Tigers thrashed at Maryland 38-6

[mat1992 2,236]

They covered the 38

https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/9/2/towson-football-falls-to-maryland-in-season-opener.aspx

[mat1992 2,236]

Pete on the game

"Proud of our guys. I challenged the guys that we wanted to play a full 60 minute game and we wanted to get after it from the beginning to the end. Did not want to turn the ball over. That was one of the things that we thought could keep us in the game. We missed some opportunities on both sides of the ball that changed the complexion of the game. You play a team that is rolling like they are. You have to be right. We had some people out of position. That affects us."

On Taulia Tagovailoa

"He made a lot of plays. That's what he's done against everybody that we watched on film. I feel like we handled some of those challenges well. In the end, his arm and legs did what we've seen him do. We had 3 or 4 blitzes that if we could get him down, that could change the complexion of the game."

On pressure

"We could build off of that. That was going to be a strength. We play a lot of guys. We brought every linebacker and one of our safeties. We just have to get home an finish it. I think our D-line did well and was not overmatched. That's a positive for the rest of the season."

On tackling

"We do a great job. We work on it a ton. Our guys fly around. It's the missed tackles that are frustrating. We had a touchdown where we had an opportunity of getting him down. It's part of us just figuring out where we can put people and what we can get better at."

On secondary

"We blew two coverages early on. Guys getting settled in. Seeing really fast guys out there. One of them, there's no way it could have been completed if our guy would have rotated where he needed to. That's frustrating. How much of it was them? Or us?."

Nathan Kent

"It was exciting walking out there. It was nice playing in front of a lot of fans. I left things out there that I'd like to have back. There were some small victories in there as well."

"I started slow, but then got a little bit more comfortable as the game went on with the play-calling. Trusting in the coach's game plan and trusting in my reads."

"This new coaching staff is all-around just very good and detailed. They raised our level an all of us in every aspect of our life. In the offseason, I looked in the mirror and asked how can I get better. I spent the spring and summer working on my camp. Had a good battle in camp. In the end, I just worked hard. I trust in the Lord and what he did for me,"

[TSU88 1,073]

4 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

I trust in the Lord and what he did for me,"

On Saturday afternoons on the gridiron, I’d rather trust in a QB who averages more than 4 yards per pass attempt. Now, it’s certainly not all his fault. Perhaps the O-Line was a culprit, not to mention the caliber of the competition, but in the concededly small sample size today’s game represented, I saw very little to suggest our QB is a playmaker. Maybe a game manager, at best. Nor did I see anything suggesting we have a game changer at RB. If the foundation of our offense is going to be Kent at QB & Hunter at RB, well, I’m not sure how productive or exciting we’re going to be.

The D showed some signs, considering I thought we’d lose 56-0. Hey, we did out FG them, 2-1.

Truth of the matter is that’s it’s difficult to make any snap judgments, given who we played today. On to the home opener vs Monmouth, who lost 42-20 vs FAU today 

[mat1992 2,236]

https://x.com/jakeshindel/status/1698129501857714326?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[TUTigers 119]

Maryland’s success going forward will determine how good or bad this game really was. We have been blown out of the building by FBS teams before so this result doesn’t seem terrible. Covering the spread was a moral victory IMO. 

[mat1992 2,236]

I was thinking of bringing back the "Good, Bad, and Ugly" topic, but there really wasn't enough "good" to write about. Last year, we went to Morgantown and scored just one TD (a Hunter KR). We also gave up 65 points to a bad West Virginia team. I think the D already looks stronger. Defensively, I thought we got pretty consistent pressure from the blitz but just didn't finish against Tualia. The good news is that we won't see Lia the rest of the year or even Edwards, an athletic Wake Forest transfer. The secondary is a concern as usual, but if we get more pressure on the rest of the QBs on the schedule and finish plays, we won't have to worry about PIs and blown assignments. I do think Robert Javier can get the job done, but I'm not sure about Shafeek Smith and I'm not just judging him on the Md game. They have plenty of corners and safeties that may or may not be able to do the job. I think Pete kind of referenced that they are still trying to figure out the right combination back there.

What concerns me other than Kent's performance was the lack of chances we took on offense. I'm not saying run 100 trick plays, but it appeared that the key was limiting the turnovers so that the score wasn't going to get out of hand like last year's WV game. So it didn't. Big deal. Kent has to get better and while there are many doubters, I want to see him play against Monmouth before I question whether Sean Brown needs to see time. In practice, Kent showed touch on the deep ball and was pretty good on the intermediate stuff. That certainly was not shown on Saturday. Brown can make all the throws, but I think turnovers are the biggest worry with him and Scott Smith. It basically appears that a variation of the Air Raid and the uptempo offense probably won't be happening this season or at least will be on a smaller scale. 

The offensive line is another reason it's tough to throw the ball 75% of the time. Again, Maryland may not have Shawn Merriman rushing the passer, but they do have an adequate defensive front. At times, we did well and at other times, Nate was running for his life. I want to see playmakers get the ball. Perkins, James, Chosen. Hunter in space as a receiver. If Kent can't get those guys the ball or Sheppard can't devise plays to get those guys in space starting next week, it's going to be a long season. I also think Marist transfer Chris Watkins needs to get more time. We've seen the Devin Matthews story. Good at the wildcat (no more wildcats with this staff). Hard runner, but not very explosive. Hunter is explosive, but he's not a 15+ carry guy. Watkins is elusive and has some pop. So does juco transfer Tyrell Greene, but I was stunned that he got no playing time in a blowout game. The name of the game is scoring TDs and hopefully that starts next week.

So what did they do recruiting-wise in the off-season? I'm still trying to figure out why no other QB was added. Why they added just one RB and didn't even add a freshman. Why they didn't add an athletic OL transfer or two to fit a pass-happy scheme. They did add Kentucky CB Andre Stewart, but didn't see action on Saturday. Other than two players on the D-line, most of the starters were Rob's guys on both sides of the ball.

 

[mat1992 2,236]

One pretty good quote at the end from Locks about his alma mater

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/bs-sp-terps-towson-football-taulia-tagovailoa-20230902-q67vukjvy5f6jhoactiquenwcq-story.html

[Dan Steenkamer 5]

Have to say that I didn't get the chance to watch TU/Terps, so this thread is helpful in gleaning the takeaways. Just browsing the team stats for the game, 4.4 yards per rush by Towson isn't something I'm sneezing at vs. B1G. Having double-digit penalties for 90 yards isn't ideal, although adjusting for it being Week 1 takes some edge off that.

Not that the expectation per se was to walk away with the win, but late 1Q looked like the killer--7-0 until two Taulia TD passes of over 20 yds. Probably being unhelpfully obvious there, just getting a sense of the game flow scanning these #s in real time. With the observation about the lack of chances taken on offense, you figure a (or really the primary) goal was to stay in it through half 1. Deflating to be out of it 15 min prior.

Don't mean to get off-topic, but regionally appropriate and conference-related: How about Morgan State upsetting Richmond 17-10? Morgan got it done with only 99 yds passing. Richmond lost three fumbles (each by a different player) and new starting QB Kyle Wickersham had 0 TD/1 INT for the Spiders. UR was 3-12 on 3rd down. "The Ticks" have to go to Michigan State this Saturday.

Other than the Battle for Greater Baltimore, Morgan St. has CAAFB foes in UAlbany (Sep 23) and Stony Brook (Oct 7).   

[Blounge 521]

Nathan Kent showed some good fight out there. I liked his ability to make a run for it and connect on a few nice passes. I knew our defense would not be able to keep up with all their weapons Lia, Jeshaun, Hemby, etc Glad to see we had some fans show up amongst the 37,000 in attendance. There were 10,000 people at the state fair in timonium last night so it’s not unrealistic to think we could get 10,000 to show up to towson on a Saturday to pack Johnny U

[mat1992 2,236]

21 minutes ago, Dan Steenkamer said:

Have to say that I didn't get the chance to watch TU/Terps, so this thread is helpful in gleaning the takeaways. Just browsing the team stats for the game, 4.4 yards per rush by Towson isn't something I'm sneezing at vs. B1G. Having double-digit penalties for 90 yards isn't ideal, although adjusting for it being Week 1 takes some edge off that.

Not that the expectation per se was to walk away with the win, but late 1Q looked like the killer--7-0 until two Taulia TD passes of over 20 yds. Probably being unhelpfully obvious there, just getting a sense of the game flow scanning these #s in real time. With the observation about the lack of chances taken on offense, you figure a (or really the primary) goal was to stay in it through half 1. Deflating to be out of it 15 min prior.

Don't mean to get off-topic, but regionally appropriate and conference-related: How about Morgan State upsetting Richmond 17-10? Morgan got it done with only 99 yds passing. Richmond lost three fumbles (each by a different player) and new starting QB Kyle Wickersham had 0 TD/1 INT for the Spiders. UR was 3-12 on 3rd down. "The Ticks" have to go to Michigan State this Saturday.

Other than the Battle for Greater Baltimore, Morgan St. has CAAFB foes in UAlbany (Sep 23) and Stony Brook (Oct 7).   

Yeah, that Morgan/Richmond score is shocking. That game won't be a gimme. I think Towson's secondary helped out on one of those TDs. There were mistakes and missed assignments all game in the secondary. They could have allowed a few more long plays had Maryland's receivers not dropped passes. But all fixable things and it's not like they have freshmen back there. All those guys are vets. And sure, if they think they are outmanned then the best thing is to take care of the ball and not take many chances. If you turn the ball over, you probably end up losing 60-3 or something like that. That thinking better be over now that they are playing teams are on their level for the most part.