An ailing offense's needed cure

Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen wanted his team to get away during its bye week.

With just a few days of light practicing last week and the weekend off, the ninth-year coach hoped his team would come back recharged for the season’s final four games.

Now it’s time for the next step in the treatment for a 2-6 start to the season: curing an ailing offense.

Held back by poor red zone execution and costly turnovers in three straight ugly conference losses, the Terp offense wasted opportunities to make a move in the pedestrian ACC Atlantic Division.

The Terps head to N.C. State tomorrow with just one touchdown in their last eight quarters. It’s now or never for the Terps’ suddenly anemic offense: The players have their backs against a wall, need to win their last four games to earn a bowl berth and are up against a struggling Wolfpack defense.

“We know what we’ve got to do,” said wide receiver Torrey Smith, who pointed to one or two missed offensive opportunities in each ACC loss that could have changed the outcome. “We’re tired of losing around here. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get these wins.”

It sounds like it’s been a long two weeks for the Terp offensive coaches. Friedgen talked about reviewing tape to figure out what happened to the explosive offensive plays, as well as which combination of running backs, wide receivers and linemen — who have all performed inconsistently thus far in the season — gives them the best chance to be successful. On top of that, offensive coordinator James Franklin is still trying to find a way to work backup quarterback JaMarr Robinson into a game in a scenario where he can gain needed experience and best utilize his skill set to help the team.

“We went down the whole gamut,” Friedgen said.

If the Terps can’t get something going against the Wolfpack, it’s an even more embarrassing red flag.

N.C. State, the only team without a conference win, has allowed an average of 44 points per game in its four ACC losses. The Wolfpack have struggled to piece together a healthy secondary while allowing an average of 321 passing yards per game in those losses.

They’re also tied with the Terps for the ACC’s fewest turnovers forced.

Each week, high-scoring shootouts litter the ACC scoreboard. Nine of the conference’s teams are averaging more than 25 points per game in conference play, including the Wolfpack (28.5 ppg).

Right now, the Terps are like the kid who shows up to the fraternity party wearing a purple jumpsuit with matching headband expecting to get some action. Everybody else in the ACC is scoring but them, and they can’t figure out why. At some point, they’ve got to look in the mirror.

Now seems like a good time.

With four games left in his career, quarterback Chris Turner is going to have to start making teams respect his downfield playmaking ability to open up the running lanes that have been closed for much of the season. Even with defenses keying on Smith, Franklin needs to find new and creative ways to get the ball to his big-play wideout in space at least a few times per game. The running backs have to hold onto the football.

In other words, it’s going to take an across-the-board gutcheck to make sure this team can put up enough points to remain competitive and avoid a double-digit loss season.

“Whether we’re playing N.C. State or Virginia Tech or Florida State or Boston College, we’ve got to start doing something on offense,” said Friedgen, running down the Terps’ remaining opponents. “You’re not going to win scoring one touchdown a game.”

After so many early season worries about the new defense, this is where the team is now — hoping the offense can put up enough points to give them a chance to break their losing ways.

Going forward, there’s a simple prescription to stay competitive: “Score touchdowns. Repeat as often as necessary.”

It’s time for the Terps to give teams a taste of their own medicine.

edetweiler@umdbk.com