Interim head coach Matt Canada couldn’t help but laugh during the press conference following Maryland football’s 63-33 win over Illinois on Saturday. Next to him, Javon Leake was recalling the team meeting the Terps had held six days earlier in distinctly different circumstances.
“He gives the best speeches I’ve kind of heard before,” Leake said.
Canada looked up at the clock hanging in the back of the room and noted that a week ago, his offense had been shut out for the second time this season in an ugly 23-0 loss to Iowa. Maryland had managed just 115 yards; against one of the best defenses in the country, the Terps couldn’t run, pass or — most importantly — score.
So Canada called for a team meeting, hoping to get his squad’s mindset right before facing Illinois.
“We said, ‘It’s time to get going,” Canada said. “We wanted to be sitting here tonight and be 5-3.”
[Read more: Tre Watson left Illinois for Maryland as a “one-year fix.” He’s been so much more.]
And Maryland did just that — albeit against a markedly worse defense — by clobbering the Illini on Saturday. Quarterback Kasim Hill had the best game of his career, and Leake did the same by exploding for four touchdowns.
Canada’s team meeting seemed to have given his team a jumpstart.
“It starts in practice, and coach Canada always stresses that,” Leake said. “He always stresses to just be there for each other and just go out and play for each other. These are the results.”
Following last week’s clubbing, Canada was asked how it felt to be in charge of such an ineffectual offense, one whose leading rusher in the contest tallied 16 yards and whose starting quarterback managed 47.
“Not very good,” he said.
[Read more: Maryland football’s Javon Leake wins a pair of Big Ten weekly honors]
Iowa prevented Maryland’s big-play offense from taking off, but Canada can feel much better after rolling past Illinois.
Hill threw for a career-high 265 yards and added three touchdowns in three quarters of play. He showed potential throwing deep down the field, an area of his game that’s been shaky so far in his young career.
Leake provided 274 all-purpose yards, filling in the hole created when running back Ty Johnson left with a calf strain. After Leake’s final touchdown, a 43-yard jet sweep where he found the edge and outran the defense, he pointed his finger toward the Terps’ sideline as he celebrated.
Six of Maryland’s nine touchdowns were longer than 40 yards, continuing a trend of boom-or-bust production. The Terps punted just three times, and only one drive lasted 10 plays in the dominant performance.
“When a team has a lead and you can’t stop them, of course, you’ll know what the result is going to be,” Illinois coach Lovie Smith said. “Some big passes also that shouldn’t happen, but those big runs really hurt.”
Midway through the conference slate, Maryland has taken care of the Big Ten opponents it should beat. Canada’s team demolished Illinois, Rutgers and Minnesota, each of whom have a scoring defense in the bottom five in the conference.
Meanwhile, when the Terps can’t expose teams with breakaway plays, their offense struggles. Against Iowa and Michigan, the best defenses in the Big Ten, Maryland’s defense was left on the field for large chunks of time and their offense couldn’t provide much respite. The offense stayed on the field for 15 more minutes against Illinois than it could against Iowa.
In last Sunday’s team meeting, Canada acknowledged that the Terps faced a strong defense in windier conditions when they visited Iowa City, a compliment he likely couldn’t bestow upon Illinois with a straight face.
And with the Board of Regents continuing to discuss an external investigation into the culture of the team — an ever-present cloud looming in the distance over the program — Canada’s meeting helped draw the players’ concentration inward.
“We were going to rally, stick together and do our jobs,” Canada said. “We weren’t going to get down on each other or point fingers. We had to find a way to be 5-3.”
