Maryland looks pretty damn good against Syracuse

The Terps entered as a favorite in College Park, Maryland against No. 21 Syracuse, and they are showing exactly why early on.

The Maryland Terrapins, coming off a lopsided 79-0 win against Howard, welcomed No. 21 Syracuse in the first real test for head coach Mike Locksley. Entering as a -1.5 favorite, Maryland has looked flawless early on against the Orangemen.

Maryland began the game with three scoring drives and tremendous play-calling from the Terps sideline. Virginia Tech transfer Josh Jackson is lighting up the Syracuse secondary both with his legs and his cannon of an arm.

Maryland’s backfield duo of Javon Leake and Anthony McFarland Jr., each have already seen the end zone ending two of the three scoring drives and giving the Terps and early 21-7 lead.

It is not only the offense that is looking dominant against Syracuse as the defense has held Tommy DeVito and the rest of the opposing offense in check.

Syracuse has struggled to get much of anything going outside of a 91-yard touchdown drive while trailing by 14 points. The Syracuse defense, however, hasn’t looked like the powerhouse many ACC pundits believed it would be.

The Orangemen did not look too great in the team’s opening matchup against the Liberty Flames, scoring only 24 points against a team whose head coach was spitting instructions from a hospital bed. It was not a good look on the ranked team and it even costed them from moving up farther in the polls.

This may be the beginning of things to come for Maryland, who has run into some unfortunate luck the previous two seasons when it comes to keeping quarterbacks healthy. The Terps have knocked off Texas the last two years, showing they can pull of some upsets when they are playing good football.

If Maryland does pull off the upset in College Park, expect them to still be on the outside looking in when it comes to the top-25 polls, but inching closer to becoming a ranked team. A win be massive for the future of the program who is searching for its first bowl win since 2010.

Keep a close eye on this one as Maryland continues to manhandle the Orange at home dominating both sides of the football.