Maryland-MTSU Report Card and Helmet Stickers

Here they are, folks. Feel free to critique and disagree as you see fit.

QB: B+

Tough to complain about Chris Turner's performance. He was 19-30 with 2 TDs, and his interception wasn't at all his fault. He threw some very nice deep balls to Torrey Smith and was overall very accurate on the day and made good decisions. Good day for him.

RB: C+

I wasn't particularly sure how to grade this. True, Da'Rel Scott had two fumbles that lost Maryland the game (a lot of things lost Maryland the game, actually). But he also had a 9 ypc average and 117 yards. If he isn't benched, I'm pretty certain he has at least one or two more big runs that, if they don't make up for the fumbles, mitigate their effects somewhat. More importantly, I don't think Maryland loses with another big play or two.

That said, he didn't come back in the game, and it was instead Davin Meggett who handled the majority of the carries. I like Meggett a lot, but he simply can't create, especially not when the offensive line is this porous. He was a force in the passing game, but the Terps simply couldn't move the ball on the ground when he was in.

WR: A-

Torrey Smith. Torrey Smith. Torrey Smith. That basically says it all.

Ok, I'll say more. Smith is proving what I've been saying for awhile: he has the ability to be a star. But even I didn't think he'd be this productive. Two TDs (one of which he was wide open for), five catches, and 165 is a day you expect out of your #1 receiver.

Kerry Boykins had his number called twice in the fourth quarter, one of which was a clutch catch on 3rd and 10. This was a coming out party of sorts for him; I expect he'll move up the depth chart this week. Adrian Cannon was surprisingly quiet today; this was the first time he hasn't made an impact this season. Still, Smith and Boykins alone make this performance great.

OL: D+

First the good: Chris Turner had some time to throw on some of the deep ball attempts. Bennett Fulper had a really nice pull block on Scott's 48-yard TD run. I think that's it.

After allowing only one sack last week, they gave up four this week, and if it wasn't for Chris Turner throwing the ball away under pressure a few times, it could've been seven. Likewise, Meggett had nothing to work with on the ground. The line became invisible drives at a time. ACC play will be ugly.

DL: C-

First the good: There were four sacks. According to the stats, Dwight Dasher and D.D. Kyles were held to under 3 yards per carry.

The bad: that's mostly the work of the linebackers, cornerbacks, and statistical office. The line couldn't even get close to Dasher unless there were three players blitzing. As for the running stats: Dasher's stats look worse than they should because he took a couple big sacks. Sacks in the college game subtract from the running yardage; he actually had 72 yards on 16 carries, not 26 on 4. Doesn't look so good now, does it?

LB: B

The biggest concern I had about the linebackers was Dwight Dasher's superior athletic ability. I had nightmares of him running right around Alex Wujciak en route to a 30 yard TD run. Surprisingly, that never happened. Dasher did have a 26 yard run, but that was his only big play on the day and was otherwise contained nicely. Wujciak, Adrian Moten, and Demetrius Hartsfield all looked good yesterday - Hartsfield dropped a sure interception, but made a few nice stops on Dasher. Wujciak racked up the tackles again, piling up 11. And Moten had what is surely his best day yet: 11 tackles and a 15 yard sack.

We've been expecting this kind of day out of the LBs, and finally got it. There is some reason for hope.

DB: B-

In the first game without Nolan Carroll, the DBs were a mix of good and bad. On the one hand, Cameron Chism had two interceptions, 12 tackles, and, outside of one or two bad plays, held his own. Antwine Perez had a breakout game, with five tackles, one of which was a stonewall reminiscent of his UNC stop. Trenton Hughes surprised me with a solid game as the nickel corner.

Of course, Chism did get burned a few times, most noticeably on a 35 yard pass that would set up the game-winning FG. Also, the 12 tackles are a result of getting picked on and allowing so many completions. Kenny Tate didn't have a good game - outside a sack that was mainly Wujciak's doing, he was mostly invisible, looked like he blew a deep coverage assignment, and missed a tackle on a long MTSU TD pass. Anthony Wiseman still doesn't look capable of being a #1 corner, either.

While the bad seems really bad, it's not quite as awful as it seems. For a unit without its #1 corner and starting safety, they did alright. I won't complain about it too much.

Special Teams: C+

Nick Ferrara had his first misses of the season, having one kick blocked and sending another wide. I'm okay with that - he's a freshman, so it's understandable. Travis Baltz continued his string of mediocre games, which for anyone else wouldn't be that bad. Torrey Smith wasn't his usual self on kick returns, either. It wasn't the best of days for the ST unit.

Helmet Stickers:

• Torrey Smith, WR - Great day for Smith. Like I said above, he's proven he is a legitimate #1 receiver.
• Adrian Moten, OLB - Moten is showing why he was selected captain even though he's a junior. Eleven tackles, a pass breakup, and a sack is a great showing.
• Tony Logan, PR - Yeah, I'm giving a helmet sticker for a single punt return. Why? Because it's obvious Logan, not Tate, deserves to be back there. I like Kenny, but he's averaging somewhere around 6 yards out there and has a fumble. In Logan's one return, he had 17 yards. Plus, no one else on special teams did anything worth recognition.
• Cameron Chism, CB - Yes, he got beaten deep on key possessions, and yes, he got picked on all day, but Chism did something literally no one else on Maryland's defense has been able to do - force turnovers.