Worried about Maryland...

A lot of turmoil, drama, distractions, and rumors swirling around the MD program and team in the 2 weeks leading up to the opener with the Horns.

The HC and others are under investigation. Interim HC leading the team. Terminated S&C Coach. Recent death of a teammate. Key DB was injured and is out. Seemingly a lot of factors that would tend to help / favor the Horns going into the game.

However, some or all of those factors can sometimes inspire / cause a team to rally or unite to prove something. "We got nothing to lose".

The Horns must avoid that potential trap by bringing their A game, play angry, hit 'em in the mouth early, engage in some trash talk, and crush their spirit(s) early on.

 

Avoid the aggy bonfire letdown.

Much sorrow for the aggys after the tragedy; hell, I even donated a pint of blood for the cause.

Seems the Horns went into the aggy game a bit sullen, maybe because the team was sleep deprived due to aggy jerks placing phone calls, making noise at the hotel, etc.

LHB does a respectful halftime show of respect for aggy.

Result? Aggy played their asses off, apparently not despondent about losing fellow students and won the game.

If the tragedy is not earth shattering (the Horns even played the Saturday following JFK's assassination in Dallas earlier in the week), play just as you always would, play to kick the other team's ***. That's what they're trying to do.

Hook 'em.

 

"I would've described it was kind of like bully coaching."
"His tactics were different. It felt extreme at times."
"I didn't like it." Jabrill Peppers

 

Seemed to work at Michigan those years

 

Linebacker will likely be the most important position group on the field against Maryland's style of offense. :/

 

Agreed, Their offensive tackles vs our DE is going to be the best match up and will probably be stalemate as each side will make plays. Texas should have decided advantage against their receivers in the passing game.

It comes down to can our linebackers play better than their interior line and keep up with the QB on pass breakdowns and keep their running game in check.

 

So, if our players can play better than their players, we have a chance?

 

No, no, and no! We will need to score more points than the turtles to have a chance.

 

Only if our coaches can coach better. That's a bigger concern to me than the players.

 

Terps will have a bad defense. We scored 27 on offense on them last year and our offense will be much better and their defense will be worse.

It's not inconceivable to put up over 50 on them. Our defense will also be much better, and I'm not sure how good their offense will be. I think we are going to hold them under 30. If I were handicapping this game, I'm going -20 Texas. I have no idea what Vegas has Texas but I think as the game gets closer the spread is going to go up.

 

Oops, I forgot about that.

 

I’m not worried at all. Admittedly, my kool aid is pretty stout tonight. Alright alright alright.

 

Aggy did their best to steal the JFK game from us. Dead collie field was flooded before the game to stop the Horn's running game. Of course they played their asses off, as the assy aggys always do. We should expect the same effort from Maryland, hopefully without flooding the field.

 

While I have general sympathy for the coaches, who I'm certain did not want to harm this young man, I think that we have 100x more science now than when you guys were coaching your boys back in the day.

Coach Herman should be applauded for 2 things in light of the UMd death...
1) pee color tests. We all used to suck it up in the good old days. when the fat, out of shape lineman was puking in 2-a-days, teams kept players on the field in 105 degree heat and gave water breaks sparingly. No criticism as that was the culture. There's more data now that has changed how athletics deals with hydration and heat. We're all the better for it.
2) Strength & Conditioning-our players are in such good shape when they hit preseason camp. They don't have to push fat out of shape players and not have a good understanding of how to tell the difference between medical issues and conditioning issues. Our players are in peak shape, so I imagine they are much more capable of looking for signs that a player is not doing well.

 

But supposedly they didn't react properly once it was obvious he did have heat stroke.

Not sure, we got monkey stomped by Tech at home to end the regular season.

 

2 hours later he still had a 106 body temperature. I'd say they failed miserably.

 

Not a medical student...but doesn't core temperature continue to rise for a while after the symptoms became noticeable? After all, I know when it comes to blood alcohol levels, that is one of the reasons the popo keeps people at the side of the road for a while before the cuff-and-stuff...gives the body time to react.

In other words, is it reasonably plausible that he was appearing to be no more gassed than the person mowing their yard on a hot and humid day and basically overdid things before they realized they had screwed up?

And no, I don't offer this as a way out for the school or staff...just wondering where the threshold happened to be on the core temps.

 

Good questions, and I don't have the medical training to answer. Hopefully somebody can clarify for us.

 

Every team with a pulse whipped their *** last year. Only Indiana and Towson gave up more points than Texas.

We beat them badly this year if we find a QB and an Oline. If we don't find those, we still beat them, just not as badly.

 

Seems a bit excessive to me. There must have been several complaints that all of them knew about but were not addressed in order for the school Prez and the athletic director to get canned as well.

 

We seem to be catching them at the perfect time
Or, is it the worst time?

 

The most damning evidence for he BOR on Friday seems to be the previous desire to turn the sports medicine program over to the medical school, a proposal not only rejected by, but shut down by Loh.

Add in Evans DUI in Georgia with young woman in his car, but her panties (pink if I remember correctly) in his lap, Durkin is by far and away in the best shape of those three. No one had shown or put forth an argument for "cause". It is not "cause" to be a total *******.

UMd is not a wealthy school and has now already paid a huge some of money to the McNair family, and now has to pony up eight figures to Durkin. Those wanting to help out, please rush to your neighborhood Academy and load up on Under Armour,

 

How could they possibly be ready for our game with this kind of distraction going on. I'm not sure why the entire coaching staff isn't fired if the prez and AD are gone. I'm sure they are all more concerned about getting their resume's ready rather than getting ready for Texas. They have to know the only reason they'll have a job is because the university can't possibly replace them all a few days before the season.

 

BOR is waiting for the "written report" to have the ammunition to pull the trigger. A damning outside report is the cushion the BOR wants against retribution in court. That BOR has wanted a way to can Loh for some time, but like MANY boards, they turn into "yes" men rather and advocates or an improved school.

 

We've managed to turn diamonds into turds before

 

If true, that is pretty damning!

No mercy or sympathy. Horns just have to treat this like a serious business trip, Bill in Sinton focused on winning and kick their *** on the field.

 

True Dat! I'm guessing the leftover staff is hesitant to make anyone even run wind sprints these days. Their focusness and toughness will not be good. I'd be willing to bet this game is out of reach by halftime.

 

Exactly right. We need to jump on them early. If we jump out to a 2 TD lead in the first quarter, I think they will likely quit and start licking their wounds. The longer they hang around, the more difficult it will be to put them away.

 

I guess it depends on when they actually make the announcement, before or after our game. A day before or the day of the game could send them into total disarray. Of course, sometimes things just fall right into place when you have nothing to lose. I still won't take this game for granted until I see our score > their score with the clock reading 0:00 in the 4th.