This may be oversimplification, but after watching RU this season it seems that this team can be competitive where they face teams that do not have dominating DLs and are toast when they face teams that do. Michigan State may not have a great team this year, but they do have a solid DL. So when it comes to evaluation whether a 12 point spread is an understatement or an opportunity my response is "How good is their DL?" Comments from anyone knowledgeable would be appreciated.
Maryland's DL - Has anyone seen their games?
- Thread starter mdk01
- Start date
Their starters are pretty good but have no depth. They tire in second halves. They try to help them by always sending one extra on a blitz almost every play. Their big defensive issue is the secondary and backers in coverage. Their DB's are not very talented. They will do what they have to to take away the run though.
Well we don't pass so they should be good to go stopping out off tackle run every play.
We have a shot but again I will say it will start and end with whether or not we come out ready to play. They are totally up tempo so if we came out the way we have in most games they could be up by 14 before we blink. The really good teams buried us, fine, but the teams we should or could have beaten because of similar talent we let get away early and with the exception of NM and Howard we couldn't climb out of the hole we dug. We caught up to Minn but lost it anyway but the first quarter is the key to me in this game.
Their DL is avg. (INMO not as good as yours). they pretty much blitzed us like crazy and Barkely and McSorley went
off for a huge game against them. So your Freshman QB might be able to make some yards.
There QB situation is a mess. I think they have a true Freshman starting now. Not sure what the issue with their original starter, Hills, is.
They have a pretty shifty and very fast RB, (cant remember his name Johnson maybe?) but he is on the small side but again really fast.
The big play guy for MD was Will Likely. He was kind of like your Laronte Caroo and just like him is out for the season.
He was a difference maker and they were using him a lot on offense.
You wont have to worry about crowd support, its MD and its football so basically there isn't any.
I think you guys have a punchers chance, especially with your defense.
Quick edit. This will be a must win for them to get a bowl birth so that will make it tougher.
their D is TERRIBLE.. they run a junk 3-3-5.. they must think they're in the Mountain West? They have an offense where the QB keeps it like 50% of the time.. as a result they go thru QB's like Bama players go thru BMW's. Their confidence is shot. Rutgers needs to run, run, and run some more.. their back 7 actually avoid contact at times. This will likely come down to what team turns the ball over less. MD has used 5 diff QB's this year.. Hills is their best QB, but he can't hit any target past 15 yards without hitting an opposing DB first. If Hills plays you simply hit him 5-6x as his shoulder is glass and he will slump away to sideline. That have this fat little no arm QB name Pigrone?? who is quicker than snot, but the team seems to lose effort when he is at QB.. as the WR's feel useless when he's in there. They have a solid young RB who is currently suspended for shooting unsuspecting students with a BB gun.. Maryland does not get the cream of the crop, and they often reach for guys with behavior problems to fill the void. RU is a better program, MD students only care about hoops and their stadium has 30,000+ empty seats unless PSU or tOSU is playing.-sg
It is hard for me to critique their D when I have seen 11 games of our offense. We make avg D's look like the 85 Bears.
They're playing for a bowl game and we're playing to end the season.
What concerns me other than the fact that Rutgers is unable to score any points, is Maryland's offensive speed on the perimeter. Both Johnson and Harrison are good, although Harrison was suspended for the past 2 games (not sure why). Johnson is a burner and Harrison makes tacklers miss in space. I'm sure they'll be running against the Rutgers D.
I'm curious to see if they start their second freshman QB as they did against Nebraska or Hills, who always seems to be a game time decision, comes back against us. Thought the kid looked better than what I've seen from Pigrome who can run but doesn't seem like a good passer at this stage.
What concerns me other than the fact that Rutgers is unable to score any points, is Maryland's offensive speed on the perimeter. Both Johnson and Harrison are good, although Harrison was suspended for the past 2 games (not sure why). Johnson is a burner and Harrison makes tacklers miss in space. I'm sure they'll be running against the Rutgers D.
I'm curious to see if they start their second freshman QB as they did against Nebraska or Hills, who always seems to be a game time decision, comes back against us. Thought the kid looked better than what I've seen from Pigrome who can run but doesn't seem like a good passer at this stage.
Honestly? It's the worst front seven I've seen at Maryland to date. The two best DL from last year got drafted and, outside of Purdue, we have been totally unable to pressure opposing QBs in conference play. One of our starting LBs was recruited by Randy Edsall as a QB (yes, really), so needless to say he isn't very good. As for the rest of our defense, Will Likely is out for the season and he was overwhelmingly our best defender.
It'll probably be Hills on Saturday. I think they've been holding him out to get ready for Rutgers because they knew we really had no chance in the last two, though I'm unsure why they burned Bortenschlager's redshirt just to start at Nebraska.
As for Harrison, he won't be playing this weekend, and maybe ever against at MD. He and DJ Moore (one of our better WRs) have been suspended indefinitely for shooting random students on campus with bb guns. They've been charged accordingly. Can't make this stuff up.
LOL, yea I forgot that the kid I was thinking of got suspended.
He would have been a difference maker.
I actually think RU can win this game.
Thought you got decent pressure on Fyfe this past Saturday. Had difficulty containing Newby who's tough to stop and their WRs made good plays downfield.
By stats alone, Bortenschlager looked at least serviceable. What's your thought on giving Maryland the best chance to win? Hills?
That's ashame about Harrison. He was good and tough to tackle. Swapping him and Johnson would have been a tough task for opposing defenses for the next 3 years.
Hills no question. He has proven to be our best current option. Next year will be very interesting to see how the QB battle plays out. We have 4* Kasim Hill coming in and Pigrome hasn't looked ready yet, but we'll see.
Depends on what your tailgating plans are. If you have somewhere to tailgate already, the Regents Parking Garage is on campus near the stadium that you can park in for $20 or so. If you are looking to tailgate, I'd try to find a parking pass for any of the Lot 1s or 9s (there's a bunch of random letters based on how the parking lots are split up). 1 is closest to the stadium and the most active, but 9 is still close with plenty of action.
Armstrong is doubtful for Friday, hamstrings are tricky. The problem with that is, Fyfe, the kid that started Saturday, had a pin put in his non throwing wrist today. He is very doubtful as well. That leaves us with a Freshmen that is redshirting and they won't pull it and a kid that came to NU as a QB but was moved to receiver due to a lack of any ability to throw the ball(thanks Bo) and his best attribute is he is a great holder. Look for NU to run a lot of wildcat with true freshman corner Lamar Jackson who can play any skill spot on the field.
We have an abundance of QBs to loan you. Laviano, Rettig, Dare--take your pick!!! Will trade you 3 QBs for a serviceable punter/kicker.
I think you better watch what you wish for. Our freshmen punter is last in the country in yards per punt i believe(he was earlier in the year and hasn't improved. I won't be too hard on him because he got thrown to the wolves when the Foltz kid got killed. He was suppose to watch this year. We have a very good place kicker, however he made the tackle on NU's first kickoff Saturday and is i concussion testing this week and is doubtful. The kid that replaces him has kicked 1 field goal in his career(he is a senior) and it was blocked because he forgot he has to kick the ball after the snap. He is perfect on extra points though. Ha. NU is a mess right now. Give the points and take Iowa.(-2.5)
IIRC watching the Nebraska Minnesota game, your punter booted a negative 2 yards punt. Ball took a crazy bounce backward and nobody able get to it to down the ball. That's not easy to do.
RU's QB keep/fake/handoff execution in the spread is still very poor this late in the season, making it easy for the opponent defense to read the play and react accordingly. To blame this years difficulties running the ball all on the O Line is being shorte sighted when you see how much more succesful they were last season with an overall bad team last year as well..
Holy smokes. I hadn't seen something like that since fourth grade recess!
Then it should be an epic battle of ineptitude between your DL and our OL. Because we haven't been able to block anyone lately.
