Last week when a reporter asked Randy Edsall about safety Matt Robinson, who was a standout in his starting debut against Miami, Edsall joked that he didn’t like his safeties making so many tackles. After the performance of his defense in a 37-31 loss to West Virginia on Saturday, Edsall was in no mood to joke. One reason was how many tackles his safeties had to make. Eric Franklin had 15 and Robinson recorded 13.
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Multiple tackles from the safeties are to be expected when facing the Air Raid offense installed this year by West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. But it also was an indication of how poorly the front seven of the Maryland defense performed. The safeties put up the kind of tackle numbers previously reserved for middle linebacker Alex Wujciak.
Using a three-man front and four linebackers most of the game, the Maryland defense put up little resistance against West Virginia, which didn’t punt until the third quarter, when it was sitting on a 34-10 lead.
– Kevin Dunleavy
