Maryland is headed to the Foster Farms Bowl on December 30 to play Stanford. What are your positive and negative takeaways from this matchup?
Pete: To start, my positive takeaway is Maryland's tremendous opportunity in this one. They're playing a high-caliber opponent on a national stage, and it's one that has struggled in some very specific areas this season. Maryland plays a bend-but-don't-break defense, and Stanford's offense breaks in the red zone. A lot. The problem? The Cardinal's defense is elite, and will almost certainly give the Terps' offensive line fits. As well as the other problem, that 10 p.m. ET start time.
Noah: Maryland's offense has been very poor against great defenses. They don't play well against them at all. Stanford has the nation's #2 scoring defense. They only give up 16 points per game and their schedule has included 5 ranked teams. They held Washington State to 17 points and smothered a potential first round QB in Brett Hundley in holding to UCLA to 10 points in their season finale. Also, Stanford's coach (David Shaw) is way better than Randy Edsall. Kevin Hogan (Career record of 30-10 with two appearances in the Rose Bowl) is way better than C.J. Brown. Duh. Positives? Brad Craddock is awesome.
Jake: Positives: Destination is good for players, it's a marquee name. Negatives: Hard for all the alumni in the DMV area to travel. But Detroit is closer than Santa Clara and no one wants to go to Detroit. Game wise.....bowl game results are meaningless. It's a glorified exhibition. But while Maryland does struggle with great defenses.....Stanford's red zone offense is laughable and Kevin Hogan hasn't been all that great this year. So Maryland's got a good chance to get an 8th W, but again bowl game results are meaningless unless it's a New Years Six/Semifinal game.
Todd: Sometimes perception trumps reality. Although they don't have a stellar record this season, they have, as Noah points out played a challenging schedule. Combine that with their recent success and I think Maryland has the opportunity to get a win that will look like a higher quality win than it might truly be. Also, I think this is perceived as a step up from the Military Bowl if for no other reason than the destination. I think it fits the program building narrative Maryland is trying to sell to the fan base and to recruits. On the downside, as I said to someone in the AD at Sunday's women's basketball game, if you want to reinforce the perception of Maryland as a school that doesn't travel well, send them to a mediocre bowl as far College Park as you can.
Andrew K.: The positive is that we get to square off against a storied football program, rather than another Military Bowl-type affair with Marshall. The negative is that we could have done even better, if the 2nd half collapse against Rutgers didn't occur.But facing Stanford in Levi's Stadium does represent a modest improvement over how 2014 ended. From what I‘ve read Stanford's "D" is great but their offense is tepid. They're getting a lot of hype as they beat UCLA in Pasadena fairly handily two weeks ago. Most important of all, we get one more time to see Mr. Diggs in a Terp uniform.
David W.: The biggest positive is that, other than the name of the bowl, this is a high-profile matchup for Maryland. The Terrapins' last three bowl opponents: Marshall, East Carolina and Nevada. Stanford is probably the biggest-name bowl opponent for the Terps since they faced West Virginia in the 2003 Gator Bowl. And while the Cardinal is good, it's not the unbeatable powerhouse that some SEC teams would've been. The biggest negative is how far away the game is, which should reinforce the reputation Maryland fans have for not traveling for bowl games.
Dave T.: As others have said, it's a great opportunity for Maryland. The Foster Farms bowl is a significantly better bowl than what it was when Maryland last played in it. Stanford is a great team, on a national stage. It also isn't a bowl game in Detroit or Texas. On the negative, the game is 2,840 miles from College Park and it's not the TaxSlayer (Gator) bowl.
What is your overall impression of Maryland's regular season of football? Was the season successful?
Pete: I think my thoughts on this are all out there, but I consider the season moderately successful. Not wildly successful, by any means, but Maryland guaranteed a winning record while redshirting their two blue-chip offensive linemen. Now, if they can win this game? An unquestioned success. But next season is the key one for Maryland and Randy Edsall, especially on the recruiting trail.
Noah: Brutal question. The losses were all excruciating. The last second field goal loss to West Virginia after coming back to tie it, the blowout loss to Ohio State, the blowout loss to Wisconsin, the blowout loss to Michigan State and the second half nuclear level meltdown against Rutgers at home on senior day. The wins against Penn State and Michigan made fans feel amazing. Considering that this team nearly lost those two games and the game against South Florida should tell us that this program is headed in the right direction but it will take several more years to build the kind of program that can compete with Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State year in and year out. The season was successful in the sense that it re-energized the Maryland fan base and made fans hope that the future could be bright. Then Rutgers happened.
Jake: There's positives. We haven't had consecutive winning seasons since 02-03 and Pete's article elaborated on that. With a W over Stanford they could improve in win total for the 4th straight year. But the Rutgers loss.....ugh. The WVU loss wasn't great either. Edsall isn't the coach to take Maryland into the future but he is a coach who can give the Terps some consistency and the ability to make a better, hopefully great hire in 2-3 years.
Todd: Not yet. I had a floor of eight wins. I'm still waiting for it.
Andrew K.: I also had a floor of eight wins. But there were some hints of progress. We probably exceeded the expectations of many B1G pundits; going 4 - 4 in our first year in the league gathered a measure of respect amongst our fellow B1G programs. The biggest satisfaction came from beating State Pen(n), for many obvious reasons.
David W.: A win against Rutgers would've made it a great season, but right now it's just acceptable. It's tough to be mad about wins at Penn State and Michigan-even in down years for those two-but you'd always like to see win totals increase. A win against Stanford would make Maryland's first season in the Big 10 an unequivocal success.
Dave T.: Yes and no. On one hand, Maryland finishes with a winning record in consecutive seasons. There is clearly momentum moving forward. They faced tougher competition and showed they're better than the bottom portion of the B1G. They beat Michigan for the first time ever. They beat Penn State for the first time in Happy Valley. Those aren't insignificant accomplishments, even if both teams had down years. But the loss to Rutgers really derailed a lot of the positive momentum for this season. If they can beat Stanford, I think you consider it a great season. If you don't, you say it was just okay; not overly good but not horribly bad, either.
Terps kicker Brad Craddock is a finalist for the Groza Award, and the winner will be announced in a few short hours. Will Craddock bring home the hardware?
Pete: He better.
Noah: God I hope he does. Unfortunately, he no longer has the 100% field goal percentage to hold over everyone and Aguayo has made more kicks, is the reigning Lou Groza winner and his team is in the College Football playoff. I think Aguayo takes it by a very slim margin.
Jake: Aguayo has been anointed greatest FG kicker of all time (he is great) so it'll be tough. But I think he's got a good shot. Missed just 1 FG and perfect on XPA? That's pretty good.
Todd: Not if ESPN/ABC has anything to do with it. I lost count of the number of times the announcers for the ACC Championship game called Aguayo the nation's best kicker.
Andrew K.: If Craddock had made that last FG against Rutgers there would be no denying him. But in order to beat Aguayo, Craddock had to have been perfect. Not saying it's fair, just the reality of the situation.
David W.: He should. Aguayo probably will, though, because of name recognition.
Dave T: He freaking better win it.
The Terps' Men's Basketball team is ranked 19th in the AP poll, and is building a pretty respectable Tournament resume. Has the team met your expectations thus far?
Pete: My expectations have been far exceeded thus far. I knew this freshman class was special, but I didn't expect them to be able to make quite this much of an impact so far. Without Dez Wells, Maryland has still been able to win the games that they're supposed to, and while I'm not expecting anything special against Oklahoma State, the tournament resume has started in earnest.
Noah: I would say that they have exceeded my expectations so far. The team looks good. They beat a good Iowa State team but got dominated by a way better Virginia team. They still aren't healthy yet but they will turn heads this year. Big Ten play is absolutely brutal though so we'll have to see how they hold up.
Jake: Definitely met, perhaps exceeded. They've played clean, smart, great basketball for the most part and even In games they've struggled in like VMI and Winthrop....they've pulled away late. Those could've been L's last year. This team looks capable of competing with anyone bar the Top 10-12 in the nation (UVA and Wisconsin are apart of that group). There's no reason Maryland can't be a Top 5 or even Top 3 B1G team.
Todd: I'd have to say slightly exceeded. As fans, we had lots of preseason optimism but I get so focused on the other sports, I only have a general sense of expectation. The women's team, on the other hand, has slightly disappointed me.
Andrew K.: I'm really positive on this team. Melo has not wilted under the spotlight, and Wiley & Nickens have surpassed my expectations. Layman is slashing to the basket and playing much more aggressively than in his first two years. Dodd, Checko, & Graham have been "meh". But Dez prior to his injury was playing good, maybe a bit too unselfish ball. When he returns, along with Smo' this could be a dangerous team. The only major negative has been rebounding. That will be important as we face the B1G men.
David W.: Considering Dez Wells and Evan Smotrycz have been hurt, I'd say they've definitely exceeded expectations. The potential was always there for Maryland, but I didn't expect them to put it together this early and beat a top-15 Iowa State team at the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
Dave T.: Before the season started, I expected this team to be pretty good. I think they showed that at the CBE Classic. What's really impressed me is how this team has played without Dez Wells and Evan Smotrycz. They're learning how to win without those two, which is important for next season. Then when you get both of those players back, hopefully soon, Maryland should be a very good and dangerous team, potentially the second best in the B1G this season behind Wisconsin.
Through the first ten games of the season, who is your MVP, who or what has been the biggest surprise and disappointment?
Pete: My MVP is Melo Trimble. He's a guy who I had way too high expectations for and he's somehow exceeded them. I've been tremendously impressed by his poise, decision-making and ability to get to the line, and I don't know where Maryland would be right now with him at point guard. In terms of biggest surprise, I'd have to say the readiness of Jared Nickens to take on a major shot load. I'm not really disappointed in any aspect of the team so far, so I'm going to opt out there.
Noah: I would say Richaud Pack has been the biggest surprise. I didn't know how much he would contribute but he has been really good. Layman is probably my MVP so far as I think he is the Terps most consistent player but you could easily make the case for Melo Trimble since he is currently leading the team in scoring at a little over 16 points per game. Not a lot of disappointment as far as the record goes but the statistics show that this team has a lot of trouble passing the ball and rebounding.
Jake: Trimble would be my MVP. His poise and passing and overall running of the offense is superb and its kind've been contagious to the rest of the team. Can't say I've been disappointed with anyone. Everyone's contributed well. Biggest surprise....I guess the development of Layman's all around game. He's added a strong post game and some good driving to the hoop. I think he'll end up making an All B1G team, likely 2nd-3rd.
Todd: I'm going to have to go with Trimble. College basketball is so much about guard play and to read how Trimble has come in and not only manages the team but scores, gets to the free throw line, and makes his free throws has been the difference between this year's team and the previous editions of teams we've seen under Mark Turgeon. With that as a preface, I'd say Layman is a close second. I think he's been in double figures in every game thus far and the Terps appear to be a different (e.g. better) team when Layman's playing aggressively.
Andrew K.: MeloVP. Losing Dez for a few games was hard; if we had lost Trimble we'd be mediocre or less. The biggest surprise has been how well Nickens and Wiley have played, particularly on offense. They have a shooter's mentality and other teams will have to account for them. The biggest disappointment has been Checko. I thought he would provide a bit more offense and rebounding.
David W.: I'll say Jake Layman is the MVP because of how he's expanded his game and taken on more of a leadership role with Dez hurt. Melo Trimble's the biggest surprise. We all thought he'd be good, but I don't think anyone could have imagined him being this good this quickly. The biggest disappointment is all the big men. I didn't expect much of Michael Cekovsky and he's actually been better than I expected, but until Saturday Damonte Dodd hadn't been impressive at all. He needed to make a leap.
Dave T: If you take Melo off this team, what would their record be? They've done well without Dez and Smo, but if they were without Trimble, they might have lost three or more games so far. He's definitely my MVP. The biggest surprise for me is how well the freshmen and Richaud Pack have come into this team, blended with the players already on the roster, and formed into a great basketball team. The biggest disappointment has been that this team wasn't able to face UVA with Dez and Smo available to play. Had they been, I think the margin of victory would have been around five points. Not saying Maryland would have won with them, but it would have been close.