Randy Edsall coaches running back Brandon Ross after Ross fumbled during the Terps’ 32-21 win over the Huskies on Sept. 14, 2013.
As the Terrapins football team rolled to its undefeated start through four games, the main question it faced was how it would respond to some of the nation’s elite teams.
Now, it’s how the Terps can respond to their first setback of the year tomorrow against Virginia.
Entering the matchup against the Cavaliers — the final meeting of the two programs as ACC rivals — quarterback C.J. Brown is listed as doubtful and the Terps are coming off a 63-0 shellacking at Florida State, where the offensive and defensive units both looked utterly disconnected.
So while the early season theme was building momentum before ACC play, it now becomes a matter of re-establishing at least some of the early season success when the Terps put up points with ease and suffocated opposing offenses.
“That’s really all it’s about — how you respond to adversity,” running back Brandon Ross said Wednesday. “It’s pretty much our first round of adversity we’ve faced all season. We’re going to bounce back.”
The Terps (4-1, 0-1 ACC) won’t be the only team at Byrd Stadium trying to rebound from a tough loss, either. The Cavaliers (2-3, 0-1) fell to Ball State, 48-27, in Charlottesville, Va., last week and were outscored 31-10 in the second half.
Both teams will be trying to forget previous results, and this week, it seemed the Terps have done just that.
“You can only grow from it, learn what you did and move on,” outside linebacker Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil said Tuesday. “That’s the hardest part; just to move on. We’re going to go out there today and act like that game never happened and continue on our journey.”
Coach Randy Edsall said the key for the Terps to beat Virginia for the second straight year starts in the Cavaliers backfield. Running back Kevin Parks ranks third in the ACC with 398 yards, and he’s averaging 4.6 yards per carry in five games. Quarterback David Watford is a dual threat, and Edsall said Virginia will run multiple zone-read looks, similar to the Terps.
For the Terps, though, how they come out Saturday could have more of an impact than the Cavaliers’ offensive formations to begin the game. After winning their first four games by an average of almost 30 points, the Terps coaching staff is expecting to learn about the team by its response to last week’s blowout loss.
“There’s no doubt, you’ll see,” offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said. “We had two of our better practices Sunday. Tuesdays are like pulling teeth. They’re coming off a day off and this is the time of year with a lot of midterms and things like that, but the focus was there. We’ll find out a lot about ourselves this Saturday.”
No matter who the Terps have at quarterback Saturday, whether it’s Brown or Caleb Rowe, they know tomorrow is their chance to rebound from the Florida State debacle. They’ve ended the final two seasons in tailspins, but now, they have the opportunity to rebound against a regional rival.
“You can just see the want in everybody in the locker room, just how they want to get back on the winning track,” Ross said. “Nobody wants to lose like that again, just everybody’s real motivated and just looking forward to getting back on the field.”
