What We Learned: USF vs. Maryland

Disclaimer: This isn’t going to be a standard “here’s what happened” recap. Anyone on the internet can do one of them and they’re all fairly boring. Instead, I plan to give a brief overview on what happened and then try to figure out just what we learned from what we saw.

In a game where they entered as heavy underdogs, the USF Bulls actually looked like they might pull this one out of their hats. Somehow, they held a field goal lead over the Maryland Terrapins heading into the fourth quarter and the hometown crowd thought win number two (note: USF had two wins all of last season) was on the horizon.

Unfortunately, a young defense and an offense clearly in over its head surrendered the lead early in the fourth and never managed to get back up. Obviously, disclaimers apply here: Marlyand is a Big Ten team, yes, but that’s not exactly a thing worth noting these days. Also, it’s not like it’s a Michigan or Ohio State who suck against the kind of good teams but throttle the also-rans.

Still, this has to be a considered a promising showing, at least defensively. Let’s get on with what we learned from Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Maryland.

The Offense is in Trouble

So remember those quarterback struggles I talked about? Well they got a little worse. Mike White, who already wasn’t great as starting quarterback, was lost to an arm injury on the first play of the game. Hey, at least he completed that pass, finishing at 100 percent accuracy on the day!

Backup Steven Bench stepped in and was somehow worse than White was in the opener, going 14-of-36 (38.9 percent) for 162 yards and an interception. That’s just 4.5 yards per completion for the math majors out there or, to put it in laymen, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD AT ALL.

Naturally, the issues at quarterback allowed Maryland to focus most of their attention on the USF rushing attack. Marlon Mack had the debut to end all debuts last week with 275 yards and four touchdowns, so naturally he wasn’t given as much leeway against the Terps. He rushed the ball 22 times for just 73 yards (3.3 yards per carry) and no touchdowns.

It’s clear that the Bulls are about as one-dimensional as can be on offense and that means a heap of trouble if the quarterback(s) can’t get their accuracy issues in check. Like I said last week, Mack and the running backs can only do so much when they’re facing stacked boxes daring USF to throw the ball.

Defense Looks Slightly Better

It was a little rough to start for the Bulls defense, giving up a pair of touchdown passes to Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown including a 44-yard straight to Marcus Leak (his second of the day) to cap off the first quarter scoring.

After that, though, they shut it down. Maryland’s final scores of the day would come from a blocked punt returned for a touchdown to give it the fourth quarter lead and a late field goal to give us the final margin. They held Brown and the dangerous Terps passing attack to just 201 yards on 7.2 yards per completion (Brown finished 17-of-28) and picked him off twice.

The run defense also looked a little better, allowing just 116 yards on the ground, with Wes Brown coming in as the leader on the day for Maryland with 61 yards on 13 carries. Overall, the defense is clearly full of talent, but their youth is still being worked through. If they can continue to hammer out the kinks and find some consistency, this could be a surprisingly good unit.

Secondary Options at Receiver?

One of the few bright spots out of the passing game seems to be that Andre Davis might not be the only option at receiver anymore. Mike McFarland was the leading pass-catcher on the day, reeling in four balls for 55 yards (13.8 yards per reception) while Rodney Adams contributed another 49 yards on three catches (16.3 per catch).

It isn’t much on paper, but having other viable options could be something to help Bench or White, whoever the quarterback is, find comfort and consistency when throwing the ball. At this point, the Bulls need all the help they can get offensively.