4-14 on third downs | Syracusefan.com

4-14 on third downs

Fjoinkay

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Yeah, Maryland was 3-14 on third downs, but Maryland won the turnover battle 2-0 and blocked a punt in SU territory. The Terps also played most of the second half with an 18 point lead. Maryland gashed the SU defense early. We saw SU's defense struggle early against CMU when SU played zone coverage. The Terps had 31 points at the half and 276 total yards of offense. At the end of the game Maryland had 34 points and 369 total yards.

When Randy Edsell had success at UConn his teams won an unusual amount of very close games. It was remarkable. UConn football went from being really bad to a team that won just about every close game and ended up playing in a BCS bowl game. Last year the Terps were really banged up when SU beat them in College Park. This year it was going to take a total effort for SU to win at home. SU showed a lot of potential yesterday, but in the end they came up short and mental mistakes continued to impede their success.

I thought T-Hunt played really well. He put it all on the line running the ball. He threw a few balls behind receivers especially on the over the middle crossing patterns, but we saw a few drops as well. The problem on offense for one reason or another is that on third down the Terps won 10 out of 14 times. The punt block bothers me a lot more than the pick-6. Maryland had 3 players in position to block that punt which had to be the result of some kind of mental mistake pre-snap.

I like the way SU competed until the end. This team has a lot of potential. They won decisively against CMU, but they were sloppy at times in that game and as Ray Bentley pointed out SU needed to improve going forward to have more success. The tape this week will have even more to learn from especially the first half where in all three phases SU's performance was inconsistent and at times a bit clunky. They have the potential to be sharp all around, but they need to be clear mentally to do that.
 
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