As distasteful as the West Virginia Mountaineers are, I was expecting the University of Maryland Terrapins (1-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) to lose that. Saturday’s game against the Temple Owls (2-1, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) was a different story in mind.
The Terps never got out of neutral on offense and the defense played poorly as Temple pounced on Maryland early and often en route to their 38-7 victory.
Maryland got the opening kickoff, but never stood a chance against a defense that dominated their offensive line and quarterback Danny O’Brien. The Terps first drive resulted in a three-and-out and Temple took advantage.
Owls running back Bernard Pierce scored on Temple’s first possession and four more times to provide all of the scoring against Maryland. He rushed for 149 yards on 32 carries.
On the other side of the ball, the Terps’ offense, led by O’Brien, was able to gain just 49 rushing yards and 195 yards through the air.
Maryland’s biggest problem of the day, and it’s been a recurring issue at this early juncture of the season, was the inability of the defense to stop Temple. Every time the Owls needed a big third down, the Terps defense couldn’t halt Temple’s momentum.
The Terps need to fix whatever is wrong on the defensive end before they play Georgia Tech in two weeks. Next week, the Terps will take on the Towson Tigers of the Football Championship Subdivision and hopefully can get what they need worked out.
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