The Mike Locksley’s era at Maryland is off to a hot start, as the Terrapins improve to 2-0 on the season with a 63-20 upset win over No. 21 Syracuse Saturday in College Park, MD. The win comes a week after beating FCS Howard 79-0 in the season opener.
Maryland’s 79-point drubbing of Howard came with mix reviews. Some were impressed and others discounted the win, despite it being the largest in school history, because the Bison are part of Football Championship Sub-division, formerly Division I-AA. Well, those doubts got momentarily put to rest.
The Terrapins are a good team. How good remains to be seen in regards of playing in the tough Big Ten East. However, good enough to be undefeated in non-conference play. Beating a Power 5 program not named Rutgers by 43 points is impressive in itself.
1. Expect Maryland to Be Ranked This Week
The Terrapins are deserving of a ranking in this week’s AP and Coaches’ polls. Maryland has outscored their opponents 142-20 in their first two games. The second of those happened to be against the No. 21 team in the country Syracuse, who experts pegged as the second-best team in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind Clemson.
The win was Maryland’s first against a ranked team at home. And it was Syracuse’s first loss as a ranked team against an unranked team since 1998. Maryland has displayed a great offense and defense. Saturday’s statement win says they are one of the best 25 teams in the nation this early in the season.
2. Credit Maryland’s Defense
Last week they cornered MEAC Player of the Year, quarterback Caylin Newton. This week, the Maryland defense bottled up Tommy DeVito as best as they could, holding him to a 50.5 QBR. Additionally, one week after holding Howard to one rushing yard, the Terrapins held Syracuse to 70 rushing yards and a 2.4 yards per carry average.
Maryland also sacked DeVito four times, including two from Ohio State-transfer Keandre Jones. Maryland had 18 sacks all of 2018 season, this year they already have 12 as a team.
Sure the 330 yards and three touchdowns DeVito passed for is concerning, however, Maryland’s defense made the stops they needed to keep the cushioned lead unreachable for Syracuse. That included forcing a four-downs stop inside their own 30-yard line after Josh Jackson’s lone interception of the game. Their defense will eventually be tested against the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, and Michigan State, but for now the challenge looks a lot less daunting.
3. Josh Jackson Is the QB Maryland Has Always Missed
Locksley’s system has translated in Maryland from Alabama and a large part of that is the precision of his quarterback Josh Jackson. The Virginia Tech-transfer was precise for most of the game, throwing for 277 yards and three touchdowns in the first half as Maryland built a 42-13 halftime lead.
His lone costly mistake was a third quarter-interception in which Jackson had nowhere to go and forced a pass into three Syracuse defenders. By then Maryland was up 49-20 and while Jackson surely got chastised by Locksley, he did everything right when the game was a challenge.
He fit the football in tight windows. He threw his receivers open, and was pinpoint for the first 30 minutes of the game. The lack of quarterback play has hampered Maryland in recent years, one can say since the departure of Danny O’Brien, but now they have a great leader and better yet accurate QB to guide what’s proved to be an unstoppable offense thus far.
4. Maryland Ran All Over Syracuse
With Jackson’s precision, the Maryland run game seems that much more dominant. Against Syracuse, Maryland rushed for 354 yards and six touchdowns.
Javon Leake led the way this week with 107 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Starting running back Anthony McFarland had 75 yards rushing and two touchdowns (he also caught a touchdown). And once up huge 49-20, Maryland was able to run the football down Syracuse’s throats, chewing away clock in the process.
Tayvon Fleet-Davis had a drive in the fourth quarter in which he gained all 58 yards including a five-yard touchdown. Then it was Jake Funk’s turn, as he went 92 yards on three carries, including a 10-yard touchdown.
If Maryland can withstand this type of ground and pound run game, they will be in many more games than expected this season.
5. Four Wins from Bowl Eligibility
The map to becoming bowl eligible in Locksley’s first season became a lot clearer. Beating Syracuse makes obtaining the six wins needed easier. With games against Temple, Rutgers, and Indiana, Maryland seems strong enough to get to five wins before November.
Yes, the Big Ten East is arguably the strongest division in college football, and even with two impressive wins Maryland is unlikely to top any of the big four. However, they do play Purdue and Minnesota, and the jury is still out on how good Nebraska really is. The Cornhuskers seem like another Syracuse, overrated and ranked early on.
Nonetheless, the win over Syracuse definitely stores faith Maryland can get to six wins at the very least even with potentially going 0-4 against the Big Ten East giants.
