After a disastrous 2015 season, the Maryland Terrapins started their season right with a win in their opener. The Terps cruised to a 52-13 win over FCS Howard in new coach DJ Durkin’s debut and held the Bison scoreless through the first three quarters of the game. Maryland has a more difficult opponent in College Football Week 2 against the Florida International Golden Panthers. If Maryland gets a win this week, it will need just one more to match its win total from last year.
This matchup in Week 2 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 9, 2016,
at 7:30 p.m. ET at Ocean Bank Field on CBS Sports Network.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Florida International +9.5
Maryland -9.5
Odds Analysis
The Terrapins opened as 9.5-point favorites in this game and that’s the largest they’ve been favored by against an FBS opponent in two years. Maryland should be careful though, FIU has defeated an opponent that it was a double-digit underdog against in each of the past three seasons.
Coaching Angle
Durkin was hired over from Michigan after one season as the defensive coordinator. He was primarily brought over for his recruiting prowess although the Wolverines’ defense was one of the best in the nation last season. That said, there were plenty of questions over how he would fare in his first game as the head man at a program.
To help him adjust, he hired two former coaches, Mike London and Pete Lembo as his assistants. London and Lembo weren’t great as the head coaches at Virginia and Ball State, but have valuable experience that the young Durkin doesn’t and can help him out throughout the season.
Across the sideline, FIU has a veteran coach in Ron Turner. Turner coached in the Big Ten for 8 seasons with Illinois and has the experience that Durkin lacks. Maryland has more talent, but FIU has showed that it can compete with power conference teams under Turner.
Key Stat
Turnovers are always important and FIU found that out against Indiana in its season opener. The Golden Panthers had a lead against the Hoosiers at the start of the fourth quarter, but turnovers contributed to 22 straight points from Indiana and a loss for FIU. It’s hard enough for a Conference USA program like FIU to beat big conference teams, but turnovers make the task almost impossible.
As bad as turnovers are, they are even worse when they lead directly to points and FIU QB Alex McGough crushed the underdog’s hopes by giving Indiana more points than he provided for his own team. McGough threw three picks, two of which were returned for touchdowns and struggled throughout. If the Golden Panthers want a shot at pulling off the upset, they will need to limit those turnovers and McGough must have a better game.
Free ATS Pick
Last game was an uncharacteristic one for McGough. He had only thrown three interceptions in a game once in two seasons as a starter prior to last week’s performance against Indiana and is usually known for being careful with the football. The turnovers killed any chance that FIU had at knocking off Indiana and the Golden Panthers can’t give the Terps short fields.
Maryland’s running game carried the day before it against lowly Howard and the Terrapins will try to win the game on the ground here. The Terps averaged 7.2 yards per carry last week and six different players scored rushing touchdowns. FIU struggled to stop Devine Redding on the ground last week and Maryland should do quite well.
FIU will sell out to stop the run and make Perry Hills beat it through the air. Hills has thrown three more interceptions than touchdowns through his career and has really struggled when he’s been asked to throw a lot. As long as the Golden Panthers stop the run, they’ll get the cover here.
College Football Odds: Terrapins 24, Golden Panthers 21
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