Building a college football power isn’t genome research. Nor is it a pet project that can plugged together like Legos.
Take the state of the Maryland football program. When Ralph Friedgen took over six years ago, he won 10 games in each of his first two seasons, qualifying him for the Nobel Prize in program building.
The Terrapins haven’t won 10 games since. Even last season, when Maryland went 9-4, six of those losses were by six or less points. Last week the Terps blew a 24-7 lead at Wake Forest, losing 31-24 in overtime to drop to 2-2 on the season.
Now consider the job Greg Schiano has done at Rutgers. He won two games his first season. One of those losses was an 80-7 humiliation at West Virginia. He won one game his second season, qualifying for the Gerry Faust coaching award.
In the last two seasons, Maryland has gone 14-10. Rutgers has gone 18-7. The Scarlet Knights are 3-0 and ranked in the Top 10 of every major poll, including The Post’s.
“There are a lot of programs in the country that look at what’s happened at Rutgers and are using that as their model,” said Kansas coach Mark Mangino. “They’ve done it the right way – facilities, recruiting, support from the administration. It’s not just one person and it doesn’t just happen overnight.”
Rutgers hosts the Terrapins today in their first true test of the season. Those first three games against Buffalo, Navy and Norfolk State proved little, but beating Maryland won’t prove a lot more. The Terps have beaten Villanova and Florida International before getting crushed by West Virginia and beat by Wake Forest.
Jordan Steffi, once considered the quarterback of the future, has thrown four interceptions and one touchdown pass. Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel, once considered the team’s question mark, leads the nation in passing efficiency.
“I don’t see a whole lot of weaknesses,” said Friedgen of Rutgers. “They’re probably the best defense we’ve played, easily. They run a very different scheme than a lot of teams we play.”
This is not to suggest Friedgen isn’t a good coach. Quite the opposite. He’s a shrewd play-caller and in an Atlantic Coast Conference that has gotten better and deeper with the additions of Boston College, Miami and Florida State, the Terps perennially have some outstanding talent, such as linebacker Erin Henderson, the younger brother of NFL star E.J. Henderson.
We can’t call this a trap game because the Scarlet Knights are at home and they’ve had an extra week to prepare. What this game could be a great example of is how complex the job of building a program can be.
Five years ago the Terps seemed to have it all figured out and Rutgers was a laughingstock. Now the Scarlet Knights are looking to validate their No. 9 ranking.
“It’s nice, but the reality is as long as there is going to be another poll after this week’s games it doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot,” said Schiano. “You can be [No.] 10 now and be gone in a week or two from now.”
Or you can be Top 10 now and be gone. Ask the Terps.