When currently committed recruits start DECOMMITTING.

I'm not an Edsall fluffer, I'm giving him one more year but I have less faith things will improve a lot day by day. And losing David Mackall and DJ Adams is definitely not a positive. But, they were Fridge guys, who clashed with the coach (so you can't expect them to say positive things as they leave, which made DJ's departure so classy), and made the most that was best for them. Carry on my wayward son(s), that was the right move for them.

The real time to hit the panic button is if a kid like Mike Madaras ## decommits. But so far, the fact of the matter is we are (slowly, but I guess surely) adding kids and talent to the team. Kids that were recruited by Edsall and his staff, know his style, seemingly want to play for the man.

I'm also not being a Polyanna here either. There's a lot to be unhappy with, I think there are about 1400 other posts with thousands of comments on the site that make all those things clear. And losing Danny O'Brien would stink, but as I think Ben B has correctly pointed out elsewhere it won't be THAT big of a loss. He's not an ideal fit for this system, he had a bad year, etc. Plus, I think the kid is better off in another system where his strengths will be better suited and he'll have some sort of a shot (however small) at the NFL.

## Good news is Madaras just got his Under/Armour All-American jersey as reported by Matt Bracken.

Great thought provoking piece at the blog Greater Greater Washington on the possiblity of the Terps and DC United jointly building a new soccer facility, totally funded by DC United.

 http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/12748/dc-united-and-the-university-of-maryland-a-perfect-match/

Two snippets:

The site in question would require no new roads or infrastructure to be specially built. That part of campus is tucked away from the academic uses and is currently used for parking and varsity/club athletics. It already has the infrastructure in place for large events. DCU could market using the Green Line, much like the Nats Stadium does, although some fans will want to drive if they're coming from far away.

And:

Under such a public-private partnership between DC United and UMD, the University would get a new facility that's on its Campus Master Plan at no cost to their budget. They would get new revenue streams by hosting ACC and NCAA events, along with revenue from DC United events, according to the terms of embracing construction on the University of Maryland campus. Finally, they would have a beautiful new stadium to better attract and accommodate more fans for their own soccer teams than their present facility can hold.

I think the article over estimates how many additional yearly events (60) could be held at the facility, but that's quibbling over details.

A shiny new soccer stadium, at no cost to the University would be a boon for the men's and women's programs, a boon to attendance and concesesion sales, be a huge boost to the profile and recruitability of the program, and in all be fantastic for the University.

Alcohol sales at DCU games is a kink to be worked out, as would the potential impact (if at all) to the University on DCU game days/nights. But it has to be a win-win for DCU as lots of students would come to the games.

Would you be in favor of this idea?

Let's put our collective minds together and see if we can't come up with some additional means for Maryland to generate revenue.

In Ben's post breaking down the suggestions a review of the feasability of concert revenue in Comcast has started. To me it is a clearly actionable option.

But what about at Byrd? Could we host larger concerts in that forum? Steal away some of the RFK concerts or entice artists to the larget DC/Baltimore market who couldn't afford nor fill FedEx?

Sponsorships of parking lots. I think there's a chance that MD could brand various parking areas for the football and basketball seasons.

One thing I lament is that during Yow's tenure (yes, I'm going to take some shots at her) we let the hosting of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament slip away. I know several people who were involved in getting that to MD to beging with, interacted with Yow and other State and University officials. We had a very serious chance to lock that up to a long-term hosting contract. But Yow refused. We made money on that, plus it put us into the limelight, was fantastic for recruiting etc.

Any other suggestions? Is it feasible to sell the naming rights to non-revenue producing venues that win national championships? Soccer gets a healthy number of attendees, could we market that?

Comments go below, with 17min's left in the 2nd half FSU is up 7.

Can Duke fall to a motivated team playing at home? Does FSU have enough juice to pull through?

Will Dicky V EXPLODE if Duke loses? He's hanging in there so far, but not sure if he'll make it. He's using is fake excited voice at the moment. I'm pretty sure he'll cry if they lose.

FSU 38, Duke 29 with 16:30 left!

Fully worth the read, I highly recommend -

http://terrapinstationmd.com/2011/01/07/an-exhaustive-overview-of-the-decade-in-marylands-football-recruiting/

Here is what I posted:

Great work, a lot of information that is really useful. Might have worked even better in reverse-chronological order, to give a better perspective on the history of things. Though I do get why you did it the way you did.

I can’t quibble with the facts, and don’t. But one thing I really wish people would bear in mind about keeping the in-state talent (and we should do a better job, I’m not defending Fridge on this front) is that probably about half of the kids DON’T want to go to Maryland.

Lot’s of kids want to "go away" to college. So even if that is just 1/3 of the top talent, our ceiling is 66%, which means those near 50% years are more like 75% years in retention.

Further, the top top tier kids are apt to go to the states of California, Florida and Te*as (that’s actually 2 Republics and 1 State). Just like the majority of top talent. The weather is better, those schools have better profiles and better TV coverage. MD just is not a top-tier school. We’re not a top 6 SEC school, and the ACC is not as good as the SEC.

I also think this is hard for undergrad alumni to wrap their heads around. "How could MD not be the best?" Cause it ain’t. I’m a lifelong Terp, and I mean that literally. I’ll put my attendance record at lacrosse games up against almost anyone else’s hoops attendance record, or my baseball attendance record against anyone else’s football attendance record. I couldn’t be a bigger fan, but not having gone there as an undergrad gives me a view of the school from a little bit of an outsider’s perspective.

The only shot, at the present and next 5-8 years of MD football, is for a 4 or 5-star kid to have grown up as a mega-Terp fan. Otherwise? No shot.

I think the "going away" % speaks to a big chunk of the PSU, WVU, UVA and VT crowd.

Our bowl fate has been handed to us: we tie for 3rd in the league and get the 8th bowl.

Reality has come home to roost in more ways than one - a team that gave its fans no reason to be excited last year, but rebounded in a major way, suffered from some pedestrian attendance this year. And as a result (among other factors), we get relegated to a weak bowl that'll invariably be played on a cold day in ramshackle RFK. Surprise surprise, attendance will be weak.

We better beat the snot out of ECU.

How did the news strike you? I let out a loud groan, and my wife from the other room asked "Uh-oh, did MD get shafted on their bowl game?" Yes dear, yes they did.

I think the bowl, and by virtue MD, should do everything in their power to keep ticket prices low, and by low I mean LOW. Fill up RFK as much as you can. Make the game as much about patriotism or whatever other gimmick you can come  up with. 

Yes, have MD play in our "support the troops" uniforms. Have Terp (and ECU) alum who are or were in the military be recognized during halftime. 

HEY!

HEY YOU!

Are you a Terps fan? Yeah? SERIOUSLY? Well then let's get this bowl "thing" GOING.

Let's all commit to getting #TerpsBowl to trend in the DC area, let's let every stinkin' bowl commissioner know that we're serious Terps fans, we love our program, and we need to be taken seriously in the bowl situation.

There are no more concerns about our attendance, no more concerns about how we travel. Why? Because of us, we're going to make it happen. We're going to let every stinkin' bowl commissioner out there know that we're committed to our program and we won't be ignored.

DC? FINE.
Shereveport? Great.
Texas? Yup.
Florida? BRING.IT.ON

We're not going to stop until every bowl commissioner has gotten several hundred direct @ tweets about us. Let them know we're passionate. Let them know we support our team. Let them know we're FANS.

This is actually one of those FEW times as a fan where we can influence the situation. So let's not let our team down. Be loud, be proud, BE TERPS.

I think the whole "Medifast worked for Fridge" ad campaign may be OBE at this point, he's not looking as svelt as last year.

Check out the images on Fridge's weight, specifically compare #1 to #3. He does NOT look like #3 in the current episodes, and sadly looks more like #1.

Like all Terp fans, I'm worried about the program. But I'm also worried about the man's health, and it seems like he really may not have made the change that was required.

Most sources are reporting that Strasburg will be promoted to Syracuse soon, though one unnamed source in a recent Post article said there was no promotion yet.

Should he be promoted?

My personal thinking is they should keep him in Harrisburg for one more start, so he can show that he's "learned" from his last start. That being said, reports are he was getting squeezed on the strike zone (though none of those reports have commented on whether the Altoona pitcher was getting squeezed as well), and his defense didn't help him out a few times.

I think if he is promoted now, it is in essence to rewarding him for a so-so performance and doesn't show that he will be held to performance standards. The talking point before the game is he'd be promoted assuming the weather held (meaning he pitched), and he pitched well. And I think the second of those two is questionable. Given the weather, warming up twice, tough strike zone and lack of defense one can readily make the case he pitched well.

Thoughts? Should he be promoted? Is it time for him to face the more professional and seasoned AAA hitters?

Seems to me it would be the worst possible thing for Campbell and MD, as it turns a late first-round / early second-round talent into a joke, with MD becoming the punchline.

I'd rather see him fall to the third round than go to Oakland.

Any thoughts on where we think he'll go?

I hope his pro career goes better than his time at MD, maybe the trainers of his future employer will find the key to keeping him healthy and on the field.

From his Twitter feed:

MLandBoundAsh outta practice .. Body sore as hell man .. Gettin x rays 2morro on my leg


Uh-oh...
Not sure what that means, he's had a semi-steady stream of Tweets about practicing etc, and a good number cheering on the Terps for games (no follow ups when we've lost though). I haven't seen any coverage of this anywhere else, hopefully it is just a minor thing. But to have an X-ray scheduled, indicates it is semi-serious.

Thoughts post victory?

The defense looked iffey at times, and Cosh got some boos from time to time. And why does the intermediary pass still give us fits? The D injury is not good, we need all our able bodies we have.

Turner struggled, but got it done down the stretch with some big passes. Yet he still struggled with some easy passes.

Special teams continues to be the unsung heroes of the squad. Our kicking game seems to be fixed, punting is great, and our return game seems to finally be making some contributions.

Scott's injury does not bode well, but you have to love Meggett. And Fridge keeps saying that Green and ____ (some other kid) are looking great. Hey, here's a thought, redshirt _____ (if I can't tell you his name, it shows he's not contributing).

I'm personally leerie at best going into VT. We made NCSU's QB look good, and VT's is just as mobile. VT's D is better, and we should expect them to be pissed off coming off a loss (though we'd be worried had they won, too).

What do you all think?

Defeating Cal was a huge win, and impressive for the team and coaches. All fans should be ecstatic, and no level-headed Terp had that marked as a win on the schedule on their fridge (lower case, not upper).

That being said, it's easy to "get up" for a big game against a nationally ranked team. As the MTSU game showed us, our guys either overlook lesser opponents, think too highly of themselves, or just flat out don't show up for games.

So Eastern Michigan will let us know where we really are.

If Turner doesn't practice well, if the entire team's intensity leading up to the game isn't there, then we know we just don't have what it takes as a team.

But if we practice well, and it translates into a solid win, then we're in good shape going into ACC play.

PS: Some resolution at PK would be great too. I don't care who it is, but someone has to make a FG.

PPS: And let's figure out this Josh Portis thing. Use or lose? Can we see him throw a pass? Does putting him in ruin Turner's "rhythm"?