Post by elp525 on Sept 17, 2011 3:53:42 GMT -5
September 16, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - In its opening game against Miami, Maryland scored but one offensive touchdown in a 32-24 win.
The wide receiver who managed that touchdown, as well as another of the Terps' receivers, won't play today against West Virginia at Byrd Stadium.
Ronnie Tyler, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior, was arrested Thursday for assault and late Thursday night was suspended indefinitely by Maryland coach Randy Edsall. Quinton McCree, another senior receiver, was reportedly with Tyler at the time and was also suspended.
That erases from the Terps' roster two of the top three receivers in their opener. McCree caught seven passes for 39 yards and Tyler had six catches for 43 yards and the lone offensive touchdown in that game.
Maryland, though, still has its top receiving threat, Kevin Dorsey, who caught eight passes for 124 yards, as well as tight end Matt Furstenburg, among others.
Tyler is accused of punching a 33-year-old man in the face during an altercation at a 7-Eleven store in College Park. The incident occurred in the early-morning hours of Thursday.
Tyler is listed on Maryland's depth chart as the backup to Dorsey at one wideout position, while McCree is the starter at the other. McCree's backup is junior Kerry Boykins, who caught two passes for 40 yards in the opener.
nn
Edsall was never known as much of an offensive innovator during his days as the coach at Connecticut. In fact, while the Huskies did have a handful of good passers - Dan Orlovsky, anyone? - they mostly grinded things out on the ground when possible.
When Edsall took the job at Maryland in January, though, he hired Gary Crowton as his offensive coordinator. Crowton was criticized for his offenses the past few years at LSU, but prior to that he had highly productive - and wide open - offenses at Oregon, BYU and Louisiana Tech. He was the head coach at BYU and Louisiana Tech.
When the Terps - who host West Virginia at noon today at Byrd Stadium - opened their season on Labor Day, the offense tended toward the more wide-open version.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen admits the mix of Edsall and Crowton is hard to figure.
"It's an interesting dynamic,'' Holgorsen said. "Watching what they did at UConn, we all know what they did. It's far from what you're going to see on Saturday.
"They will get in a few different tight end sets and pound the ball at you a little bit [as a change of pace]. But look where Coach Crowton has been. He spent the last few years at LSU, but before that he was at Louisiana Tech and BYU, where it was nothing but spread and a whole bunch of stuff that we like to do. It's an interesting dynamic.''
In Maryland's opener against Miami, the Terps rolled up plenty of yards, passing for 348 and running for another 151. Maryland, though, had all sorts of trouble scoring. The Terps had only one offensive touchdown - that less than four minutes into the game - and settled for four field goals.
Holgorsen, though, isn't counting on Maryland sputtering forever, no matter the scheme.
"Offensive football is offensive football. If you match well, it doesn't matter what scheme you're in,'' he said. "If you can get good at what you believe in and make sure you don't turn it over and don't put yourself in bad situations, limit your penalties, then you've got a chance to win.''
nn
West Virginia's defense will once again attempt to create its first turnover of the season against Maryland today.
The Mountaineers are the only team in the country that has neither lost nor gained a turnover this season.
"We work it every day and hopefully it'll pay off,'' defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said. "We've had some opportunities, but I've also seen some guys falling off some tackles trying to strip a ball. So it can get to the point where you're like, 'OK, we want to force a fumble, but we didn't tackle the guy.' We just have to be patient and play football.''
A year ago, West Virginia had a similar statistical anomaly. The Mountaineers went two games without recording a sack. Then in the third game they had eight - against Maryland - and finished third in the nation in that statistic by year's end.
"The biggest thing is we have to be physical. When you're physical you have a tendency to knock balls out,'' Casteel said. "And we're not as physical as we should be. That's one of those things we have to improve on. If you fly around and make contact and you play with a recklessness, then a lot of times you're going to start knocking balls loose.''
Part of the issue with being more physical, though, is perhaps West Virginia's defensive inexperience.
"I think so,'' Casteel said. "A lot gets made out of that and rightfully so. But we've got a lot of young kids playing that are still trying to figure out where to go. When they do, we want to play fast and physical and if turnovers come off of that, great.
"It's about playing physical and running around and knocking people down. Chances are when you do that, balls will come out.''
nn
Holgorsen said earlier in the week he was curious to see what uniforms Maryland chooses to wear today.
"They've got like 35 or 40 different uniforms. I saw several different combinations. I'm curious to see what one they come up with,'' he said. "There's not much I can do about it. I can only worry about the things we can control.''
For the record, Maryland will wear all black (save for some trim), including black helmets.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - In its opening game against Miami, Maryland scored but one offensive touchdown in a 32-24 win.
The wide receiver who managed that touchdown, as well as another of the Terps' receivers, won't play today against West Virginia at Byrd Stadium.
Ronnie Tyler, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior, was arrested Thursday for assault and late Thursday night was suspended indefinitely by Maryland coach Randy Edsall. Quinton McCree, another senior receiver, was reportedly with Tyler at the time and was also suspended.
That erases from the Terps' roster two of the top three receivers in their opener. McCree caught seven passes for 39 yards and Tyler had six catches for 43 yards and the lone offensive touchdown in that game.
Maryland, though, still has its top receiving threat, Kevin Dorsey, who caught eight passes for 124 yards, as well as tight end Matt Furstenburg, among others.
Tyler is accused of punching a 33-year-old man in the face during an altercation at a 7-Eleven store in College Park. The incident occurred in the early-morning hours of Thursday.
Tyler is listed on Maryland's depth chart as the backup to Dorsey at one wideout position, while McCree is the starter at the other. McCree's backup is junior Kerry Boykins, who caught two passes for 40 yards in the opener.
nn
Edsall was never known as much of an offensive innovator during his days as the coach at Connecticut. In fact, while the Huskies did have a handful of good passers - Dan Orlovsky, anyone? - they mostly grinded things out on the ground when possible.
When Edsall took the job at Maryland in January, though, he hired Gary Crowton as his offensive coordinator. Crowton was criticized for his offenses the past few years at LSU, but prior to that he had highly productive - and wide open - offenses at Oregon, BYU and Louisiana Tech. He was the head coach at BYU and Louisiana Tech.
When the Terps - who host West Virginia at noon today at Byrd Stadium - opened their season on Labor Day, the offense tended toward the more wide-open version.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen admits the mix of Edsall and Crowton is hard to figure.
"It's an interesting dynamic,'' Holgorsen said. "Watching what they did at UConn, we all know what they did. It's far from what you're going to see on Saturday.
"They will get in a few different tight end sets and pound the ball at you a little bit [as a change of pace]. But look where Coach Crowton has been. He spent the last few years at LSU, but before that he was at Louisiana Tech and BYU, where it was nothing but spread and a whole bunch of stuff that we like to do. It's an interesting dynamic.''
In Maryland's opener against Miami, the Terps rolled up plenty of yards, passing for 348 and running for another 151. Maryland, though, had all sorts of trouble scoring. The Terps had only one offensive touchdown - that less than four minutes into the game - and settled for four field goals.
Holgorsen, though, isn't counting on Maryland sputtering forever, no matter the scheme.
"Offensive football is offensive football. If you match well, it doesn't matter what scheme you're in,'' he said. "If you can get good at what you believe in and make sure you don't turn it over and don't put yourself in bad situations, limit your penalties, then you've got a chance to win.''
nn
West Virginia's defense will once again attempt to create its first turnover of the season against Maryland today.
The Mountaineers are the only team in the country that has neither lost nor gained a turnover this season.
"We work it every day and hopefully it'll pay off,'' defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said. "We've had some opportunities, but I've also seen some guys falling off some tackles trying to strip a ball. So it can get to the point where you're like, 'OK, we want to force a fumble, but we didn't tackle the guy.' We just have to be patient and play football.''
A year ago, West Virginia had a similar statistical anomaly. The Mountaineers went two games without recording a sack. Then in the third game they had eight - against Maryland - and finished third in the nation in that statistic by year's end.
"The biggest thing is we have to be physical. When you're physical you have a tendency to knock balls out,'' Casteel said. "And we're not as physical as we should be. That's one of those things we have to improve on. If you fly around and make contact and you play with a recklessness, then a lot of times you're going to start knocking balls loose.''
Part of the issue with being more physical, though, is perhaps West Virginia's defensive inexperience.
"I think so,'' Casteel said. "A lot gets made out of that and rightfully so. But we've got a lot of young kids playing that are still trying to figure out where to go. When they do, we want to play fast and physical and if turnovers come off of that, great.
"It's about playing physical and running around and knocking people down. Chances are when you do that, balls will come out.''
nn
Holgorsen said earlier in the week he was curious to see what uniforms Maryland chooses to wear today.
"They've got like 35 or 40 different uniforms. I saw several different combinations. I'm curious to see what one they come up with,'' he said. "There's not much I can do about it. I can only worry about the things we can control.''
For the record, Maryland will wear all black (save for some trim), including black helmets.
