CHARLOTTESVILLE – Any list of the hardest working sportswriters in the D.C. area has to include the indefatigable Patrick Stevens, who covers the University of Maryland for The Washington Times.

U.Va. and Maryland meet Saturday night at Scott Stadium, of course, in an important game for both teams.  At Patrick’s suggestion, he sent me five questions about U.Va. football this week, and my answers can be found on his blog:

His answers to my questions about the Terrapins follow.

1. What in the world has gotten into Maryland since the Middle Tennessee debacle? From afar, at least, it looks like a different team.

PS: A lot of what happened is stability at quarterback. In an unpopular move with fans, Ralph Friedgen chose Jordan Steffy to start the opener over Chris Turner, who in turn considered transferring closer to his California home. The snakebit Steffy got hurt before August was over, and Turner was sluggish in his first start of the season at Middle Tennessee.

Since then, he’s been good-to-really good, with five touchdowns and two interceptions over the last three games.

It’s funny you mention “a different team,“ because Maryland seems to be one every week. The only thing predictable about them is their unpredictability, and they could just as easily win any game left on their schedule 35-7 as they could lose it by the same score.

2. Had the Terrapins continued down the path they appeared headed and finished, say, 5-7, would Ralph Friedgen’s job been in jeopardy?

PS: I think at 5-7, Friedgen would have survived. The contract he signed after the three straight 10-win seasons is very generous; he’s guaranteed at least $5.5 million over the next three years and Maryland would be hard-pressed to pay both him and a new coach. He’s also heavily involved as something of a closer in selling the new suites in Byrd Stadium that will open next year.

The other issue is simple: How much better can Maryland do than a guy who has brought five bowl berths in seven years? Since the start of the 2004 season, the Terps are a ho-hum 28-24, but that’s still better than the 15 years preceding Friedgen’s arrival.

Four mostly mediocre seasons forced Friedgen to use up a lot of political capital he earned his first three years, maybe even nearly all of it. But it probably would have taken (or would take) a free-fall to oust him in 2008.

3. Was tailback Da’Rel Scott expected to be this good, or has he been a revelation?

PS: Everyone knew Scott was fast, a one-time Pennsylvania state 100-meter champion capable of providing the sort of long runs Maryland hasn’t seen since Bruce Perry left. I’m not sure anyone saw him being the sort of guy to take 20 handoffs a game, and he did that both in the opener against Delaware and on Saturday against Clemson.

Other than his first season, Friedgen has veered toward committee situations in the backfield. So maybe the biggest surprise so far is that Scott is dominating the carries total when he’s healthy (he sat out the Eastern Michigan game with a sprained shoulder).

He struggled to 39 yards on 23 carries on Saturday, but grinded out more than half of his output in the fourth quarter and gained yardage on his final eight carries. The fact he could adapt on the fly to being a more punishing runner is one of the most impressive things I’ve seen from him this season.

4. What’s the biggest difference in wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey’s game this season?

PS: There’s a lot of factors at work there. Foremost is the fact Heyward-Bey is simply a more polished receiver. The way he explained it to me, he’s getting better and better at not slowing down when he makes cuts on his routes, which makes covering him even more of a challenge because he can change direction without changing speed.

A priority for Maryland is getting him the ball with space to work with and not just simply tossing it up to him on a fly route and seeing what happens. His 80-yard touchdown catch at Middle Tennessee was just a 4-yard screen and he did the rest of the work, and his 76-yard run at Clemson was a reverse where the defense was spread to thin to handle his speed.

Heyward-Bey already has more runs this season (six) to all of 2007 (five), so it’s clear new offensive coordinator James Franklin is looking at end arounds, reverses and other gadget plays at least once a game.

5. Has this winning streak covered up a significant weakness that’s likely to become apparent as Maryland’s season progresses?

PS: There’s so many possible issues with this team, yet somehow they’re 4-1 (and were the clearly better team in three of those wins).

As usual, it depends on which team shows up.

* The offensive line, which was supposed to be a strength, has really only proven to be so-so.

* The defensive line, which starts two guys who were walk-ons as recently as the end of spring ball, is plucky but won’t generate much of a pass rush unless a guy holds onto the ball for far too long.

* Kicker Obi Egekeze missed his first five field goals, but has now made five straight and seems to be fine.

* The secondary was hit hard early by injuries, especially at cornerback where the top two subs are either done for the year (Richard Taylor) or missed the last two games with ankle problems (Nolan Carroll)

Maryland is 102nd nationally in pass defense, but take out the 239 yields it yielded in the fourth quarter against California (when the Terps were exhausted and the Golden Bears abandoned the run altogether) and the ranking improves to 69th at 205.6 yards a game.

If anything has a chance to seriously hamstring these guys down the road, it’s the combination of a lack of pass rush and a thin secondary.

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Posted by Jeff White in • College Sports • University of Virginia
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