2008 Maryland NCAA Football Betting Preview

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College Football Preview – Maryland Terrapins

With the NCAA Football betting season just around the corner, it’s time to break down the offense and defense of the ACC’s Maryland Terps. Check out the College Football Odds for game odds and lines on every NCAAF betting opportunity of the year.



Maryland finished 6-7 last year and sub-.500 seasons haven’t been a common occurrence while Ralph Friedgen’s been around.

The Terps were trashed by injuries, though, and should get back to bowling this year. They are still limited talent-wise so they won’t make a huge dent in the ACC picture.

Offense

The Terps could boast a very good offense but their biggest weakness is at the most important position: quarterback.

Chris Turner and Jordan Steffy return to compete for the job that they shared last year. Both couldn’t step up to the plate, which is why the unit struggled. Florida transfer Josh Porter is also in the mix.

The offensive line looks very strong with four senior returning starters, which should help the weak group of quarterbacks.

The good news is that nine offensive starters return. Four wide receivers are back, including Darrius Heyward-Bey, who has nearly 1500 receiving yards in his first two seasons. He looks like he’ll be NFL bound shortly.

Lance Ball and Kenny Lattimore are gone, which leaves some question marks at running back, but Scott and Morgan Green look like adequate replacements.

Defense

While the Terps’ offense returns plenty of starters and is experienced, the defense is at the other end of the spectrum. They lost six starters on defense and have plenty of holes.

The defensive tackle spot is thin after losing both starters. There will be three new starters in the secondary and they’ll have to replace stud linebacker Erin Henderson.

Defensive coordinator Chris Cosh is switching around the scheme and changing it to more of a 3-3-5. The reason for that is while the Terps lack experience up front and in the secondary, this scheme will allow them to take advantage of their deep rotation of linebackers.

The main issue is the defensive line, which was already weak before tackles Dre Moore and Carlos Feliciano moved on. Now they are moving to a three-man front but the linebackers might have to deal with more blockers if the linemen aren’t very good.

Outlook

The offense looks good, but will obviously be limited by the quarterbacking, and the defense which looks suspect. The Terps aren’t having any BCS aspirations. But realistically, they should be back to six or seven wins and probably playing in a better bowl than the Emerald Bowl.

BetUS sportsbook already has tons of college football Futures betting available for those of us who can't wait. Bet on the Heisman winner, Conference and Divisional winners and, of course, the 2009 BCS National Championship winner.