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Some Maryland fans have been fighting against it all year, but with a third consecutive loss and a team that seemingly regresses with each game, it's a nearly inarguable point: the Maryland football program has hit a new low. A very poor Syracuse football team came into College Park and ran the Terps out of their own stadium, leaving calls for Randy Edsall's job at a very loud roar. Maryland lost by a final score of 20-3.
Saturday afternoon, the Terps delivered one of the worst offensive performances seen in years at a major college football program. Listless may be the word to describe it, but ultimately you can't even properly put words to how putrid Maryland looked against what is a very, very bad Syracuse team.
Maryland is now 0-15 under Randy Edsall in games during the second half of the season. This was the most important game in Edsall's tenure, with bowl eligibility on the line and a host of very important recruits in attendance, and the team simply did not show up.
Edsall has talked at length about the opportunity Maryland has been afforded in scheduling this year -- having two bye weeks. Those two games (along with the loss at Wake Forest) are easily the worst Maryland has looked all year, as they were blown out 63-0 by Florida State and were simply dominated by a Syracuse team that lost 56-0 to Georgia Tech two games ago.
The Terrapins are now 4-17 in ACC play under Randy Edsall. After the era-opening win over Miami in 2011, they have beaten Virginia twice and Wake Forest once.
Most people figured that if Randy Edsall could guide Maryland to a bowl game -- which didn't seem to be too high of an ask after a 4-0 start -- his job would be safe. That quest is now very much in doubt, as Syracuse was the most winnable game on the schedule, and Edsall has planted himself squarely on the hot seat, with a move to a new conference coming up and the desire for positive momentum in the program.
Even the most ardent Edsall supporters have likely backed off now. When you play your worst football after having an extra week of preparation with the coaches, that has to fall squarely on the coach. That's the reality Maryland is facing, and it's hard to imagine it changing without a new head coach.
Maryland's only scoring drive, which went 48 yards (the second longest for the Terps on the day), included 35 yards of Syracuse penalty yardage. Maryland still only managed a field goal.
There was a point in the second quarter where the teams traded turnovers on five of six possessions. Maryland, naturally, had three of those five, and Syracuse was the only team to capitalize on any of them, with a field goal to end the half.
Jerome Smith scored a one-yard touchdown on Syracuse's opening drive, giving the Orange a 7-0 lead.
Maryland scored for the first time with just over a minute left in the third quarter, as Brad Craddock hit a 23-yarder to make it 13-3. Syracuse put the game away with Smith's 21-yard touchdown run in the fourth.