This is sad. An ACC team is not supposed to lose to Middle Tennessee State. I don't care that Virginia almost did last year - they didn't lose, and Maryland's better than them anyway. There are way too many problems to list, so I'll just present a quick overview.

Quarterbacks - Jamarr Robinson, anyone? Surely, he can't be too bad. We all know about Steffy, but Chris Turner was terrible last night as well. He had no confidence in the pocket, and made questionable throws all game long. As soon as the offense started rolling he threw the ball deep right into double coverage and gave the receiver pretty much no chance at a catch. Portis showed flashes, but he also had some bad plays that could've been avoided.

Offensive Coaching - Maryland has two of the best (maybe the best) weapons in the ACC: Da'Rel Scott and Darrius Heyward-Bey. Both Scott and Hey-Bey showcased their talents tonight on a couple big plays...and then were promptly ignored. There should be four plays in the playbook: Da'Rel Scott run outside, Da'Rel Scott run inside, Hey-Bey screen, Hey-Bey goes deep. That's it. We would go at least 7-5. I mean, how do you give the leading rusher in the ACC a whopping eleven carries? Fridge should ride him until his back breaks. Meanwhile, Heyward-Bey only had three receptions! This is unacceptable in every way.

Defense - Yeah, I'm lumping them together. The defense, moreso than the offense, is a unit in and of themselves. And they failed. As a disclaimer, let me say that the defense probably performed better than the offense last night. For much off the game, they were again "bend not break". It shouldn't be that way, but it's not terrible. They fell apart due to tiredness. They were pushed too hard because the offense would give them about a minute and a half of rest before rushing them back on the field again. All that said: the defense underperformed. They should've been able to stay on the field all game long and shut these guys down. Philistin had a good game, but he was pretty much alone. The secondary was somehow getting torched, so they decided to give eight yards of cushion on every play. The defense couldn't get pressure on the QB consistently; it was a shamble.

The performance from everyone involved - coaches and players - was simply unacceptable. I really hope the team gets its act together soon, because I was hoping UMD could pull out at least one ACC game. And they certainly can. Remember, UVA last year lost by 20 points to a bad Wyoming team, then stormed back and took care of everyone else to have a good season. The season's not over, but the team needs to do a lot of work to salvage it.