Yet another look at Maryland's road woes

Maryland is 4-2 at the midpoint of its season, but realistically isn't taken seriously as an ACC title contender.

Adrian Moten is pretty sure he knows why.

"We're not getting respect until we win on the road," Moten said. "I was reading that we haven't won on the road  since 2008. I feel as though if we get one road game under our belt, more will come. This team here is still a work in progress."

Indeed, the Terrapins have dropped 10 consecutive true road games dating back to September 2008. The stretch covers eight conference games, as well as visits to California and West Virginia.

It's tied for the seventh-longest road losing streak in Division I-A, and Maryland is one of only three power conference teams to not have a road win of any kind since the start of the 2009 season (Colorado and Washington State are the others).

ROAD LOSING STREAKS OF DIVISION I-A TEAMS WITH NO ROAD WINS IN 2009 OR 2010

14: Western Kentucky (last win: Sept. 6, 2008, 37-13 at Eastern Kentucky)
14: Washington State (last win: Nov. 24, 2007, 42-35 at Washington)
13: Colorado (last win: Oct. 27, 2007, 31-26 at Texas Tech)
13: New Mexico (last win: Sept. 27, 2008, 35-24 at New Mexico State)
12: Akron (last win: Oct. 18, 2008, 42-35 at Eastern Michigan)
11: San Jose State (last win: Nov. 1, 2008, 30-24 at Idaho)
10: Maryland (last win: Sept. 27, 2008, 20-17 at Clemson)
10: Memphis (last win: Nov. 8, 2008, 31-26 at Southern Methodist)
9: Louisiana Tech (last win: Nov. 22, 2008, 35-31 at New Mexico State)

Of the eight road games Maryland lost during the streak in 2008 and 2009, four came against eventual bowl teams. Four of the setbacks --- 2008 against Boston College, 2009 against Duke, Florida State and N.C. State --- were suffered by a possession or less, in large part due to Maryland miscues.

So is competition or self-inflicted wounds the greater issue. Moten thinks he knows.

"It's both, but the last couple of road games we had, we beat ourselves in a lot of them," Moten said. "They said it's a 10-game losing streak? I'd say out of 10 of those games, seven of them we lost by ourself just by our penalties and letting the crowd be a factor. When we beat ourselves, we lose the game most of the time."

Two of Maryland's three remaining road games are against sub-.500 teams. Win those two --- at Boston College on Saturday and at Virginia on Nov. 13 --- and the Terps will certainly go to a bowl game and could even have a chance at an eight-win season if things break right.

Lose them? Well, it would be more of the same in College Park.

"If we can't win on the road, we won't be a good team at all," nose tackle A.J. Francis said. "We have six games left and three of them on the road. So if we don't win on the road, even if we go 3-3, we're 7-5, [an] average team and going to an average bowl game."

Comments

[Joe]

Stating the obvious, Adrian Moten certainly must know that we Terps will not get "respect" [meaning wins] on the road or at home for that matter until individuals on the team begin to execute fundamental skill sets, like, like making an unbelievably easy catch followed by a walk into the end zone. Respect follows from individual effort, not talk.