Back and better than ever!

Well---after a few months on a different website...Preston's Perspective returns to this site-- just in time for Midnight Madness...

As many of you may have learned, I'm no longer at Redskins Radio...I'm back at WTOP like I was previously ...covering Maryland football as well this time...

Like last year we'll have the College Football Corner on Monday--Presto's Picks on Friday... with a Redskins Report midweek this year as well---so without further ado...



College Football Corner--an expected upset?

Last weekend felt like...last season, when top ten teams were timber to be chopped down on a regular basis. Number one USC-upended by Oregon State! Fourth ranked Florida--fodder for Mississippi! Number nine Wisconsin--mauled by Michigan! And that's not even looking at losses by 16th rated Wake Forest or 20 Clemson (more on the underachieving Tigers later). Early season conference play is always dangerous for a handful of reasons...

An upgrade in schedule--After sloshing through the Coastal Carolinas and Louisiana-Lafayettes, schools are suddenly facing teams with similar personnel and like expectations. All of a sudden the talent gap shrinks...and players actually have to go the full 60 instead of being lifted midway through the third quarter.

Familiarity may not breed contempt, but it certainly helps one's gameplan--league foes are used to seeing what their opponent does; their strengths and weaknesses and what makes them tick...and players aren't fazed as much about going into the swamp...

MARYLAND capitalized on another underachieving Clemson team by shutting down the Tigers after halftime in a 20-17 upset...the offense scored all four times it entered the red zone while the defense held Clemson to 26 yards rushing after intermission. TERRAPIN TRIUMPHS--Chris Turner had his first interception-free start of the season--and directed a clock-killing drive where Maryland kept the ball for the game's final 5 and a half minutes...after being held without a reception in the first half, the offense put the ball in Darius Heyward-Bey's hands and the wide receiver responded with a 76 yard reverse that set the tone for the second half...linebacker Alex Wujciak led the defense with 16 tackles... TERRAPIN TROUBLES-- take away Heyward-Bey's reverse, and the team tallied just 63 yards on 28 carries...including 39 on 23 tries by Da'Rel Scott...the team converted 1 of its first 10 third down situations...it took a quarter and a half for the team to get into gear--against a better opponent things could have been disastrous.

VIRGINIA TECH's cardiac run continued with a 35-30 thriller against Nebraska that began as a field-goal affair and turned into another Tyrod Taylor showcase. HOKIE HIGHLIGHTS--Taylor tallied 87 yards rushing and had his best passing day of the season (9-15, 171 yards and no interceptions) while the defense held the Huskers to 2.2 yards a carry... Justin Myer placed three of his five punts inside Nebraska's 20 yard line...the team came away with points every time (six) they were in the red zone. HOKIE HUMBLINGS--does this team have a knockout punch? Despite dominating the line of scrimmage...VT still needed a fourth quarter fumble recovery to lock up the victory.

VIRGINIA turned the ball over six times and was woefully ineffective on third down (0-9 in the first half) in a 31-3 loss to Duke. One wonders how bad things can get for this team...with the meat of their ACC slate still ahead. CAVALIER CONGRATS--the offense actually outgained the Blue Devils by 46 yards... the line allowed just one sack...the defense kept a Duke team averaging 30+ points a game out of the endzone for the entire first half. CAVALIER CATASTROPHES--Mikkell Simpson's fall continues (31 yards on 13 carries)--he's averaging just 2.3 yards per attempt this fall...Marc Verica threw four interceptions...one of which was returned for a Blue Devil touchdown that put the game out of reach.