Some things — lots and lots of things, actually — went wrong for the Terrapins football team Saturday afternoon in Tampa, Florida.

The Terps committed six total turnovers against South Florida, their offense looked stagnant at times, and they committed several costly penalties.

But when the Terps trotted off the field at Raymond James Stadium, they left as winners. The Terps used a timely blocked punt and a mostly stifling defense to survive the sloppy performance with a 24-17 win over South Florida that improves their record to 2-0.

Let’s try to make sense of it all with four takeaways from the game.

TURNOVER PRONE

The Terps are, without a doubt, a more talented, deep and complete team than South Florida. All that nearly proved insignificant, though, because coach Randy Edsall’s squad failed time and time again to hang onto the football.

Sixth-year quarterback C.J. Brown threw a pair of interceptions and lost one fumble, which was returned for one of South Florida’s two touchdowns.

Running back Brandon Ross also lost a pair of fumbles in the first half, and the starter didn’t see much action in the final 30 minutes.

The Terps offense struggled to get into a flow as the gaffes continued to cost the team possession.

Even after South Florida’s only turnover, Alvin Hill’s interception of Steve Bench in the fourth quarter, the Terps gave the ball right back when running back Albert Reid coughed it up deep in South Florida territory.

My ex-girlfriend was always confused why the sport of football does’t include much use of feet, but even she’d know the Terps won’t be able to win too many games when they commit six turnovers.

So you have to believe Edsall, a veteran coach, is a touch concerned about his team’s performance.

DEFENSE SAVES THE DAY

As the offense sputtered, the defense held firm to sidestep catastrophe.

South Florida’s starting quarterback Mike White was hurt on the first play of the game and never returned, so the Terps were battling against Bench, a backup, all contest. Still, the defense’s stout showing was impressive.

The Terps held the Bulls to 257 total yards and contained freshman running back Marlon Mack all day. Mack had 275 yards on 24 carries in a week one win over Western Carolina, but the Terps held him to 73 yards on 22 carries.

The Bulls had many chances to run away with the game, and the Terps’ defense thwarted those opportunities time and again.

This defense is ready for the Big Ten. The offense just needs to catch up.

TURNING POINT

If the Terps’ offensive woes and defensive brilliance cancelled out, it was special teams that proved to be the deciding factor.

Wide receiving Stefon Diggs had a kickoff return of 49 yards and cornerback Will Likely took a punt return 46 yards early in the game. South Florida, meanwhile, botched a snap on a field goal and never quite had a game-changing return.

And with just more than 12 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the course of the bout took a dramatic turn thanks to Kenneth Goins’ blocked punt.

Goins didn’t actually get his hands on the punt, though. Rather, he forced the punt protector back so far that Bulls punter Mattias Ciabatti booted the ball of the back of his own player and the ball flew in the opposite direction. Linebacker Avery Thompson pounced on the ball for a game-defining score that gave the Terps a 21-17 lead.

Before that play, neither team had scored in the second half. The Terps didn’t have any momentum and the offense didn’t appear capable of turning in a big play.

But the special teams unit was.

STAR WIDE RECEIVERS?

The most positive storyline of an otherwise cringe-worthy game for the Terps revolved around Marcus Leak, who scored the team’s only two offensive touchdowns in his first start since 2012.

Leak missed all of last season while taking a leave of absence from the university, and took over as a starter after Taivon Jacobs suffered a season-ending injury to his knee in a week one win over James Madison. Saturday, Leak proved worthy of his new role, hauling in three passes for 72 yards and those two scores.

The Terps’ other two starting wide receivers are supposed to be the team’s stars, yet neither has a had a standout performance. Diggs has been a stellar kick returner and he made some important grabs today. The junior totaled 50 yards on seven catches, and managed to convert on a few third downs.

Deon Long had four catches for 42 yards Saturday, and also showed some flashes of excellence.

But while Diggs and Long have been good, they’ve been nowhere near great. Maybe part of their mediocrity can be traced to Brown, who completed 17 of 28 passes Saturday, and has been shaky as a passer through two games. Or maybe offensive coordinator Mike Locksley needs to devise a game plan that gives the two wideouts more touches.

Whatever the issue is, Diggs and Long should be making more of impact on the offense because they are the team’s two most explosive weapons. And at the very least, neither of them have committed a turnover yet.