Only a little more than a month ago, the Terrapins football team’s season held tremendous promise. The hype that surrounded the season-opening game against Miami was actually met as the Terps topped the Hurricanes on national television under the Byrd Stadium lights.

Quarterback Danny O’Brien’s methodical play and the fast-moving, efficient offense garnered attention. The provocative Maryland Pride uniforms the team wore garnered even more. In the days after the game, the national media couldn’t get enough of them, and in turn, the Terps.

Randy Edsall had been brought in to elevate the program from perennial nonfactor to ACC contender, but could the metamorphosis really happen literally overnight? After looking that impressive on opening night, people dared to dream. Maybe the Terps really could contend for a conference title in 2011. Maybe O’Brien really was the best quarterback in the ACC. For one night, the sky was the limit.

Over the next month, the sun came up.

The season is nearly halfway over. The Terps — losers of three of their past four games — have yet to recapture the magic of that night. Questions about coaching and the culture Edsall has created have surfaced. The star quarterback who was supposed to lead the charge to relevance has been benched. Even bowl eligibility, long thought to be a given, will now be a struggle.

As sweet as the memories of Sept. 5 may be for Terps fans — and it may be the sweetest they have from this season when it’s all said and done — they’d be best suited to forget it. What at the time seemed like a revelation for the team may have really been an anomaly.

A HARSH REALITY

While the Miami victory looked as if it could be a jumping-off point for a resurgent season, the next four games proved it to be a bit of a fluke, a seemingly freak occurrence. The Terps’ true potential was masked by a month of preparation for the Hurricanes and the eight suspensions that made victory that much easier.

O’Brien looked electric in that game. The defense was opportunistic. But since, O’Brien has struggled enough to be benched. The Terps allowed Temple to run for nearly 300 rushing yards. Their only win since the Miami game came against Towson. Even for much of that game, victory hardly seemed assured.

Through the first half of the season, we’ve yet to see a full 60-minute effort from this team.

It’s certainly shown flashes — a dominant defensive effort against the vaunted Georgia Tech triple option, and an impressive near-comeback powered by the offense against West Virginia come to mind.

But the Terps still lost those games. And until they can put together a complete game, they’re going to keep losing.

“My own thought is, you know, you want to be undefeated,” Edsall said. “At this point in time, we’re not. We’re 2-3. What [do] we have to do? We just have to get better in all phases. You see progression taking place, you see improvement taking place. But what we have to do is just continue to work on those little things as we continue to go through the second half.”

Who is to blame for the disappointing first five games? You could point to a lack of depth at linebacker and wide receiver. O’Brien’s struggles could be at fault. Several starters have been lost to injury, as well.

But we’ve seen what this squad can do when motivated. It seems like the Terps haven’t been up for several games this year. Part of that obviously falls on the players, but it’s also fair to put some of it on the coaching staff, whose job it is to have those players ready.

QUESTIONING COACHES

While Edsall was brought in to take this team from “good to great,” it would have been unrealistic to expect it to happen overnight. You can live with a rough first year. It’s almost expected.

Yet even with that in mind, the first half of Edsall’s inaugural season has hardly been promising. Take record out of the equation. Some of his decisions have been questionable, to say the least.

Why is Kenny Tate still playing linebacker? Why is D.J. Adams languishing on the bench? Was sticking with C.J. Brown for the entire second half of the Georgia Tech game really the right move?

The coordinators Edsall have brought in have also had varied levels of success. While Todd Bradford’s defense was impressive against Georgia Tech, it was paltry in almost every other game. Gary Crowton’s offense hasn’t fit O’Brien, and his play calling has been questionable.

What’s even scarier, though, is that Edsall seems like he may have lost the locker room. Flat, uninspired play and reports of disgruntled players in his discipline-oriented, taskmaster-like approach could be signs that the Terps have tuned Edsall out.

But some players say it isn’t a matter of being mad at the coaches. It’s a matter of being mad at themselves.

“The team is just pissed that we’re 2-3, you know?” defensive tackle A.J. Francis said. “It has nothing to do with the coaches. It has nothing to do with anything like that. It’s just the fact that we’re not at the record we’re capable of having. It’s just the fact that we want to win. Nobody here likes losing.”

MOVING FORWARD

As the second half of the season begins, the best thing to do is forget the high hopes the Labor Day victory created. It was a great night for the program. But it was just that: one night. It isn’t truly indicative of what this team is made of. At least, not yet.

So judge this team like it never beat Miami. Act like Cameron Chism’s pick-six didn’t send Byrd Stadium into a frenzy that night. Forget you ever thought this team was an ACC contender.

Judge the Terps for what they are: a middle-of-the-road ACC squad still trying to figure out who they are. They have a new coach trying to make a stamp on his program and a quarterback just trying to get back on the field.

And even if the Terps don’t recreate the success they had on Labor Day this year, that doesn’t mean it won’t return in the future.

schneider@umdbk.com