenbach's interception returned for a TD. Fridge didn't fault Hollenbach for the pick but instead, faulted Heyward-Bey's replacement Danny Oquendo. Apparantly it was a poor route and not a poor throw. The coach said that he would hope Sam would make that throw each time.

If that interception is on the receiver, then we need Heyward-Bey back. He and Hollenbach have a good rapport. The other receivers dropped balls in the end zone last week, which I doubt Heyward-Bey would have. He's too important to the passing game to be missing tonight.

Wake Forest is a tough team, so Maryland will need all their weapons to beat them. I expect this to be an exciting game since Maryland has the homefield advantage to even the score. Both teams will be leaving everything on the field since is the last game of their regular season.

I hope that after tonight, I'll have another week to write about before bowl season. Win or go home games are always fun and exciting and often promote high blood pressure. Enjoy the regular season finale, Terp fans. May it not be the last game this year.

After handing it to Maryland last week, BC couldn't get enough on the Miami defense to win. BC can no longer make it to the ACC title game. The winner of the Maryland Wake Forest game will. Maryland is back in control of their own destiny.

This was a trap game by all means for BC. They scored the big time win against Maryland last week, and they were going against a "poor" Miami team this week. However, Miami has a killer defense, they needed a win for a bowl birth and to help Coker's job security, and they needed that win for Bryan Pata. BC fell for the trap. Terp fans remember their game against Miami. They won with 14 points. That defense doesn't give up much. As you can see by the photo, Maryland is so grateful that Dre Moore is hugging Miami's Javarris James.

Now Maryland needs to gear up for Wake Forest at home, which is officially the biggest game of their year -- a title that I hand out every week. They got a gift from Miami, a gift better than gift certificates, PS3s, or cash. They got the chace for a shot at the ACC Title game. The Terps have something to play for going into this game. It sucks knowing that win or lose, your team won't be making the big game.

Terps, gear up. It's time to put it all on the line. You were given a reprieve; a second chance. Use it and play your ass off in front of the Byrd Stadium faithful. You've got a rematch with Georgia Tech on the line. You've got a chance to restore a program that looked like it was dying last year. Make this game count.

Miami, your Thank You Cards are in the mail.

This game was really over from the first Maryland fumble returned for a TD. The second one on the very next drive just locked it away. That turnover free ball Maryland was playing during their wins failed to make an appearance on a day there were two fumbles returned for TDs, one interception returned for a TD, and another interception in BC's end zone that took away any chance for points for Maryland.

The defense allowed two passing TDs to BC, but I'm not going to really focus on that. It was 14-0 all on the offense before the defense gave up points. When there were drives when the defense gave the offense a chance, the offense just took that chance and threw it away. Teams can't win on the road with four turnovers, especially when three of them result in points -- 21 points. You take away those three scores, and it's a close game. That's it right there. BC played a great game. I'm not taking anything away from them. But if Maryland was more careful with the ball, it would have been a more exciting game for everyone.

The loss of Darrius Heyward-Bey during the very last play of the second quarter hurt as well. I'm not saying that the Terps would have mounted that insurmountable comeback with Darrius in the line-up, but four dropped passes in the end-zone from Isiah Williams, Danny Oquendo, and Nolan Carroll showed us what an asset Heyward-Bey really is. Those passes should have been caught and it could at least have given us a more exciting game towards the end. Hollenbach was making perfect throws in the end zond, save the interception obviously. Those were catches I think Darrius would have made.

Maryland hasn't blown out anyone this year. Every win has been hard fought and close until the end. Except for the West Virginia loss, the losses were close too. It didn't matter if the wins were on the road against strong ACC teams -- Clemson -- or at home against a drained team -- Miami -- the games were close until the end. In fact, the two games I just mentioned were both one point games. So does this style of play help or hurt Maryland?

Ralph Friedgen mentioned that in these close situations, his players have confidence. Actually, he called them "cocky." Confidence is always a plus. I don't expect this team who has played in so many pressure situations to be easily rattled on the road in a big game. This team is different than the team that was wowed by the big lights of a Thursday night game against WVU. They will not be affected by the situation tomorrow. In that sense, the team has matured greatly over the season.

On the other hand, the Terps keep putting themselves in these pressure situations. When the Terps were bad, their MO was that they would get a lead and blow it late in the game. They're still blowing leads, just not enough to lose the game. At this final stretch of the season, the Terps cannot do that any more. Their luck is going to wear out. The team has used so much of it that it can't last forever. They lead Miami 14-0 but won 14-13. They lead FSU 27-14 but won 27-24 (on a blocked kick.) Soon or later, one of these teams is going to come back enough to rout the Terps. This is a huge game for both BC and Maryland, so if Maryland gives the momentum to BC, they'll run with it.

Finally, the legacy of Nik Caner-Medley is gone. Well, at least his legacy as last Maryland player to be good and have two last names is gone. Darrius Heyward-Bey, the Terps stud wide receiver, will become the next Terps star to take that title. And I'm thankful. Nik Caner-Medley, the basketball forward, was way over rated. He was a ball hog who could ruin a game with poor shots. I'll admit that he had some good games, but all in all, he was not that good. When ESPN talked Terps basketball the last three years, they talked Caner-Medley, when there were always more consistant players. Plus, I heard that he was a jerk in real life from people who had been around him.

Darrius Heyward-Bey will be a star. He runs a 4.21 40 and as we all saw against Miami, speed kills -- in this case, killed the defenders. Heyward-Bey and Quarterback Sam Hollenbach hooked up twice for long passes, the only scoring all game. The better news? Both he and Ralph Friedgen think he's going to get much better. They want him to improve his style of catching and to make his routes crisper.

Imagine next year when Heyward-Bey improves his techniques. As long as Jordan Steffy can improve to a decent QB, Darrius will be a star. Plus, he seems like a personable guy. Watch the segment on FridgeTV where he takes you through his "crib." He's got a down-to-earth personality that fans can get behind. Everyone kind of had the idea that Caner-Medley was a jerk. Even if he wasn't, he gave away that cocky personality -- remember his public drunk tantrum in Maine where he screamed "I'm from Maryland! No one can beat me!"? I just don't see that from Heyward-Bey.

So look out, Terp fans. We've got a potential superstar on our hands, and if he stays most of the time, I bet they'll be Heisman talk his final year. Heyward-Bey is what's in at Maryland. Deal with it Caner-Medley.

I was still in school when Ralph Friedgen and the athletic department came up with FridgeTV.com. Unfortunately, they didn't really advertise it well. They'd show a few clips of the team and then flash the words "FridgeTV.com" on the video screen at football games. My friends and I had no clue what it was. Instead of investigating it, we just assumed it was some disgusting pornographic site featuring the Fridge, and only the Fridge.

But alas, there's nothing that disturbing on the internet. Well, actually, there is. There's a lot of messed up stuff on the internet, but this is not one of them.

FridgeTV.com is Ralph Friedgen's idea of letting the students and fans into the world of the team. It's more than most fans usually get. There are press conferences with Ralph after the match and some previewing the match. There are highlights from each game. Friedgen talks about recruits and there are some high school videos of them. My favorite parts are the parts that interview the players. There was a cool movie about how the team mobbed kicker Dan Ennis after the Clemson win and about how being on the bottom of a pile of huge ass football players just hurts. FridgeTV also features a Cribs style feature where the players will take you through their dorm rooms. You can see back up runner JP Humber's ugly green skulls shirt or the weird guy wearing a grim reaper outfit who hangs in Heyward-Bey's dorm. And at the end, they always kick the camera guy out.

It's really fun times. Fans should get a nice peak into what's going on with the players so they have a closer connection to the team. Friedgen is an innovative coach and this is a proof of that. So check it out if you haven't already. It's a good inside look at the team and Friedgen is clothed the entire time. What else could you ask for?

Let me start off by saying I'm not one of those people who say that rioting is disrespectful to the Maryland tradition or makes the Terps look bad. Screw all that. It's great. However, rioting and rushing the field should only happen when it's deserved. Rushing the field otherwise just makes you look like idiots and, as an alumn and Terp fan, that's something that I can have.

I think the current students watched the Terps from 2000-2005 and saw all the great riots. I'm lucky. I was a freshman in 2001-2002. The first major riot of the modern era -- meaning not Vietnam -- was a year before when the Terps lost to Duke in the Final Four. That was an angry riot. The next year, there were some good football riots, such as after Maryland beat Georgia Tech in overtime on the Nick Novak kick and when they beat Clemson to go undefeated at home. Of course, the National Championship is riot worthy and the ACC Championship in 2004 was as well. The ACC Championship one is my favorite because that's when the students lit a fire in the middle of Rt 1, although tipping the buses during the Women's Championship last year looked pretty good.

However, since the defeat of #5 FSU in 2005, there hasn't been anything worth mass celebrating in football. So don't. Beating unranked FSU and Miami at home does not deserve rioting at all. As fans, you need to acknowledge when a team isn't as good as you. When you run onto the field, it's because you either won a title of sorts or beat a team that's ranked much higher than you. By rushing the field against two unranked teams, it's showing them respect they don't deserve.

Unfortunately, this post is poorly time. If the Terps beat Wake Forest and advance to the ACC title game that is reason to rush the field. Unless Maryland had a tradition that the fans can celebrate with the team on the field after every win, which would be pretty cool, the fans need to show prudence in when to rush the field. Save it for the best games. Rioting or rushing is often a show of respect for the team you beat. So before you do it, make sure they deserve it.

Well, the last two weeks Maryland's combined margin of victory has been a mean two points. However, they have been two victories. In fact, the Terps rattled off five in a row to improve to 8-2 and 5-1 in conference. The last two games haven't been pretty, but the outcomes have been tough wins and the fact they were wins at all is all that counts.

The Miami game was a huge pitfall game. Being Miami, they always have the talent and ability to come out strong every single game. The fact they were playing for a teammate that had died earlier in the week would just add to that fact. It looked like the death of defensive end Bryan Pata was weighing heavily on the players and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them just didn't want to be there. None-the-less, they played on and played hard the entire game.

Maryland's defense, although they held Miami to only 13 points, did not look as sharp as they did against Clemson. They were giving up way to many yards and won with the help of Miami. Miami's go ahead touchdown was straight up dropped when Ryan Hill was wide open in the end zone and just dropped the pass. With the way Maryland's offense was lacking in the second, as it was against Clemson, that would have been the game. I thought many times that the Bend Don't Break defense was finally going to break today. Instead, it bent to maximum capacity. When it looked like Miami was going to do it, a Miami tipped pass was picked off by Trey Covington and after Maryland punted it away, Bruce Johnson fumbled after a nasty tackle.