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Maryland stats wrap: East Carolina

Now that there's a break in the action and the football coaching search is in the books, how about a look back at the Military Bowl to wrap up a season of stats wraps and set up some year in review posts. ...

TOUCHES (RUNS + CATCHES)

Player	ECU	Season
Da'Rel Scott	13	140
Davin Meggett	9	128
Torrey Smith	3	74
D.J. Adams	13	67
Adrian Cannon	---	37
Ronnie Tyler	DNP	19
Kevin Dorsey	2	16
Quintin McCree	DNP	16
Will Yeatman	---	13
Matt Furstenburg	2	12
Mike Salvatico	2	11
Kerry Boykins	2	10
Taylor Watson	3	9
LaQuan Williams	1	6
Dave Stinebaugh	INJ	4
Haroon Brown	---	3
Tony Logan	1	3
Gary Douglas	---	2
Devonte Campbell	---	1
Danny O'Brien	---	1

Reviewing the East Carolina game day predictions

One  look back on expectations and reality from Maryland's 51-20 rout of East Carolina.

1. Torrey Smith will catch at least two touchdown passes.

INCORRECT. Smith had only two receptions for 10 yards in his final game at Maryland. Perhaps just as notable a number is Maryland had 13 completions against East Carolina while Smith had 14 by himself in the regular season finale against N.C. State

2. Maryland's safeties will account for at least one turnover.

CORRECT. Eric Franklin had an interception, Kenny Tate recovered a fumble and Antwine Perez (while not getting credit for a turnover) made a touchdown-saving tackle as a prelude to Maryland's goal-line stand in the fourth quarter.

3. East Carolina will throw for 300+ yards.

CORRECT. The Pirates got there on their final snap, finishing with 311 yards over 62 attempts. While not remotely efficient, they did hit the plateau they usually reach.

4. Maryland will score 40 points.

CORRECT. Da'Rel Scott's 91-yard run --- the longest in coach Ralph Friedgen's tenure --- put Maryland over the top of the 40-point barrier with 11:20 to play. Ultimately, Maryland scored 40 points for the fifth time this year and finished with a 31.5 scoring average, the Terps' highest since 2002.

5. Maryland will send Ralph Friedgen out a winner.

CORRECT. Maryland never trailed, collected four turnovers and at one point scored five touchdowns on 25 snaps in the second half. It was a demolition, and Maryland set a school bowl record for points (51) and came within three points of the school record for bowl margin of victory (the 2004 New Year's Day defeat of West Virginia in the Gator Bowl was a 34-point bludgeoning). It didn't look great early on, but Maryland wound up earning an emphatic victory in Friedgen's last game.

East Carolina: 4-for-5
Season: 39.5-for-65

Five game-day predictions: Maryland-East Carolina

Wrapping up the season with five final game-day predictions, this time centered on the Military Bowl between Maryland and East Carolina ...

1. Torrey Smith will catch at least two touchdown passes.

Sure, East Carolina could wind up double-teaming the junior after he torched N.C. State for four touchdowns in the regular season finale. More likely than anything, though, Smith will have one last field day. That might even include the 196 yards he needs to surpass Marcus Badgett's 1992 program record of 1,240 receiving yards in a season.

2. Maryland's safeties will account for at least one turnover.

If there's a single unit that Maryland consistently received superior play from this season, it was the safeties. Both Antwine Perez and Kenny Tate enjoyed superb seasons and combined for six interceptions, six forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. Expect a strong showing from both in the season's final game.

3. East Carolina will throw for 300+ yards.

It's what the Pirates do. Of East Carolina's last eight opponents, only Marshall held the Pirates to less than 300 yards passing --- and East Carolina won 37-10, anyway. Dominique Davis will have a strong yardage day and probably throw a couple touchdown passes. The key for him will be avoiding turnovers.

4. Maryland will score 40 points.

It's what the Pirates' opponents do. East Carolina allowed nine teams to crack the 40-point plateau, and it gave up 54.8 points a game in a season-ending 1-4 slide. Maryland, meanwhile, has two 62-point games (Morgan State and Wake Forest) and two 42-point games (Florida International and Virginia) to its credit. The Terps are well-positioned to force East Carolina to roll up a large point total if the Pirates are to pull an upset.

5. Maryland will send Ralph Friedgen out a winner.

There will be lots of scoring, but Maryland at least has some history of playing defense. It could be a day in which a team that is forced to punt three times will be up a creek. In any case, Maryland owns the superior resume and played better in the second half of the season than East Carolina did. Friedgen's firing might or might not be a galvanizing force; it's hard to say. But the Terps avoided massive staff defections before the bowl, and they should still have enough stability to make it through the afternoon and earn their ninth victory of the season.

East Carolina's McNeill "surprised" by Friedgen's ouster

There is a second team in the Military Bowl --- East Carolina --- and it is coached by a man who is in his first season as a full-time head coach.

The Pirates' Ruffin McNeill has every reason to be pleased his offense-heavy team is in the postseason after graduation and injuries provided a dual wallop. But realistically, East Carolina (6-6) hasn't generated as much attention this week because of Maryland's coaching tumult.

Ralph Friedgen is out after Wednesday's game, making this a week of nostalgia for the Terps coach as much as anything. But it's also the chance to reflect on the events of the last month from a coaching perspective.

"Just surprised," McNeill said. "Ralph is a really good football coach. I followed Ralph for a long time, from his Georgia Tech days and even the NFL days. He's not only a really good playcaller, but a really fine head coach here at Maryland. The proof is in the pudding. It's well-documented. Seven bowl games, second-biggest turnaround in the country this year. So I was surprised."

But not entirely unfamiliar with the situation. McNeill was Texas Tech's interim coach last year after Mike Leach was fired, so he's watching a scenario unfold that he possesses a bit of passing familiarity with.

"The staff I brought from Texas Tech, we've been through it," McNeill said. "Last year in the Alamo Bowl. So it was the same type of deal there. We just know we can control certain things and that's how we prepare. Having gone through it, I think it helped us as a staff. We [try to] stay focused on football and keep our eye on our goals."

McNeill added a particularly valid point, one both he and Friedgen can probably appreciate as long-time assistants who waited until their early 50s for their first head coaching jobs.

For as miserable as it is to have a dream job yanked away, Friedgen will get $2 million and initially plans to split time between his beach and lake homes if he doesn't coach next season. He's at about the age (63) most folks consider retirement. From a real-world perspective, it's not an unenviable spot.

Life's a bit tougher as an assistant. The pay isn't as big, the job security not as strong. If a coach is particularly tied to a community or area --- and Maryland linebackers coach Al Seamonson, whose son Kalvin is a freshman walk-on defensive back with the Terps, immediately comes to mind --- this sort of situation can be particularly challenging.

"Your heart goes out because it's a fraternity," McNeill said. "We're more like brothers than competitors. We compete when it's game time, but when you see that you think about the families that are involved. We're the coaches and we're usually out in the forefront in the newspapers and the media but there's also some families attached --- daughters, sons and staff's family."

Maryland, East Carolina sell out Military Bowl allotments

Maryland sold out its 10,000-ticket allotment to the Military Bowl earlier this week.

East Carolina followed suit today.

RFK Stadium's listed capacity for the Dec. 29 game is 45,423. Considering --- anecdotally, anyway --- that many fans opted to buy cheaper seats outside the school's allotment, it's likely the Military Bowl will have the largest attendance in its three-year history.

There were 28,777 at the 2008 game between Navy and Wake Forest. Last year, an announced crowd of 23,072 saw Temple and UCLA play.

College football countdown: Nos. 81-85

The first third of the countdown wraps up with this installment.

Not a single ACC team lands in that stretch. But don't worry. That will be rectified soon enough.

For now, here's five more teams you might not hear a whole lot about once November and December come around:

85. MINNESOTA

Yes, the Golden Gophers were a bowl team last season. I was an employed sportswriter last season. Lot of good that does now.

Minnesota was decidedly average on defense last year, hardly great but good enough to avoid getting humiliated in every situation other than a visit to the Horseshoe. Hey, that happens. But the front seven is gone, and there's little reason to think the Gophers will magically become a great defense by getting younger.

And about the offense? Well, nine starters are back. But the Gophers couldn't run (less than a 100 yards a game on the ground), couldn't score (less than 20 points in five of their last seven games) and simply weren't very impressive.

Minnesota also misses Indiana and Michigan, so the schedule isn't particularly favorable. The Gophers also open on a Thursday night (Sept. 2) at Middle Tennessee, which means they could be the first team whose season comes unraveled. If things get too ugly, Tim Brewster's fourth season could be his last.

84. WYOMING

The power of turnovers is an amazing thing.

In 2008, the Cowboys were a ghastly -22 in turnover margin, averaged an anemic 296 yards a game and managed to get not only coach Joe Glenn fired, but to punctuate Phil Fulmer's downfall at Tennessee with a 13-7 victory in Knoxville.

Last year, Wyoming was +8 in turnover margin, averaged an almost-as-anemic 309.4 yards of total offense and earned its first bowl berth in five years.

Much of last year's bunch is back, but the Cowboys are staring at an unpleasant schedule. They play Texas and Boise State in the season's first three weeks, and pay visits to Texas Christian and Brigham Young in October. This could be one beat-up outfit by the time it has to engage the bottom half of the Mountain West. Matching last year's 6-6 regular-season record would be impressive.

83. EAST CAROLINA

One of the great wild cards this season, the Pirates were wiped out by graduation and the loss of coach Skip Holtz to South Florida. Into the breach steps Ruffin McNeill, who was last seen figuratively wearing Mike Leach's headset as Texas Tech won the Alamo Bowl.

This is a fairly optimistic assessment compared to several preseason magazines, and even then it comes with some caveats.

The Pirates won't be as good on defense as they were a season ago, and a so-so offense will struggle now that Patrick Pinkney is gone after what felt like an eight-year career. One possible replacement: Dominique Davis, best known for helping Boston College clinch an Atlantic Division title with a defeat of Maryland in the 2008 regular season finale.

Few teams will face as crucial a stretch as the Pirates will in the season's first month. Trips to Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Southern Mississippi are lined up in a row, and East Carolina then gets N.C. State in Greenville. A fifth straight bowl berth isn't impossible, but a third consecutive conference title is unlikely.

82. LOUISVILLE

Perhaps no major program needed a fresh start like the Cardinals, who rapidly plummeted from Big East champions to so-so to irrelevant in three years under Steve Kragthorpe. The evidence: Kragthorpe won five conference games, or one less than Bobby Petrino did in 2006 before an ill-fated move to the Atlanta Falcons.

Enter Charlie Strong, who at least will enjoy a little bit of a cushion to sort stuff out. The former Florida defensive coordinator finally gets his first head-coaching gig, and all is not bad.

The offensive line returns intact. The Cardinals get seven home games, including four in the Big East. The conference doesn't have an obvious dominant power, either this year or in the long run.

The defense, unquestionably, needs help, but that's Strong's specialty. Louisville probably won't be great this season, but things are just favorable enough for a bowl berth to be possible. If nothing else, the Cardinals should show some modest improvement --- and that should be enough for a fanbase numb to the steady decline of the last three seasons.

81. ILLINOIS

Sometimes, a team will receive a bump in any sort of ranking like this based on coaching alone.

That doesn't just go for the Jim Tressels and the Nick Sabans of the world. Chances are a team coached by Mike Riley or Brian Kelly or Jim Grobe will probably wind up outperforming expectations. Not always, of course, but it happens enough that folks should be smart enough to account for that consistently strong play.

It works in the other direction, too --- and that's where the Illini come in.

To be blunt, Ron Zook has done little to generate much faith in his sideline acumen, though his 6-9 record at Illinois in games decided by a touchdown or less isn't as bad as some might think.

Still, Zook has drawn raves as a recruiter and has a 21-39 record in five seasons in Champaign to show for it. He's 7-17 on the road and 0-5 on neutral fields. But perhaps most damning is this little gem:

BIG TEN STANDINGS, 2005-09

1. Ohio State (36-4, .900)
2. Penn State (29-11, .725)
3. Wisconsin (25-15, .625)
4. Iowa (22-18, .550)
5. Michigan (21-19, .525)
6. Northwestern (20-20, .500)
7. Purdue (17-23, .425)
8. Michigan State (16-24, .400)
9. Minnesota (13-27, .325)
10. Illinois (12-28, .300)
11. Indiana (9-31, .225)

Zook isn't the only coach who should fidget nervously because of these numbers (ahem, Rich Rodriguez), but he's presided over all five of these seasons and comes out behind everyone except Indiana. Which is to say he's behind everyone in the Big Ten that consistently makes football a priority.

Expectations aren't particularly high this fall, though the Illini catch a break by avoiding Iowa and Wisconsin and getting winnable games against Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue at home. A bowl berth is attainable, and it might just keep the Zooker around for an extra year. But another sub-.500 season from the Illini would make dismissing Zook one of the most justifiable coaching changes of 2010.