Boston College Eagles 28, Maryland Terrapins 17: Stock Report and Helmet Stickers

It sucked. That is all.

Kidding, of course. Recap here.

Stock Up

D.J. Adams? No, really. He hasn't been seen in weeks, but everyone's favorite swaggertastic short-yardage back made a few appearances yesterday. He had one carry on a third-and-short that he took for a first down, and was in again on a fourth-and-goal at the goal line. His surprising re-emergence stank of desperation, but I think everyone was happy to see it; he's plenty talented. He did fumble on his only carry of the day, but Maryland recovered and the conditions made it a little understandable. The push he gave Danny O'Brien on Maryland's final TD should help his cause to see playing time.

Adrian Coxson. The talented Baltimore freshman is a transfer from Florida, and frankly we've been dreaming of his potential impact since he arrived on campus last year. He was mired in the bottom of the depth chart, though, and hadn't seen serious action all year until yesterday. He ended up as Maryland's leading receiver, going for 78 yards on three catches with a TD. He's one of those "athletes" that Randy Edsall keeps saying he doesn't have, so hopefully he, like Adams, has earned some more playing time here. With how Maryland's wide receiver corps has been playing, it's not like he can be much worse.

Davin Meggett. Not because of his particular play, but mostly just because I feel like he deserves something. I can't help but feel bad for Davin, who's been really good this year but has been criminally underused all season. He's a north-south power runner, which should've meant something like 25 to 30 carries in the rain and snow. He ended up with 17, and still nearly topped 100 yards (had 99). If Gary Crowton leaned on Meggett the same way Boston College leaned on Rolandan Finch, I can't help but feel there's a better outcome.

Cameron Chism. In all honesty, Chizz probably deserved to be in Hold instead of Stock Up. But so much went wrong that he gets the bump by comparison. He A) missed a tackle on the edge on a late third down that just about clinched it for BC, and B) was called for a bad horsecollar late in the game. But both of those happened more or less when things were already out of control. When it was still a game, Chism was at his best: he made three solid open-field tackles, recovered a fumble in the red zone, and had the interception at the end of the second, which was closer to being a catch than it looked. It was more Good Cam than Bad Cam yesterday.

Keith Bowers. His unit got absolutely mashed, but he's a true freshman and ended up with two tackles for loss. C'mon.

Maryland's offense vs. second-stringers. Both of Maryland's touchdowns came after Boston College had already put their subs in. Which means that, for the second week in a row, Maryland got two TDs after the game had already been lost to make the score a little more bearable. Yay.

Hold

Justus Pickett. The true freshman did average upwards of 4 yards per carry on his 8 attempts, with a bruising 12-yard run on the first drive. He threw in a really nice block that gave Danny O'Brien a passing lane late in the game (DOB didn't take it, mostly because he didn't have an open man, but that's not Pickett's fault). He also dropped a handful of passes. Pickett is getting better, but he hasn't put it all together yet.

The offensive line. Opened up lanes for the running game, but also exposed the quarterback to consistent pressure. Notably, Nick Klemm looked like he claimed the starting LT job, and did okay in the process.

Joe Vellano. Big Joe did have 10 tackles, which should re-assert his title of Tackling King of Interior Linemen. But he was also part of a unit that got mauled by a struggling BC offensive line, and that often included him.

Lorne Goree. Goree wasn't a standout, but was often in the right place at the right time. A big assisted tackle on an early third down stands out in my memory, plus the fumble recovery. I don't think it'll be too easy to ditch him as a starter in favor of Kenny Tate next year.

Darin Drakeford and Eric Franklin. Completely honestly, both of these guys stood out more for a few missed tackles than anything else during the game, but on the statsheet they were tied in the team lead for tackles with 11. You get that many opportunities and make that many tackles, I guess a few missed tackles aren't a killer, especially with everybody missing tackles all around them

Kickoff coverage unit. Bad: kick out of bounds. Good: the only return BC had was a 19-yarder. Given that this was the nation's worst unit in that category before the game, I count that as progress.

Fans. Bad: Announced attendance was 29K, but the real number might've been half that. Good: Maryland might've had 15K fans or so. That's more than this game deserved.

Stock Down

Maryland's quarterbacks. Both C.J. Brown and Danny O'Brien are straddling the line between Hold and Stock Down. On the one hand, their combined stat-line was pretty horrid, and their play wasn't that much better. On the other hand, they were working with a pretty below-average receiving corps and in awful conditions.

Let's start with Brown, who was 2-6 on the day with a pick. Two of his passes were batted at the line of scrimmage, including his interception. Another was dropped by Marcus Leak. His passing ability was just about what we've come to expect by now, and I don't think it was much worse than you should've expected given what we know about him combined with the conditions. What was surprising was that his running wasn't really dangerous, or heavily utilized. That's his bread-and-butter, and it needs to be emphasized when he's in the game.

O'Brien's stat-line of 14-35 with a TD and a pick looks a bit better, but I don't think his performance was markedly better. He led two TD drives, but both came against BC's second-teamers, so I don't put nearly as much stock into them. Before those two drives, he was a disastrous 5-21 and his nine drives ended in no points. A solid ten or so of his passes must've been dropped, but he still had several missed reads and mis-thrown balls, most of them underthrown. His interception to Luke Kuechly was awful.

I want to put them in Hold so badly, but I can't really remember anything they did particularly well. The receivers screwed them over with poor hands, but even an average performance there probably wouldn't have put them in Stock Up given all the other plays they missed ... so we'll put them here, but only just barely. More coming on them tomorrow or sometimes.

Marcus Leak. I was psyched to see more of the true freshmen in action, but I definitely wasn't expecting the three drops and no receptions he dished out. The conditions were horrible, granted, and he's only a true freshman, so by no means am I giving up - in fact, I still think he has a bright future - but that future isn't here yet.

Just about everyone else who tried to catch a ball. Drops, drops, drops, drops, drops, drops, drops. I know the conditions were bad, but this is a recurring problem with these guys. There is literally no way to mount a drive if receivers can't catch the ball.

Max Garcia. Called for a false start, allowed a sack, and lost his spot to Nick Klemm. Rough day.

The front seven, as a unit. I pointed out some decent individual efforts above, but collectively, the front seven got absolutely pounded. Boston College's offensive line had struggled all year, but they more or less manhandled the Terps' at the point of attack. People will make much of Rolandan Finch's crazy yardage total, and it's deserved, but remember that he often wasn't touched until he was eight or so yards down the field. I think every single player in the front seven got notably blown up by an offensive lineman at least once yesterday, and for several of them it happened more. Tough to win a game that way.

Nick Ferrara. Terrible conditions, again, but that doesn't explain the kick out of bounds to start the game, and it'll always be tough to defend two missed field goals. One of Nick's weaker games.

Special teams. Anytime BC wanted to get pressure on a punt, they got it. Several times they came close to a block, bailing Maryland out by overpursuing. Throw in a bad snap or two, some missed kicks, and absolutely no bite in the return game, and you have yet another clunker from Maryland's third phase. Randy Edsall, Todd Bradford, and Gary Crowton might all be sticking around, but Lyndon Johnson's gotta get the boot.

Gary Crowton. I could just tell you that Maryland picked up 228 total yards against BC's first team defense and leave it at that, but I won't. What really got me was Crowton's continued head-scratching play-calling. Maryland drove down the field on the opening drive relying heavily on the ground game, going 53 yards to get into BC's red zone - which makes sense, given how good Maryland's ground game is and how bad the conditions were. Crowton then calledthree passes on the next four plays, resulting in a stalled red zone drive and an interception that set up a BC TD. Of course.

Almost all of Maryland's stalled drives stalled when they went prematurely to the passing game or tried to get funny with the running game. BC didn't consistently stop the conventional running game, and Maryland should've leaned on it the way the Eagles did. Maryland's passing game is awful to start with, with no quarterback passing well right now or consistent receivers, so I'm wondering why Crowton thought it was a good idea to pass it 41 times in terrible conditions. From here on out, my own preference would be for Maryland to just run the ball until whichever defense they're playing proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that they can stop it.

Todd Bradford. Again, I thought the defense did okay once the game got a little further along, but that doesn't mean I think The Todd called a good game. I kid you not: the color commentator was diagnosing exactly what BC was going to run by the middle of the second quarter, and they were still throttling Maryland's defense. When the color commentator is calling a better game than the defensive coordinator, you know you've got problems.

Randy Edsall. I'm not blaming Rockin' Randy for his receivers dropping balls, or the weather sucking, or even for his defensive front line getting destroyed. You can blame all of those things on other people or other things, if you really want to. But you can't deny that Maryland looked woefully unprepared and unmotivated, which is the third time that's happened this year. Basically, the Miami game notwithstanding, every time Maryland has played an unranked team they've come out flat.

Even beside his coordinators failing, which is more a big-picture thing, Edsall has shown no ability to consistently motivate a team. And that's as worrisome as anything else in the program. It doesn't look like this team is playing for him at all anymore.

The field. Got ripped to shreds yesterday. I guess it's kinda understandable given the conditions, but turf would've been much nicer. I shudder to think about what it'll look like come lacrosse season.

Helmet Stickers

Davin Meggett, RB. One of the few good performers on offense, with 99 yards on the ground on nearly six yards per carry.

Adrian Coxson, WR. Mostly because I didn't know of anyone else to give it to, he scored a TD, and he didn't make any major mistakes.

Cameron Chism, CB. Chism did make a few mistakes, but he also accounted for two TOs yesterday, which was one of the very few bright spots.

Darin Drakeford, LB. In keeping with the above, Drakeford did get credited with a strip, plus the 11 tackles. Made mistakes, but at least he made a big play.