On Sunday October 11 the University of Maryland relieved head football coach Randy Edsall of his coaching duties. So let's take a look at the Maryland Terrapins using the
Complex Invasion College Football Production Model before (2008-2010 under Ralph Friedgen) and during Edsall's tenure (2011-2015). I will be starting with the 2008 season and move forward through 2015 up to the point where Edsall's duties were relieved.
Below is a chart of the University of Maryland's offense, defense and total
production rankings since 2008 along with the rank of the worst team in
the Football Bowl Subdivision during the time period. As you can see the Maryland Terrapins have not been above average except for the last season with Ralph Friedgen as head football coach since 2008. More information
from the model is presented below.
2008
Unfortunately, I do not have all the data to run the model before the
2008 season, so I am unable to show how Maryland performed in the
previous seasons with head coach Friedgen. As such, I can only evaluate based on the
data that I have and the model that I am using is the same since the
2008 season. That said, Maryland finished the 2008 season at 8-5 and
bowl eligible and played against an "average"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average, meaning that their actual
SOS was within one standard deviation of the "league"
average SOS. Maryland's best game was a
victory over #14 ranked California and their worst
loss was to #85 ranked Virginia. Overall, the Terrapin's had the #70 most productive college football
team with the #77 ranked offense and the #62 ranked defense.
2009
Statistically this was Ralph Friedgen's worst team during this time period. Maryland
finished the regular season at 2-10 and played against an "average"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average. The Terrapins's best game was a
victory over #10 ranked Clemson and their worst
loss was to #96 ranked Virginia. Overall, the Terrapin's had the #107
ranked
team in terms of total production with the #105 ranked offense and the #80 ranked defense.
2010
Maryland significantly improved their production in this season
finishing at 9-4 while playing
against a "average"
strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average. The Terrapins's best game was a
victory over #32 ranked North Carolina State and their worst
loss was to #56 ranked Clemson. Maryland finished the season with the #28
ranked
team in overall productivity with the #45 ranked offense and the #21 ranked defense. Unfortunately, this was not enough for Ralph Friedgen to keep his job as head football coach at Maryland.
Randy Edsall as head football coach
2011
Maryland hired Randy Edsall away from the University of Connecticut during the Summer of 2011. In Edsall's first season as head football coach the Terrapins finished at 2-10. Maryland played against a "tougher"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average, meaning that their actual
SOS was between one and two standard deviations lower than the "league"
average SOS.
The Terrapin's best game was a
victory over #49 ranked Miami (FL) and their worst
loss was to #81 ranked Boston College. The Terrapin's had the #96
ranked
team in terms of total production with the #84 ranked offense and the #93 ranked defense.
2012
In Edsall's second season as head football coach the Terrapins finished at 4-8 playing against an
"average"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average. The Terrapin's best
game was a
victory over #86 ranked Virginia and their worst
loss was to #100 ranked Boston College. Overall, the Terrapin's had the #94
ranked
team with the #114 ranked offense and the #33 ranked defense.
2013
Maryland finished the season at 7-6 playing against an
"average"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average. The Terrapins's best game was a
victory over #54 ranked Virginia Tech and their worst
loss was to #83 ranked Rutgers. Overall, the Terrapins had the #65
ranked
team with the #70 ranked offense and the #42 ranked defense.
2014
Maryland finished the season at 7-6 . Maryland again played against a "tougher"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average. This season the Terrapins's best game was a
victory over #47 ranked Iowa and their worst
loss was to #85 ranked Rutgers. Overall, the Terrapins had the #77
ranked
team with the #78 ranked offense and the #78 ranked defense.
2015
Maryland extended Edsall's contract during the Summer of 2015, yet only made it through half of the regular season with a 2-4 record. At the time of Edsall's departure Maryland played against a "tougher"
strength of schedule
(SOS) as compared to the "league" average. As of Edsall's departure the Terrapin's best game was a
victory over (at the time) #24 ranked South Florida and their worst
loss was to (at the time) #84 ranked Bowling Green. At the time of Edsall's departure Maryland had the #100
ranked
team in total production with the #87 ranked offense and the #96 ranked defense.
2015 In Season NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
University of Illinois and Tim Beckman
