The Maryland Terrapins
football team hoped to reach 3-0 after Saturday night's home game against Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, the James Franklin-led Hokies
came out humming and comfortably defeated the Terps, 35-26.
Virginia Tech's offense began the game with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown pass from quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer
to his tight end Luke Reynolds. The drive featured a lot of hurry-up offense against the Terps' defense, with shotgun sets that stretched it vertically.
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Maryland
's offense tried to keep pace with Virginia Tech's, but couldn't, as Virginia Tech scored touchdowns on 5 of its first 6 drives, building a 35-14 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Malik Washington
would lead the Terps to close the deficit with back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth, but ultimately couldn't keep the comeback afloat.
So let's figure out what went wrong and what to take away after this demolarizing defeat.
3rd Down Defense Was Non-Existent
If there's one thing good defenses do at all levels of football, it's to find a way to stop the opponent on third down and get the ball back. On Saturday, Ted Monachino's defense struggled mightily with that task.
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The Hokies' offense converted 10 of 16 third-down situations. Not to mention also going 2-for-2 on fourth down attempts.
That extended the long-sustaining drives Virginia Tech had, which did the Terps' defense no favors, especially in the first three quarters, when they were on the field most of the time.
Grunkemeyer connected with his receivers, attacking the soft areas in the Terps' zone defense, and his receivers made tough catches in traffic against Terps defenders in coverage. Also, after recording 10 sacks through the first two games, Maryland only had one Saturday.
However, third-down penalties gave the Terps trouble. Amari Jackson and Jayden Scuggs each committed two pass-interference penalties in the second quarter on two separate drives, which helped the Hokies finish with touchdowns.
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Offense Starts Slow Once Again
Against UConn
, the Terps first three drives went as follows: punt, touchdown, and punt. On those drives where they had to punt, the Terps couldn't connect with their passing game for positive yards on first and second down.
Saturday against Virginia Tech, it was the opposite. The lack of a run game made the offense one-dimensional, leading to negative-yardage plays on early downs and resulting in third-and-longs.
Running backs Harry Dalton III and Iverson Howard had no space on the creases or between the tackles because of Virginia Tech's d-line swarming them.
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Washington had moments where he and his receivers weren't couldn't connect because of the coverage by the Hokies secondary or Washington being forced out the pocket.
Two of Maryland's three punts resulted in Virginia Tech gaining possession and turning them into touchdowns.
If there's one positive takeaway for Terps fans from Saturday's contest, it is the emergence of offseason addition wide receiver Chris Durr Jr. Durr Jr. for a second-straight week had over 10+ receptions, with 100+ receiving yards, and at least one touchdown
Durr Jr. is agile, crisp on his routes, and has great hands that let him make tough grabs over the middle or on the boundaries, even with defenders draped over him.
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There's a reason Washington keeps going to the transfer from Wyoming
because he's reliable, open and producing.
Maryland will need more of that same production from Durr Jr. entering Big Ten play.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/maryland as Takeaways From Maryland's First Loss Of The Season Against Virginia Tech
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