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Revisiting the Ralph Debacle

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

I have always been a guy who believed that the ends, justified the  means.  I’ve read “The Prince” by Machiavelli, and “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, both are pretty clear about getting what you want at all cost.  But this past week I’ve started to question my belief.  I started to touch on this in my “I Stand with Ralph” post, but ultimately decided it wasn’t the time to get into it.  For example with this whole controversy, the end result I wanted was to retain Ralph for at least one more season.  So the fact that it happened should make me happy, right?  Well yes, but also no.  And that is what bugs me.

Despite the outcome that I desired, I am not at all happy about how we arrived at this point.  I don’t have unlimited access to Debbie Yow, Ralph Friedgen, the Athletic Department’ books, the Board of Regents, or whoever else may have had a hand in this decision.  So ultimately I have to put the pieces together as an outsider looking in.  As such, my gut feeling is that there was NEVER a chance for us to buy out the rest of Friedgen’s contract.  I’m no financial expert, but I feel as though I have a pretty good finger on the pulse of what is going on in the state in terms of money.  To throw out 4 Million Dollars to pay a guy not to coach is not going to go over well with a lot of people who are either being furloughed or downsized.  Now you could counter that the money could have come from outside sources, but even then, when we are forced to take a bus to games we previously flew to, is it a good idea to spend any money, regardless of where it came from, on anything that isn’t essential?  Plus, the average voter who reads the Washington Post or Baltimore Sun isn’t interested in where the money came from.  They will just attach themselves to the point that a coach who is paid by the University is getting paid to not do a job.

Now before I go any further, I am not a Debbie Yow basher.  I think whenever you are unhappy you need someone to blame, and the first target a lot of people take is Debbie.  They may be right, they may be wrong, but I don’t know the first thing about running an Athletic Department, and until I do, I’m not going to lay blame.  But in this particular case I think Debbie Yow does deserve some of the blame.  If we could never buy Ralph out, or if it was going to be extremely hard to buy Ralph out, why did we ever go in that direction?  Putting him on the hot seat is not going to help recruiting, and replacing him with James Franklin isn’t going to sell suites.  The only thing that would help in both of those categories would be replacing Ralph with a big name, but how are you going to do that when you just spent money we don’t have on buying him out?

So what Debbie Yow should have done is realized that there was no chance to get rid of Friedgen.  At that point she should have come out and said something like “I stand by Ralph Friedgen 100%, he is a our guy, and I have complete faith he can turn this thing around.  Never once has Ralph quit on this program, and I find it hard to believe people are willing to quit on him now, but if you want a new coach, too bad.  We will live and die with Ralph, he’s our man, and most importantly, he is a Terp.”.  Obviously nothing along those lines were said, and if they were (and I missed it) the damage had already been done. 

Instead though we are left wondering what was going to happen.  Recruits were left wondering who was going to coach them next year, and the man who won us our first ACC Championship in quite some time was dragged through the mud.  It did not have to go down like this, not when there was really only one option.  So I guess the take home lesson from all of this for me is, it’s no longer safe just to wish for what you want, maybe you should take some time to wish for how you’re going to get it as well. 

Don’t forget to check us out at our home blog turtledroppings.com.  But more importantly Go Terps…beat Villanova!!

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Thank You Chris Turner

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Sure this season was a complete disaster.  There is nothing that I will want to remember about it.  I am pretty sure Chris Turner will feel the same way, but when the dust settles on this season, he sure gave me a lot of memories in the past three years.

First of all this kid has been a class act.  When his job was up in the air last year and Jordan Steffy was named the starter, we didn’t hear anything about it.  I am sure he was fired up and maybe looking to go elsewhere, but he didn’t.  He stuck it out, and wouldn’t you know it, he was right back in there last year and again this year.  He has been a model student and already has his degree.  He interned on Capitol Hill.  He has been all you can ask.  This is where it all really came full circle for me.  After the BC game, a game where he split time with Jamar Robinson on his senior day, went over to the student section (all 20 of them) with Cory Jackson, and they shook the students hands, gave them hugs and thanked them.   They were the only two to do it, and it just goes to show you how much it meant to him to play for Maryland.

Those are the kind of off the field things, but on the field I have plenty of memories.  Sure some of the games he lost were maddening, but 25 years from now when we sit in lot 1 and talk about some of our favorite players,  we won’t remember the losses to Middle Tennessee.  We will remember the way he finished off Rutgers in his first game coming off the bench for an injured Jordan Steffy.  We will remember the game where he out dueled Matt Ryan and BC.  What a great game that was.   It was cold, but it had been a long time since I remember a performance like that.  21 of 27 for 337 yards and 3 TD’s in case you forget.

The following year had upset wins of Cal, Clemson, Wake Forest, and UNC.  Those are the games I will remember down the road.  This year I admired the way he hung in there game after game, taking a beating as the line was unable to give him any time.  It was ugly at times.

He won’t go down as the most decorated, nor the one with the best arm strength.   He didn’t have the best record overall, but for me he was more.  He came in to Maryland under the radar.  I never expected him to play much, if at all, and he had a productive career, that me brought me a lot of memories, and he did it the way you would like to see it happen.   Sure we would have loved to see more wins, but when it comes down to it and you look at it from a distance over time, I will for ever be happy he was a Terp!

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I Stand with Ralph

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

With the finale of the 2009 season finally upon us, we seem to be at a fork in the road.  With a 3-9 or 2-10 record staring us in the face, calls for Debbie Yow to buy out the remainder of Ralph Friedgen’s (and I’m assuming James Franklin’s) contract have started to grow over the past few weeks.  In fact, even now the governor has chimed in with his comments See Here, though those comments are more about money than football.

But I’m going to stand up for Ralph.  There are a lot of reasons to let him go.  For one, we could have a 2 win season, which when you think about it is dangerously close to a zero win season.  For another, he has been bringing in top 30 talent each year that has not converted in to top 30 results on the field.  And the best athletes in the state still seem to be hemorrhaging out to bigger programs.  I get it, I see the point the naysayers are making.  They do have a case, but what is the loudest argument that I hear, and an argument that still has yet to be countered is Maryland Football 1986-2000.

There may be older or younger Maryland fans who have a different  perspective on where we should be as a program.  But those 15 years were critical years of my life as a sports fan.  I was 9 when they went to their last bowl game in the 20th century, and then out of college when they finally returned.  My last game as an undergrad was against UVA in 1998 and all I can remember about it was that there were only 20 people in the student section for the entire game.

I don’t want to go back to an era when hoping for a winning season was “setting the bar too high”.  I have had so much fun watching Maryland Football in the last decade where even disappointing seasons still had us gunning for a bowl game into November.  Now maybe I suffer from defeatism (after all I am an O’s fan too), maybe I’m not expecting enough out of this program, but maybe I’m a realist and this is as good as things are ever going to get around here.   I don’t know, but I do know that 2009 is a colossal disappointment, and part of me feels that heads should roll, but then again, the Friedgen Era was something I would not have dreamed of back in the 90’s.   So unless someone proves to me, that we are bringing in a coach who can take us to the next level, and not some guy who is using this job as a stepping stone to a bigger gig, I’m not ready to cash out my Friedgen chips.

Of course I always like to say that you can’t complain unless you bring a solution to the table, so here is what I propose.  Let Ralph Friedgen coach next year.  We have a young group, a QB who may be a little better than we anticipated, and an offensive and defensive line that are only going to get better.  I don’t think this team is as far away as some other people do.  However, after the 2010 season, if we go bowl-less, then by all means, let’s go in another direction, but to throw away the most glamorous decade of Maryland football in my lifetime over one crappy year where every bounce seemed to go against us, and every key player missed a large chunk of time with injury, is short sited.  I love my solution, I think it makes sense, I think most will agree to it, and of course the biggest factor of all, it’s an option we can afford.

Don’t forget to check us out at turtledroppings.com.  And more importantly, Go Terps!!

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Terps Have a Chance to Leave A Mark on the 09 Season

Friday, November 20th, 2009

While 99% of the Maryland fan base has shifted its attention to the basketball team (rightfully so), the football team is making its final road trip of the 09 season.  As the Terps return to the television this week, yes real television, not “TV” that you watch on your lap or on a desk that requires an internet connection.  Real television that comes out of a cable in your wall.  With a special thanks to our partner Raycom, Maryland and Florida State will face off at noon on Saturday.

While this season has been a disappointment, this game leaves the Terps with a chance to do something they haven’t done since, well . . . ever.  That’s right the Terps are going to into Tallahassee having never won there.

Some may say there is no chance Maryland is going to win this game (I am in that camp).  Before I give you reason to hope, I want to explain some of the problems.  First of all, the injury bug has swept through College Park this year, more than I can remember.  If you lose your top running back, top cover corner, starting QB, All ACC caliber punter, and a handful of other starters and you are Maryland, you are in trouble.  We just don’t have the depth to handle that kind of carnage.   Throw in the lack of experience on the offensive and defensive lines, and you begin to see the problems.

So with so many negative situations with this team, why is there a chance the Terps can pull out this road game?  Well, for one Florida State follows up the Maryland game with their annual rivalry game with Tim Tebow and Florida.  Can you say trap game?  Maybe.  Also, the fact that this game is going to be broadcast by Raycom at noon is in the Terps favor.  Most people don’t get nearly as fired up (read drunk) for a noon kick off as they would say a 3:30 or night game.  For that matter how many college students do you know that wake up before noon on a Saturday.  I am starting to see a less than enthusiastic crowd in Doak.  That might not be a huge advantage for the Terps, but the fact that it is lessening the advantage for FSU makes it an advantage for Maryland (keep in mind we have two wins, we need anything to be optimistic).   Finally, this is not Florida State of the 90’s.  The program is in shambles.  I had ESPNnews on while I was eating cereal this morning, and the Governor of Florida is defending Bobby Bowden’s job.  Really, the Governor?  The crowd at the FSU NCST game at Doak looked like something you would expect to see at Byrd Stadium.  With Christian Ponder out, FSU may be even more susceptible to the upset.  FSU is 5-5 and 3-4 in the ACC.  If this season has taught me anything, it is nothing that happens in the ACC on Saturday’s will surprise me.  So I am saying there is a chance, and it may even be better than I thought before I started writing this.

While, I am grasping at reasons while Maryland could pull this off,the real reason they likely won’t is inexperience, and don’t forget Jamar Robinson will be getting his first road start.  So while my heart that bleeds Terrapin red (and black, gold, and white) wants me to say they can do this, my brain really thinks there are just too many things stacking the odds in FSU’s favor.   But rest assured, I will be tuned in at noon, just in case they get their first win in Tallahassee and give us something to remember the season for.

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Sowing the Seeds

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Stick with me for a second, I promise this really is about Football.  One of my hobbies, outside of Maryland Sports of course, is gardening.  Now maybe “Gardening” isn’t really the proper word for it.  Perhaps Agricultural experimentation is a better description.  You see in my garden I like to push the envelop.  I live in Maryland, but I grow cotton.  When I was a kid my grandmother went to South Carolina and brought me back cotton seeds.  I planted them in a pot, but never got them to grow.  Somewhere along the line, someone said “You can’t grow cotton in Maryland, we are too far north.”.   Well I planted them this year and now have 10 healthy/producing cotton plants that say otherwise.

Similar story with peanuts.  When I was at Maryland, I worked part time at the USDA Research Center in Beltsville.  Our experiment involved growing tomatoes and comparing the run off from various types of cover crop.   As an alternative someone suggested we plant peanuts, and if they grew use them in the experiment the following year.  We planted them, they failed, and we were mocked.  I didn’t forget that, and when I finally had some land of my own, I promised I was going to grow peanuts.  I planted a few last year and had great success.  I planted 45 plants this year and have so many peanuts I’m still harvesting them as we go into Mid November.

The point I’m slowly getting to is that in Gardening, sometimes you have to push the envelope to see what works.  If it doesn’t work, so be it, and go into the next growing season with a different plan.  That’s where we are with Maryland football right now.  Whether you like it or not Jamarr Robinson is going to be our starting QB this week (as I write this Chris Turner is doubtful, but that could certainly change).   This is a good thing.  I can’t say enough great things about Chris Turner, and I have enjoyed watching him over the past 3 years.  He’s a good kid and he is a competitor, what else can you ask for.

But unfortunately for us, Chris won’t be around next year, but Jamarr Robinson will be.  That is why regardless of Chris’s health, throwing Jamarr into the fire that is the Virginia Tech game is the absolute right thing to do.  Some say he’ll succeed, some say he’ll fail, we’ll lets end the debate and see what really happens.   Personally I think he will succeed.  He is the type of mobile quarterback this offensive line needs.  He can turn a sack into a gain and can keep the opposing defense honest.  In fact I’m going to be so bold as to say he leads us to a win this Saturday.  That’s right, I said it, it’s out there (Note to Raycom editors, I can delete stuff out of this post after the fact…right???).

So let’s forget the 2009 season, that ship has sailed, and lets focus on finding out what can work for 2010.  Now I’m not saying we burn any more red shirts, quite the opposite, but let’s give Robinson some time at the helm.  Let him learn the offense in the remaining three games, and not as he is gearing up for the Red White game.  Yes it could fail, but then again, who cares at this point how we finish over the last three games, we’ve already clinched the “F” on the report card.  And though that isn’t where everyone wants to be right now, we might as well make the best of it.  Let’s experiment and see what happens.  It could work  out quite well.  After all, never underestimate someone looking to prove someone wrong, whether that be in Byrd Stadium or in my backyard.

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Can Terps End the Streak VS the Pack?

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

While there are still hopes of a bowl game, albeit extremely slim, the Terps have a favorable draw to prolong the agony this week.  While Maryland comes into this game with a 2-6 record,  the Pack on the other hand may actually be worse as they have two wins over 1-AA teams, or whatever they are called these days, VS. Murray State and Gardner Webb, and a win over Pitt.  The beauty/irony of this game is NC State has zero wins in the conference AND they are favored by 6.5 points.  I don’t get it.

Can the Terps win this game?  Absolutely.  Will they win this game?  I wouldn’t bet on it.  The one thing NC State can do is score.  The problem is they can’t stop other teams from scoring.  I have a feeling NC State is really going to be able to go out and put points up against the Terps, and I don’t think Maryland is going to win this game if it is a shoot out.

What do the Terps need to do win this game?  First of all, and I don’t think I am going to surprise anyone here, they have to protect the ball.  Turnovers have been the Achilles heel all season long, and until they change that the loses are going to pile up more quickly than the wins.  Another problem the Terps have is getting the ball into the hands of the play makers.  This is not a new problem.  Think back to the past couple of seasons where you would ask yourself where Darius Heyward-Bey was after a game.  Same thing seems to be happening of late with Torrey Smith.  With the offensive minds and the 9,000 page playbook Maryland has, you would expect to see these guys getting more touches.  Some of that is without a doubt a direct impact of the offensive line, but still running one wildcat play a game for Torrey Smith is not going to solve the problem.

They did have some moderate success early in the season throwing quick outs and slowly moving the ball up the field.  With Adrian Cannon playing well the last couple of games, maybe that will give Torrey Smith the space he needs to make some plays.  Cannon has shown the ability to make people miss after the catch, so I say throw those quick outs, and let these guys make some plays.

One advantage the Terps have is they are coming of the bye week.  Hopefully everyone got a little healthier over the week.  Hopefully everyone got rededicated over the week, and are ready to come out and show what they are made of.  I know the sting of the Duke loss is still fresh for me, so I can only imagine what the players are going through.  NC State on the other hand lost a tough game at Florida State last week. Russell Wilson threw for over 300 yards in the loss, after watching Thadeus Lewis pass all over the Terps two weeks ago, I expect Wilson to put up big numbers again this week.

There you have my take.  I am not expecting a win, but this team showed against Clemson, that they are capable of surprising some people, and they may just be able to do it this week, but I really think the fire power of the State offense will be too much to overcome.  The way the schedule finishes, there is no doubt this is the best chance to end the losing streak!

For more on the Terps and Pack, be sure to check us out at turledroppings.  Go Terps!

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Gary Williams, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Woo, woo, woo.  In the midst of a football season that has turned into something resembling a terminal wasting disease it is a relief that college basketball season kicks off tonight with the annual Midnight Madness celebrations across the country. I have to confess that in some of the recent seasons I felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement at the start of the season because the Maryland basketball teams of the recent past have never been a sure thing in regards to the only post season play that matters, the NCAA Tournament. This year, however, optimism abounds with the return of senior Grievis Vasquez and the arrival of two players who look, and play, like legitimate low post players. As head coach Gary Williams indicated in his press conference nothing is guaranteed to this group but with a weakened ACC and a team deep and experienced at the most important positions they are poised to do some damage in the league.

As for the football team the weather forecast for Saturday’s game is supposed to match the outlook for this season, cold, rainy and bleak. With Virginia’s do-everything running back Mikell Simpson  doubtful with a neck injury it isn’t clear who has an advantage if they play on a soaked and muddy quagmire. Neither team has been a good running offense with Virginia averaging 2.9 yards per carry and Maryland coming in at 2.7 but Virginia is more committed to the run averaging 120 yards per game compared to Maryland’s 96 yards per game.  Neither offensive line can protect the quarterback as Virginia is 117th in the NCAA with 3.8 sacks allowed per game and the Terps at 115th with 3.7 sacks allowed per game. This is the kind of sloppy weather game that turns on some defensive back slipping and falling on a deep touchdown pass, a muffed punt or the quarterback fumbling the ball at a critical moment. I only give Maryland a slight edge because they are at home but in terms of confidence the Cavaliers are flying high after rolling over Indiana last week. Thank goodness basketball season is here.

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All That Pesky Hope Was Just Weighing Me Down Anyway

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

It’s so easy, yet so difficult. But after the Wake loss, I must come to grips with the fact that Maryland’s football team stinks. There’s always talk about how they just need an adjustment here, a little more work there.  No.  Bullcrap.  They lost because they stink.  And this year, they stink with a capital Stink.

It’s the kind of funk that hits you when you walk into a kennel. What…what is this smell comprised of? Where is it coming from? It’s a multidimensional stink. You eliminate one of the causes, and another cause just takes its place. It’s almost a physical entity.

For the rest of this football season, Terp fans should come to know this funk, accept it, maybe even love it. To paraphrase the immortal George Costanza, hopelessness is our only hope.

First , let us review some incontrovertible facts. These are not Maryland Hater Facts or Meanie Pessimist Facts.  They are just facts.  Maryland ranks ninth in the ACC in scoring offense, eighth in total offense, eleventh in total defense, eleventh in rush offense, dead last in rush defense.  How deep do you want to drill?  They’re dead last in turnover margin. Tenth in time of possession.  Dead last in sacks allowed.  Eighth in penalties. Eighth in punting.

There are just too many weaknesses.  If we can’t push the defenders out of our way at this point, how are we going to?  Gosh bless Chris Turner, but he’s not athletic enough to overcome the line.  A “system” QB doesn’t work if that “system” is breaking down around him. It’s like asking a McDonald’s employee to cook a hamburger outside of a McDonald’s. See how far that gets you.   On defense, I always see the DBs getting smoked…that is, when I see them on the screen. They seem to fall down a lot.  Overall, the defense gives away big plays like they were tickets to the Humanitarian Bowl. By my calculations, the average TD play is 24.6 yards.  Against Wake, six TDs of 48, 4, 10, 32, 20, and 27 yards actually brought that average DOWN. Here, let me get you a trash can.

Oh, and don’t forget that our best cornerback is out for the season. And our best O-lineman is week to week. And our best RB is out another month, and before his injury was toting a football around campus to ward off fumbleitis. And our best linebacker (arguably) is now out for at least three weeks. And our star punter – oh, he was a star, baby — is out for several more weeks. And the coach is on the hot seat, but if you want to get rid of him, it’ll cost millions of dollars.  Plus, the jerseys shrunk in the wash. And the Gatorade cooler has a hole in it. And the Meow Mix Bowl isn’t returning our calls.   The team manager swallowed his whistle.  Testudo may have the swine flu. A bunch of raccoons got into the Byrd Stadium hot dog supply. The practice field is built on an ancient Indian burial ground. And we could conceivably lose to Duke.

We’ve got a few more games on the schedule – this weekend’s Virginia game, for example — that might be competitive.  However, something tells me we’re not gonna beat all the teams that are supposed to be worse than us.  Let’s call that something “history.”  I’m not saying we won’t win another game, but if we do, I don’t want to read a bunch of stories afterward about how “the division is wide open” and “we can still make some noise.”  Hey, I’m all for optimism. After all, I was the one who stupidly thought the defense was turning the corner. But now is the time for reality. And sometimes, reality stinks. Leave the cockeyed optimism to the guys in the Terps locker room – they have to do that. But let us fans discover the liberation of lowered standards!  There’s no longer such a thing as a “winnable” game.  See what I’m saying? They’re ALL upsets now! And isn’t that just so exciting.

For more wet blanketing, please visit my colleage Terphed and I at our blog, Shell Games.

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A Few Glitches

Monday, October 12th, 2009

My internet connection is pretty low grade. We live in the sticks and don’t have the option of getting cable, so we make do with what we have. Most of the time any trouble with speed is just a minor annoyance, but on Saturday it was unbearable. In fact it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to watch the first quarter. Five seconds of live action followed by ten seconds of buffering. Instead of ripping the band aid off in real time, I had to do it arm hair by arm hair. It wasn’t fun.

The worst part was watching the Wake Offense dissect our Defense like a laser surgeon. You would see Riley Skinner drop back…pause…set up the screen…pause…and then the results. During all of which you could see the Terps Defense totally out of position and you just knew something really bad was going to happen. I eventually had my wife look up the score on the other computer, and when I knew it was 35-10 at half time, I made the decision to pull the plug. I figure I’d give 7 hours of my life to a great win, but I’m not staying up to 1 am for a rout.

So just like that, all the good warm feeling we had about the Terps and the new look Defense were snuffed out. Now that isn’t the entire story. The Terps fought hard in the second half and the offense did put up 32 points. But I’m just not sure if the 10 point gap at the end was the result of a furious comeback effort, or Wake Forest taking their foot off the gas. Since we’ll never know either way, we’ll spin it to say the Terps fought hard.

And speaking of hard, if sitting through this game wasn’t bad enough, the Terps have received another blow. Demetirus Hartsfield, perhaps the brightest spot in this otherwise gray season, has two broken bones in his hand. According to the Baltimore Sun this will require surgery and at least 3 weeks of recuperation. This is coming just after Hartsfield was honored as the ACC Freshman of the week. It’s as if the College Football gods are just setting us up to knock us down.

At the time I’m writing this, it is unclear when Hartsfield is going to go under the knife, he could still play through it I suppose, but I would find it hard to believe he would be 100% if he remained on the field. So this could be another hole to fill as we move on to the UVA game. The hits just keep coming.

But despite all of these hits the one thing I do know is that, just like the second half of the Wake game, this team isn’t going to give up. Sure some of the casual fans will, and with the exception of the Virginia Tech game I don’t expect to see the upper deck full anytime soon. But this team is young, and the defensive system is new. We just have to be patient. I can deal with a bowl-less season as long as we know we are building towards something better in the long run and Ralph Friedgen has unquestionably earned that chance.

In the meantime however, we are just going to have to put up with these glitches. I just wish I could have someone look ahead for me to make sure it’s going to be worth the pain. Then again, I’m a Terp so even if the wait isn’t worth it, I don’t really have much of a choice.

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Maryland’s offense too confident?

Friday, October 9th, 2009

There were some interesting comments to the media from the coaching staff and players regarding the fourth and short call by Ralph Friedgen. Let’s be clear, the decision was a terrible and reckless decision and the coaching staff was lucky it didn’t cost them the game and put the team in a 1-4 hole they would have no chance of getting out of. Still there were plenty of hindsight justifications for the shaky judgement calls coming from College Park. The argument that seems most absurd to me is that it was a worthwhile gamble because it showed the staff’s confidence in the struggling offense. It is true that some of the players on offensive line are inexperienced and they probably feel under siege with the spotty play of the unit but there isn’t really a fine line between confidence and lunacy. This isn’t coach speak this is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

The Kenny Rodgers moment did nothing to rally the offense in the actual game. In the following two possessions the offense gained three yards on four plays. Running back Davin Meggett, who was almost defiant to the media earlier in the week about the prudence of Friedgen’s decision, fumbled the ball on the very next possession. It remains to be seen if the offense will use that show of “confidence” as a springboard to better play this week but with Bruce Campbell out it doesn’t seem likely. When you consider these statements in isolation they would seem more a reaction to some rather tepid criticism the team has received in this young season but I think there is a deeper issue here. Prior to the season many players expressed annoyance that the Terrapins were almost universally picked to finish last in their division by the media and preseason publications. The wounded ego that must have been part of that response is understandable for college athletes but you would also expect that to have evaporated in the face of a horrendous 1-3 start. From the recent comments of the staff and players maybe a larger part of the problem for this team was an unrealistic sense of their own talent and preparation going into the season. There was a great deal of confidence coming into this season for a team with loads of inexperience and plenty of question marks on both sides of the ball. Even Ralph Friedgen, who has never been generous with praise for his team before a season, went out of his way to single out individuals players for kudos (a few of which have struggled badly) and the entire team for its great work habits. Unfortunately we’ve seen that hard work doesn’t always translate into good results on the field and that sometimes instead of being propped up with false confidence a team would do better to eat some humble pie.

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