FanHouse LanceBall

Tough loss on Saturday night. However, with the defense Maryland played against Wake, they didn't deserve to win. They just couldn't get a hold of those misdirection plays. And for crying out loud, if the opposing quarterback is throwing blocks, nail him! Put the fear of God in him! Their poor defense showed up after taking a month off, and that's where the game was lost.

But enough about that game. There's no real need to keep stressing game play when the next game is months away. However, I'm not going to starting talking about a bowl game now, especially because we don't know who the Terps will be playing. I think it's more prudent to see what could happen next year. Obviously, this is all my speculation. Let's take a look.

Offensively, the first thing I think we'll see is the Fridge signing an offensive coordinator. It's just too much work to do two jobs at once. When those jobs are head coach of a national football program and offensive coordinator, it's even rougher. College kids should think about that when holding down a job at a TCBY and an internship during the summers. Supposedly, Friedgen loves to work with young QBs, but honestly, his strong suit was always the running game. Scott McBrien was a good QB, but it took him forever to show that on the field. Sam Hollenbach never really reached his potential. If the new offensive coordinator could help mold these QBs, it would add a nice aspect to the offense.

Today was a nice blast from the past for the Terps. For the first time since they were good, they beat NC State. And for the first time all year, they dominated a team. Don't let the close score fool you, this was Maryland's game from start to end. The most surprising part? They did it on defense.

For the last two weeks, I have been giving it to defensive coordinator Chris Cosh hard. But today, he shut me up -- at least for a week. The defensively line put constant pressure on NC State quarterback Dan Evans. Conrad Bolston and Rick Costa could not be contained by the NC State defensive line. Costa is listed as a linebacker, but he would line up on the defensive line most plays and he had some big tackles.

Ha! I'll be damned! Maybe this whole time, in order to win, Maryland had to be down until the fourth quarter. After blowing fourth quarter leads as if it's their major, the Terps are finally on the other end.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch this game. The dispute between ESPN and Comcast resulted in the game to only be available on the internet for non-Comcast users. I'm a Comcast user. Through all this fighting and power trips, the two never think about the children involved.

It's a shame that I couldn't see the game. No one can really make deductions about a game that wasn't seen. But this win is pretty big.

The defense showed up in the second half. With Maryland being down 20 - 0 in the first half and allowing 255 yards, the defense decided to play some ball for the first time in ages. They held Virginia to some three and outs in crucial spots, and Linebacker Erin Henderson intercepted a ball for a touchdown. Virginia only scored once in the second half.

Keon Lattimiore had a huge run play for a TD (again according to the box score recap) and 114 yards. It's been criticized that Fridge should just go with Lance Ball, but Lattimore proved he can be the man too.

Sam Hollenbach didn't complete a pass over 21 yards, like I said he shouldn't. I don't know how often he tried, but the fact is, he shouldn't. After having a pretty miserable first half, it seems like he turned it around in the second half. Maybe Fridge was trying to light a fire under Hollenbach with those hints of putting in back-up Jordan Steffy. You'd think if he'd do it, he'd do it when they are down 21-7.

Fridge knew he'd be on the hot seat if he lost this game. Instead, the hot seat has been transferred back to Al Groh. This win put Maryland at 4-2 total and 1-1 in the ACC. They have NC State next week. State lost to Wake Forest this week, but I'll get more into that in later blogs. I don't know what happened this game. Maybe Maryland had a hangover during the first half from last week's disappointment. Now, the Terps, who probably played their best football all year in the fourth quarter, need to go beat State which would put the Terps a game away from a bowl.

Maybe this team still has some hope. I'm going to try to find some footage of this game and comment on what I see. Good job, Maryland.

The last and final question was agreed on: Who will win this game?

It's a tough question for me to think about. Maryland needs this game if they want to stay competitive, where Virginia has already flushed most of their season away. However, that means nothing as these recent rivals -- as Ian pointed out in answer to one of my questions -- meet up today. Another point that Ian made is that the Terps haven't won in Virginia since the Garfield administration.

These two things worry me. Maryland loves to blow games on the road and Virginia is probably hungrier than ever. So here's what Maryland will have to do to win it.

After my harsh review of Maryland's performance against Georgia Tech, I've decided to give Terp fans a brighter side to their loss in Atlanta. Since every cloud supposedly has a silver lining, I stood outside in the storm and stared for a few hours until I found it. Here are a few hopeful things you can take away from Maryland's play at Georgia Tech:

Special Teams: Against West Virginia, Maryland's special teams decided to make some dumb plays, such as a botched end around that lead to a fumble, and Josh Wilson deciding to take a kick off return from deep in the end-zone, which also led to a fumble. This time, against a legit team, Josh Wilson took the first kick off to the house, tying Georgia Tech at 7. That was much better than when special teams gave West Virginia a 14-0 lead very early in the game. Gerogia Tech never had any returns that made me cringe and shout "Make a tackle!" because Maryland tackled well on Tech returns. Plus, Dan Ennis was 3 for 3 for field goals, including a 46 yarder.

Receivers: It's a shame that Hollenbach couldn't complete a long pass because the Maryland receiving core could be lethal with the right quarterback. They're young, but they're good. They didn't drop passes and they made some catches that Hollenbach didn't make easy. This receiving core, lead by speedy Darrius Heyward-Bey, is going to be great for years to come.

Mental Toughness: They may not have played well, and they may have been winning because of Georgia Tech's sloppy play, but they were still winning. They didn't buy into the fact that they "should lose." In fact, they played until the very end. Even after a crucial Lance Ball fumble lead to the go ahead score for the Yellow Jackets, they still played, and an incredible catch and run by Darrius Heyward-Bey put the Terps on the Georgia Tech eight yard line with less than two minutes to play. The fact the Terps lead for most of the game shows that they recovered from the mental breakdown in Morgantown.

There's your silver lining. With Virginia on the horizon, the Terps need to take these strengths and use them to help them improve their weaknesses. Virginia is not a good team this year, much like the Terps, so the Terps can take that game. If they do, they can get back on track. Well, as on track as they can get.

Yes, I'm angry. Not because we were so close to winning. We really never should have been that ahead. Like I thought could happen, Georgia Tech tried to let us win. But the Terps just wouldn't let them. Maybe I really never watched a full Terps game before -- although I definitely have this year -- but this game revealed all the problems for the Terps.

I know Maryland fans. Most of them have short attention spans. It's what the team does now. I understand that to a degree, but part of being a fan is taking the bad with the good. I understand Lions fans and Oriole fans giving up on their team. They haven't had good seasons in ages. Maryland fans should show a little more patience though. They're ready to give up the second things go wrong. Now, I know things have been going wrong the last two years, but the season is still young and things can turn around.

So I ask you not to jump off the Fridge bandwagon right now, even if you think the wagon's going no where, and the band is playing crappy music -- Nickleback maybe. Even since they started to lose, fans started turning on Friedgen. First, Fridge's recriuting first came under fire. Honestly, i haven't come up with an official opinion about this. One on hand it seems his players are being out played, and recruiting a guy like Joel Statham didn't help. On the other, he did recruit Vernon Davis and Shawn Merriman, who were so good they left for the NFL early. Then his offense came under fire. However, that I can understand. No one should have stuck with Joel Statham for that long. Now, the defense is the next target. Before you completely give up on the Terps, I'm going to try to convince you to not to jump just yet. Give them one more season. They just may turn it around.

Their offense is looking better than it did the last two years. West Virginia isn't ranked #5 because of their defense. None-the-less, Maryland did a pretty good job scoring on them. The running game has a very nice double headed monster. Lance Ball is a big man, 5'9" & 216 lbs, who is tough to stop when he gets rolling. Keon Lattimore, 5'11" & 220, is back to form since a shoulder injury and is running with passion. The Fridge can throw these guys in and out when he feels to keep them rested. The big offensive line will push some teams around and these guys will find the end zone.

The passing game looks the best it has since Scott McBrien graduated. The receiving core is young, but as they mature, they're going to really start clicking. Darrius Heyward-Bey, a former high school track star, is really fast. Danny Oquend and Isiah Williams have already stepped and made plays.

As for the defense, they have some work to do. But I believe they have the players to do so. This secondary was one of the tops in the nation last year -- bad recruiting? Really? It always takes a little time for players to adjust to a new coach. Chris Cosh may not be as successful as Gary Blackney, but I expect the defense to get better over time.

In fact, this team should be give some time on a whole. They have a young receiving core, a quarterback that, for the first time in his career, doesn't have to look over his shoulder to see if he's going to be taken out of the game, and two out of three running backs are coming back from injuries -- Lattimore and Josh Allen.

So, don't rough up your knees rolling off the bandwagon if you don't have to. Wait for the season. Let them go through ACC play, which shouldn't be impossible. Then, if they blow it, do what you want. That would make three bad seasons to follow three good ones. If they do well, they you'll be glad you stuck with it. You can even be one of the few Maryland fans that said "I was with them with the bad" -- I'm talking students over alumni when I allude to the fair weather attitdue. If you jump off now though, and they do turn it around, that's too bad. Because it's not turning around to pick you back up -- well, it wouldn't if I were driving.

Enough is enough. I've read as many articles as possible about Steve Slaton and the #5 Mountaineers, Sam Hollenbach and the questionable Terp offense, Maryland kickers and Pat White. I'm thankful that this is a Thursday game because two more days of this, and it'd have been on overkill. This can be the biggest game of Maryland's season, and it's not even a conference game. It's a rivalry game though, and those are often just as important. So I'm going to do my final thoughts on this game. I'll be at work before the game so I won't be able to cover any last minute adjustments.

This game features an underdog Maryland traveling to a raucous Morgantown to face the #5 team in the nation. That doesn't spell victory for the Terrapins, as the 16 point spread might show. However, rivarly games never turn out the way the analysts predict. Rivarly games end up to be close ones no matter how the two teams are ranked. I don't expect the Terps to lose by 16. In fact, if they won, I wouldn't be completely shocked -- let's say, pleasantly surprised.