It’s bad enough the Washington Redskins went vanilla over the dreadful winless preseason. Now Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen is purposely hiding the Terrapins offense during regular season games.
The Terps showed little in their 27-14 victory over William and Mary this past weekend. Maryland swapped quarterbacks after gaining an early lead and did justenough to post the Terps’ first victory over the Tribe in 101 years. Now Maryland will probably hold back as 22-point favorites against Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
Crikey.
Maryland visits No. 6 West Virginia on Sept. 14 and Friedgen isn’t tipping any secrets. The Terps coach is doubling as offensive coordinator following Charlie Taaffe’s offseason departure and there are lot of secrets sprinkled inside the 1,200-page playbook — 500 more than Al Saunders and the Redskins. The scheme is substantially different with formation shifts most fans wouldn’t recognize but defensive coordinators live to spot in game film.
The Terps were sloppy against the Tribe. Some might blame it on inexperience. The paranoid would claim Friedgen was trying to fool West Virginia with plays he’ll never use against the Mountaineers. Former Redskins coach Norv Turner used to run meaningless plays in a game to confuse coming opponents.
Friedgen has long been paranoid. It wasn’t unusual for him to dress every quarterback in the same number during practice. Running backs, too. The Terps practice in the middle of campus where sharp-eyed spies can watch from surrounding buildings. West Virginia and Virginia games especially bring out the jitters in Friedgen, who worries their fans might come by College Park to scout. More than one lingering passerby has been shooed from the nearby fence and parking garage.
It’s amazing Friedgen doesn’t practice in a dome for fear someone can Google the field during practice to look for formations via satellite. Then again, don’t give him any ideas.
Friedgen lives for the bells and whistles of offense. Give him enough time and he’d sneak an extra ball and two players into every huddle. The Terps have four running backs sharing time. There’s no preparing for their diverse styles. Same goes for quarterbacks Sam Hollenbach and Jordan Steffy. Hollenbach is nearly a statue while Steffy runs more than Niagara Falls.
Middle Tennessee hasn’t faced Friedgen, but it wouldn’t matter if the Blue Raiders were faxed the playbook. Middle Tennessee barely beat Florida International, 7-6, on Aug. 31. Then again, maybe Friedgen stays plain against the Blue Raiders because the Terps also play Florida International on Sept. 23. No sense giving FIU any advantages, either.
Friedgen isn’t alone in his fears. Many college and pro teams bar TV crews from filming anything more than stretching and a couple drills for fear someone will see something in the back of the video that reveals all.
Former Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer even barred newspaper photographers from shooting plays, saying other teams studied those pictures. Asked if his staff ever found anything in the back of photos over the years, Schottenheimer admitted not. But you never know, he said.
West Virginia has played Friedgen five times. Same goes for ACC opponents. Friedgen may be squiggling more Xs and Os on napkins, but the bottom line is whether the offense can execute the play, not the defense stopping it.
This vanilla epidemic needs to stop. What’s next — coaches talking only in cliches.
“Buy a ticket,” said Friedgen over inquiries of his offense.
Uh-oh, we’re too late.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
