Good times for Ralph Friedgen, who has managed to fend off the wolves for at least another year.
A year after a truly rancid 2-10 wreck, here are Friedgen's Terps with a 7-3 overall record and a 4-2 conference slate -- right in the thick of the Atlantic Division race with home games remaining against N.C. State and Florida State.
Props to Friedgen and Co. for turning that thing around. But gosh, is there a more telling illustration of the ACC's mediocrity when a team can look so unimpressive and be in contention this late in the season?
Quick: Name Maryland's most impressive overall win of the season. That'd probably be the opener against Navy, a game in which the Terps benefited from the good fortune of Navy putting the ball on the ground something like 27 times.
Quick: Name Maryland's most impressive conference victory. That'd be a 24-21 win at Boston College, a team that lost five straight games before snapping the streak against your Clemson Tigers.
Shoot, you could make the argument that Maryland's most impressive game came in a loss. The Terps pushed Miami to the ragged edge in South Florida before falling 26-20.
Two of Maryland's non-conference foes were Morgan State and Florida International. In-conference, the Terps didn't have to worry about playing Virginia Tech, North Carolina or Georgia Tech. Two of their three non-divisional opponents are Virginia and Duke, who have combined for a 2-10 record in conference play.
It wasn't difficult to see this coming. As bad as Maryland was last year, it lost a lot of close games. I picked them to finish fifth in the division, one spot above where everyone else picked them (cue the polite golf clap).
You have to give Florida State and N.C. State the edge in these games at College Park, but it would not surprise me at all to see the Terps take at least one. They can stuff the run. And it's not as if the Seminoles and Wolfpack have been the most consistent teams in the world this season.
And gosh, how excruciating would it be for Clemson to see Maryland win the division? The Tigers beat the Terps by 24 in Death Valley earlier this season.
If it happened -- or if N.C. State claimed the division -- it would be the fifth different team to win the division since the ACC went to 12 teams in 2005.
And if the Terps or Wolfpack win the division, it would be the fifth time that a division champ carried a regular-season loss to Clemson into the championship game.
-- In 2005, Clemson smoked Florida State. The Seminoles went on to win the ACC title.
-- In 2006, Clemson beat both Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. The Deacons and Jackets played for the conference championship.
-- In 2008, Clemson beat Boston College. The Eagles went on to win the Atlantic Division.
On to the rankings:
1. Virginia Tech (last week-1)--Tyrod Taylor has all but wrapped up ACC player of the year honors. Russell Wilson still has an outside shot.
2. Florida State (LW-2)--Seminoles were dominated up front on both sides of the ball against Clemson.
3. Miami (LW-5)--Technically, the Hurricanes are still in contention in the Coastal. But do you really see Virginia Tech losing to Virginia?
4. N.C. State (LW-6)--Wolfpack's game against Wake Forest actually was really close in the first half.
5. North Carolina (LW-3)--Tar Heels seemed to panic against Virginia Tech when they fell behind.
6. Maryland (LW-8)--Are the Terps better than Clemson? Probably not. But at some point Maryland has to be given credit for winning the games it's supposed to win.
7. Clemson (LW-4)--There's orange in the red zone ... but not in the end zone.
8. Boston College (LW-9)--Suddenly, the Eagles are bowl-eligible thanks to a back-loaded slate of easy foes.
9. Georgia Tech (LW-7)--Miami debacle was closer than the score indicated. The Yellow Jackets just had a litany of stupid mistakes.
10. Duke (LW-10)--Blue Devils came excruciatingly close to pulling off a stunning comeback win over Boston College.
11. Virginia (LW-10)--If the Cavaliers can beat Boston College to ensure a five-win season, Mike London's first year would have to be classified as a success ... assuming it isn't already.
12. Wake Forest (LW-12)--Is it basketball, er, baseball season yet?
A few links...
Heather Dinich gives her power rankings and puts Clemson at No. 7.
Rob Daniels of The ACC Sports Journal gives his and also has the Tigers seventh.
Also in the Sports Journal, Dabo Swinney is not delivering yet.
This is simply not what Swinney was hired to do. After Bowden departed halfway through a disappointing 2008 season with a 3-3 record, athletic director Terry Don Phillips made clear that the expectation for this program was winning championships.
Given that fans watched Wake Forest and Georgia Tech win ACC titles in recent years — not to mention Boston College claiming the Atlantic Division in 2007 and 2008 — patience already was thin. Add to that the fact that Phillips promoted a coach from the previous regime, and that coach in turn retained five assistants from the previous regime, and you have a recipe for a truly nasty situation if that coach falls on his face.
And then:
Phillips said Swinney deserves “five or six” seasons before a fair judgment can be made on his performance as the head coach. And now, two years after painting a picture of a program that didn’t need a vast overhaul to reach its potential, Swinney talks of a long-term “culture change.”
If this keeps up, it won’t be long before large numbers of fans are demanding another kind of change atop Clemson’s proud but perennially underachieving football program.
At North Carolina, Anthony Elzy was producing against Virginia Tech but had to come out because he was "gassed."
Here's a closer look at Maryland and its goal of winning the division.
Auburn's Nick Fairley does a good -- and dirty -- job of keeping his helmet on Georgia's throat.
And check out the end-zone setup at Wrigley Field for this week's game between Northwestern and Illinois.
Guessing Vic Koenning doesn't have to worry about scheming against post patterns in the red zone.
LW
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