The Terrapins stay on the field until they do things right, according to coach Ralph Friedgen.
“I think we are on the right track as far as what we do in practice,” Fridgen said. “I’d like to get off the practice field quicker. I’m just insisting we do it the right way, There doesn’t need to be a lot of screaming, just saying we are doing it again because we didn’t do it the right way.”
The numbers suggest the Terps need the work as they get ready to face Wake Forest today at BB&T Field. They are 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference in total defense, last in scoring defense and rushing defense and sixth in passing defense. They are a little better on the other side of the line, ranking eighth in total offense, sixth in passing and ninth in rushing.
On the field, they didn’t get much right until surprising Clemson 24-21 last Saturday, rallying from a 10-0 first-quarter deficit by scoring 17 points in the second half on the way to improving to 2-3, 1-0 in the league. Before that, their only victory was over Football Championship Subdivision member James Madison.
“The biggest improvement I saw was at the end of the first quarter into the second quarter offensively,” Friedgen said. “Playing against some good players, we were able to get some movement and our techniques were better and we were able to mount an offense. I thought that was a positive.”
Even with the positive, Maryland managed 284 yards of total offense, 215 in the air, against the Tigers. Terrapins quarter Chris Turner has thrown 1,186 yards in five games. Torrey Smith is their most dangerous wide receiver, having caught 21 passes for 449 yards. Da’Rel Scott ranks as the leading rusher with 311 yards on 55 carries.
No matter how many troubles the Terrapins had before last Saturday, Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is aware his squad must play much better than they did against Maryland last year. The trip to College Park resulted in one of the Deacons’ worst performances of 2008 as they did little right in a 26-0 drubbing.
Wake rushed for 73 yards, while Riley Skinner threw for a then-season low 146 yards.
“We didn’t get much pressure against the quarterback,” Grobe said. “Offensively, we were really soft at times blocking. We got overpowered in the offensive and defensive lines. They owned us last year.
“Offensively, we didn’t give the defense a bit of help. We were pretty much nonexistent last year. We’ve got a lot of room to improve if we are going compete with those guys.”
The improvement, according to Grobe, must include a meaningful running game. That will be closely watched after Wake wound up throwing the 45 times for 361 yards and only mustered 30 yards on the ground in Saturday’s 30-24 victory over N.C. State.
“That was my biggest disappointment last year,” Grobe said when asked about his decision not to run against Maryland. “We went up there hanging our hat on dinking the ball around. We dropped about 100 passes it seemed like. That’s something we have to be careful about. Yeah, 11 (Skinner) can throw the football but you need 10 guys to go with that. If you are just going sit back there and throw it every snap, it makes it easier for people to dial up pass rushes. So we need to run the football. I don’t know if we can but we need to do it.”
gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519
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