On Maryland – Great win for Maryland at UConn on Saturday night. It is hard to win games on the road and Maryland has not been a good road team for the past few years. Saturday night the team took a step forward at UConn and disposed of some of the bitter taste of the past few seasons to go 3-0 in 2013.
I counted five turnovers for the Terps. Included in the five were two 4th downs that Maryland did not make along with an interception thrown by CJ and two fumbles. Both Albert Reid and Brandon Ross fumbled.
Even with the five turnovers, Maryland had a prolific night on offense running up 501 yards of offense. The defense scored 9 points as Dexter McDougle’s interception return for a touchdown was a classic. It was his last great play as a Terp, Dexter later separated his shoulder and looks to be out for the season with surgery coming later this week.
The defense also forced a safety, as the UConn quarterback was was trapped in the end zone and called for intentional grounding.
Even with all the ups and downs, Maryland manages an 11 point win (32-21). There is two ways to look at the game. Maryland could have put 45 or 50 on the board Saturday if it was not for the turnovers. The second look is that with all the turnovers, it was a bit of a sloppy game for the Terps, and Maryland still dominated the game. Either way, Connecticut was desperately trying to catch up in the end and could not do so.
However one views the game, the Terps are 3-0 for the first time since 2001. Maryland faces West Virginia at Ravens Stadium at 3:30 on Saturday to try and take it to 4-0. Then comes the bye week and the last trip to Florida State on October 5th,
Stefon Diggs had a spectacular game at wide receiver. Coach Randy Edsall took Diggs out of the return roll and put in freshman Will Likely (a corner back from Florida) to be the kick returner and the punt returner. This was to event an injury to Diggs and also to get some touches for the ultra-fast, very quick and diminutive Will Likely.
Now with Dexter McDougle’s injury and loss for the season, Will Likely becomes a very important starter on the Maryland defense in order to cover for the injuries to both of Jeremiah Johnson and McDougle. The Terps will have to rely on transfer senior Isaac Goins and freshman Likely to be the starters at cornerback. To supplement that you can look for a shift from the position of safety for AJ Hendy (#19) to move to corner as well as more play from young defenders.
One has to wonder if the change at cornerback, once a source of depth for the team is going to affect the high-pressure defense the coach Brian Stewart bring some the field this upcoming Saturday against West Virginia. It would seem that the Terrapin defense has greatly benefited from the depth in the defensive backfield.
With AJ Hendy moving to corner, you will now see transfer Zac Dancel (who was the quarterback for Good Counsel before going to college at New Mexico and then transferring back to Maryland) on the field more than you have seen him in the past. Maryland is still has depth in the defensive backfield but most of it now comes from the safety position.