Terp Talk

[Om]

So what really happened last night? Surely this wasn't just a matter of "overconfidence" or a couple bad calls or even a couple players missing. Maryland, based on any objective read, should have been able to beat N. Illinois despite all of that and more.

Maybe the rating was a bit high, but surely not so much so that this result is anything less than shocking.

I don't follow MD football closely enough to speak much beyond generalities such as being the hunted now instead of the hunter, suffering from a fatal case of believing that showing up is enough against MAC team, etc. Perhaps those of you that DO follow MD football closely could share their views on what befell the Terps last night.

And please, I'm not looking for "MD sucks!" posts here. This thread is for actual analysis and/or discussion, not poking juvenile fingers into MD fans' bleary eyes this morning.

[js79]

From what I read, all those girly MD players didn't practice, kept sitting out saying I tweeked this and that.. That just catches upto you in the first game, too overconfident and thinking they don't need to practice to develop chemistry results in embarassing losses like the one last night..

i am ashamed to be a terps fan today

[TennesseeCarl]

As an NIU grad, I'll try to refrain from crowing. The truth is that NIU was not a pushover. We beat Wake Forest on the road last year. We had the #2 RB in the nation in Michael Turner. Haldi, while not a top tier QB, is a guy who can make you pay if you just play the run.

NIU has a PK, Steve Azar, who'll probably be in the NFL next year.

MAC football isn't first rate, but it's ahead of conferences like the WAC or Mountain West and is probably on a par with C-USA (and remember that Louisville beat Florida State last year).

Why Maryland would schedule this as a road game is mighty peculiar though. I don't believe an SEC team would ever schedule what they think is a patsy on the road. Tennessee, for example, might deign to play a Marshall, but it's going to be in Neyland Stadium with 103,000 orange faithful screaming for them rather than allow some small school's crowd to get in the game (they made that mistake back when Peyton Manning was there and they came to Memphis).

But given the fact that NIU had almost double the first downs and about 100 more yards, I'd have to say that we just whipped 'em (o.k., I couldn't completely refrain from crowing).