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2009 Cal Game Recap By Chris B.
This isn't how this was supposed to happen. For years, we have been talking about taking a an awesome trip out to San Francisco to see our beloved Terps take on the Cal Golden Bears. Don't get me wrong the trip part was awesome. It was the game part that was not so awesome. At some point we will get a tailgate recap up for you as well, but those of you who follow turtledroppings.com have a pretty good idea of what happened on our vacation. So on to the game. Berkeley is pretty much everything you expect. Tie-dyed shirts for sale on the street. Check. Hemp necklaces for sale on the street. Check. People protesting something. Check. In all seriousness, outside of a couple of blocks, it seemed like a normal college town. Plenty of bars and shops. The stadium is decrepit. I never went to a game at the old JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, but I used to walk past it all the time on my way to Flyers, and Phillies games when we parked over there, and that is kind of what I envisioned it being like, except Memorial Stadium is a classic bowl. Now to in fact call it bowl, you would think there were some toilet bowls inside, but no only porta potties. Other than that, the stadium may be one of the coolest sites in college sports. It is literally carved into the mountains. Can you tell I am trying to delay talking about the actual action on the field? I know get it over with and move on to JMU. The Terps just didn't have it. There were plenty of mistakes (2 lost fumbles, 7 penalties for 60 yards), and defensive breakdowns. Cal had 7 plays or more for 20 yards. Everything the Terps needed to happen to win, did not. Every thing they couldn't do to keep the game close, they did. It was perhaps the worst loss since the beat down Florida delivered in the Orange Bowl after the 2001 season. The highlights of the game for the Terps, had to be the kicking of Freshman Nick Ferrara, and the running of Da'Rel Scott. The lowlights were the six sacks of Chris Turner allowed by Maryland's offensive line. All the excitement of the new aggressive defense Don Brown was going to bring went right out the window with each big play Cal had. Maryland was a 21 point underdog going, in and in all honesty, this was not a game I expected to win, but a 52-13 loss, is not what I expected. It is rare to see a game go south so quickly, but it did. The fumble reminded me of the fumble in Morgantown about 4 years ago when after giving up a TD, the Terps tried a reverse on the kickoff and Heyward-Bey fumbled it. Next thing you knew, WVU was up 14-0. Same deal in Berkeley. So with that being said, there were a few bright spots, and lot of areas for improvement. With JMU looming this weekend, you would hope the Terps are able to improve and tighten up some of the mistakes, gain some confidence and move on from the Cal game. |