By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — With an offense that has the ability to change form the way a chameleon changes color, the Maryland attack will present many obstacles to an East Carolina defense that has struggled stopping any kind of system all year.
The Maryland offense is guided by freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien, who took over during the Terrapins’ fourth game of the season, a 42-28 victory over FIU, and led the team to an 8-4 record and a third place finish in the ACC.
The rookie finished the season completing 56 percent of his passes (179-315) for 2,257 yards while throwing 21 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
Stopping O’Brien will be a tough task for the Pirates when these two teams face off in the Military Bowl on Dec. 29.
“He looks like a veteran,” ECU defensive coordinator Brian Mitchell said. “When they told me he was a freshman I was like ‘wow.’ This young man has done a good job of commanding and running that offense with efficiency. The kid throws a great ball, he’s calm, he’s collected and he does everything the right way. He’s not going to do anything that will lose a game for his team and he’s got enough weapons around him to use.”
O’Brien’s top weapon this year has been Torrey Smith, who leads the team in receptions and receiving yards with 65 for 1,045, respectively. Overall, the Terps have eight receivers that have over 10 catches.
Davin Meggett is the team’s leading rusher as he averages 5.5 yards per attempt and has tallied 658 yards. Da’Rel Scott is right behind him with 529 rushing yards.
The key to Maryland’s attack is that it is very fluid. The Terps can come after teams with a spread offense, but if that is not working they can shift to power formations and run the ball.
“They are a combination of N.C. State and North Carolina,” Mitchell said. “They have a spread passing attack to isolate and create mismatches with their wide receivers, yet they can run down hill with the power running game.”
Having lost nine starters on defense from last year’s Conference USA-winning team, plus having to deal with injuries along the defensive line to Justin Dixon, Marke Powell and Michael Brooks, the Pirates have struggled to keep teams out of the end zone for most of the season.
East Carolina ranks 120th out of 120 FBS teams in total defense (478 ypg) and 118th in scoring defense (43.4 ppg).
The young unit features only two seniors on the two-deep at defensive line, and aside from corners Travis Simmons and Emanuel Davis, the only other player to get any kind of significant playing time before this season was DT Josh Smith, which made the defense young and inexperienced.
“In my 16 years I don’t know if I have ever been in a situation … where you were so deficient in so many areas,” Mitchell said. “And I’m not talking about player-wise, I’m talking about where you graduated so many guys, nine guys off of last year’s team — and those guys where phenomenal players and I take my hat off to them — but then have a group of kids that have not played in a Div. I football game until this year. … You just go down the line and I don’t know if anyone has been dealt a situation like that. But, with that being said you continue to hold on to your corps, you hold to your fundamentals and technique and you motivate and try to get those kids to play hard week in and week out. I think we fell short, I know we fell short, but I truly believe that the corps is going to benefit from the struggles we had this year.”
Mitchell said he is well aware of the criticism of him and his unit, but noted that he is his own toughest critic.
“It really doesn’t matter, my critics couldn’t put as much pressure on my as what I put on myself,” Mitchell said. “My goal each and every day is to make this football team and this university the best that I can possibly make it. That’s something I live by and I will never deviate from that.”