Maryland

I wrote a few years back after attending a football game at Duke and seeing both teams at halftime hunkered down in the open air endzones and sharing port-o-johns as their relief stations that it might be hard to recruit there if said athlete ever actually attended a game. I started thinking similar thoughts after the Maryland game. Go Terrapins. Terrapins. Really, that is the choice?...The fans have signs all over the stadium asking their turtles to either go, move, destroy, maim and otherwise dominate the opposition. This is an animal incapable of crossing a paved country road without human intervention, and some braniac decided this is the best choice for a mascot to represent the official State School. I think that we all ought to root for the Maryland / UC Santa Cruz matchup simply to watch the fans root for the Turtles and the Banana Slugs battle it out. It will be like watching the matrix fight scenes for 4 hours. I know that we have some masters of academia out there who chose their institution of higher learning for other reasons. But, I chose my school because it had the best damn helmet on the planet (my second choice was Michigan), and there is no way on earth I could attend a school that rooted for a turtle...how do two kids in HS talk smack..."Yeah well I am going to be a Seminole! Oh yeah, I'm a Turtle!" Oooooh.

Our defense is better when they are backed up inside the 20. The reason is not MENSA-level difficult. When we are backed up, the zones shrink and our LB's and DB's all play up on top of the line of scrimmage. This aggressive stance suits our kids and we tend to shut down the opposition with regularity. My advice - stop playing scared in between the 20's and play this way all over the field. Giving clearasil-loaded freshman QB's the chance to complete 80% of their passes all within 8 yards of the line is a ball control disaster. Xavier Rhodes and Mike Harris are physical enough to jam & run. Yes, Greg Reid needs to give 6 yards, but not 10-12. Yes, the refs changed the game when they mistook Reids wallop for a head shot, but that kind of physical play won the Miami game. Their WR's were like Muggles out for a picnic on Voldemort Island the rest of the game. Keep taking those shots. Nick Moody clearly had his best game as a Nole - regardless of the pick six. I loved the play earlier in the game when the Terp back was running downhill and then hit a Wile E. Coyote ACME punch 1 yard short of the marker called Nick Moody. I am sorry. That shot hurt both those boys. Nick had 13 tackles in front of 50 friends & relatives in the stadium closest to his home...

Great jobs in college football...the guy in charge of pulling Mark Stoops off the field by his wire every down. His forearms must look like Popeye by the 4th qtr, not to mention his shuttle times are off the chain. Could replace P90X as the new hip workout routine.

This was a tough game to judge offensively. With Haulstead out, Christian looking for Bert on almost every critical down, JT out at tailback and a medically iffy Ty Jones, the bullets were not all in the gun for Jimbo this week. He admitted that he blew it postgame in the red zone and I concur. The best player on the field for the G&G is LG Rodney Hudson, with his neighbor LT Andrew Datko maybe a close second. Why for the love of all that is not orange we do not run behind these guys more is beyond me. That CT scoot for 70? Between those two. Three runs for nothing in the 4th quarter after the punt bounced off the camouflage back - behind the other side of the line. I am convinced that in homage to Woody Hayes, if we pounded Lonnie Pryor straight ahead behind ole 62 3x and did not get a first down, I would eat nothing but vegetables for a week. Speaking of not eating vegetables, how did Christian get up after he plowed head first into the Fridge on Saturday Night. Sun Sports showed the Md coach just getting lambasted with his hat, glasses and playbook all heading in different directions while our QB crumpled below this mass of humanity. The most effective newish wrinkle we saw this week was liberal use of the RB screen. With the athletic lineman we have, I love this call 3-5 times every game.

A big thank you to the Maryland University maintenance crew who forgot to repaint the goal posts on Friday night per the instruction of the HC. It seems that the mascot races across campus ran over time (go figure) and they just did not get to it. Without that paint, Dustin's duck-hook that doinked would not have dove inside for a trey. Speaking of special teams and Head Coaches, a beautiful call and execution of the fake punt late in the 1st half. Loved every part of that, and hope we have two more in the playbook for this weekend.

Well for the first time since Taylor Swift hit puberty, the game this weekend should be competitive. Florida probably has a talent advantage, but our heroes are playing at home and should have a more unbreakable sense of confidence. Let's see if we can break the ugly streak and start a new one of our own.

Oh Yeah, and Go Terrapins! Take us to Charlotte, you incredible Turtles!