With the bye week upon us, it's time to dip into the tape recorder to come up with a leftover item or two to pass the time.
(Really, I should have transcribed this about two minutes after I heard it.)
Anyway, one of Maryland's big stories remains punt returner Tony Logan's strong play. And even before Logan broke an 84-yard punt return against Duke on Saturday, nose tackle A.J. Francis offered his usually amusing insight into Logan's breakout season.
"I remember --- I remember --- the punt return he had last year against Clemson," Francis said. "For some reason, he didn't really get anymore chances after that. He dropped the one punt last year at Duke, but then again that was in a damn hurricane. I can't really blame him because I can't catch a dry football. He's definitely showed this year that if he's not the best, somebody is going to have to show me who is the best punt returner in the country."
At this point, Logan ranks second in the country in punt return average, behind Cliff Harris of Oregon. The two touchdowns Logan scored are the first for a Maryland punt returner since Steve Suter.
Speaking of which, Francis found a way to tie Suter into his analysis of Logan's performance. As usual, it was on point.
"What Tony's doing is really showing how good Steve Suter must have been," Francis said. "Tony Logan so far this year has four or five punt returns over 60 yards and yet his yards per average punt return is still two yards short of Steve Suter's record. I wasn't really a Maryland fan back when Steve Suter was doing that, but he must have been the man. He must have been the man."
Which begs the question --- why not have a Tony Logan tracker, and align it with Suter's top season (2002)?
Why not indeed. So after a little quick research, here it is:
TONY LOGAN PUNT RETURN TRACKER (YARDS THROUGH EACH GAME)
| Game |
Suter (2002) |
Logan (2010) |
Difference |
| 1 | 16 | 57 | +41 |
| 2 | 128 | 185 | +57 |
| 3 | 148 | 192 | +44 |
| 4 | 165 | 327 | +162 |
| 5 | 233 | 415 | +182 |
| 6 | 375 | --- | --- |
| 7 | 378 | --- | --- |
| 8 | 482 | --- | --- |
| 9 | 574 | --- | --- |
| 10 | 609 | --- | --- |
| 11 | 639 | --- | --- |
| 12 | 647 | --- | --- |
| 13 | 676 | --- | --- |
| 14 | 771 | --- | --- |
Unless Maryland reaches the ACC title game, Logan will have at least one fewer game than Suter did in 2002. But at this point, injury and opponents opting to kick far away from Logan seem to be the only ways Suter's record won't be threatened later this season.
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