Lowering the bar

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When it took the field at Byrd Stadium 10 days ago, the Terrapins football team still controlled its own destiny.

Sitting at 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC, a win over No. 6 Clemson that Saturday night would have positioned the Terps at the top of the ACC's Atlantic Division and made possible their preseason goal of an Orange Bowl appearance.

Instead, they let an 18-point second-half lead slip away, and after getting throttled by Florida State on Saturday, the sun set on the Terps' ACC Championship aspirations.

At 1-3 in conference play, the Terps can finish no better than 5-3 in the ACC. And with the Tigers leading the division with a 5-0 record and holding the tiebreak over the Terps, the team is officially out of contention for an early December trip to Charlotte, N.C.

Now, the Terps (2-5, 1-3 ACC) must scramble simply to get eligible for a bowl game.

"I think we can win every game," coach Randy Edsall said after Saturday's 41-16 loss. "I've told our team from the very beginning, ‘We can win every game we play and we can lose every game we play.'"

To become bowl eligible, the Terps must finish no worse than 6-6, meaning they'll have to win four of their final five games.

Fortunately for the Terps, the most grueling stretch of their schedule is now over. None of their final five opponents are nationally ranked, and they'll face their first weak opponent since Towson on Saturday when a dismal Boston College team comes to College Park.

The Terps could realistically win out and sneak into a mid-level bowl game. But if their play from their current three-game losing streak holds, even doubling the season's win total in the coming weeks might prove impossible.

When asked what needs to change after Saturday's loss, safety Eric Franklin couldn't pinpoint a specific area.

"We've got to win," Franklin said bluntly. "Plain and simple, we've got to win."

While a handful of winnable games remain on the Terps' schedule, there's an ominous feeling hanging over the program that this season could spiral downward in a manner reminiscent of the team's embarrassing 2009 campaign. That season, despite beating Atlantic Division champion Clemson, the team finished 2-10, a program-worst record.

But with the season appearing more and more dire with each game, Edsall said Sunday that his mantra with the team — to take the season one game at a time — hasn't changed.

Regardless, this season has hardly been the one Edsall had hoped for in his first in College Park. The fact that his predecessor, former coach Ralph Friedgen, took the Terps to the Orange Bowl in his first season in 2001 only makes matters worse for Edsall.

There's no outward gloom and doom from the coach, although he did say after Saturday's loss that the Terps' roster lacks the athleticism to compete with the ACC's elite.

"The thing is, the kids are working and again I think what we have to do is we just have to continue to get better," Edsall said. "That's all we have to do. … We can win. And we're going to win. I have no doubt about that, we're going to win."

There's no doubt about it, though: It's now or never for the Terps.

"Just finish the season off strong. Just try to get bowl eligible, finish 7-5. That's the big focus," senior wide receiver Quintin McCree said. "I just don't want to have a season like we had a couple years ago at 2-10. [For] the seniors, that was the wrong way for them to go out.

"I just want to finish 7-5 and bowl eligible, that's it."

cwalsh@umdbk.com