The excuse you aren't hearing from Edsall

Randy Edsall has made plenty of excuses this year. He's bemoaned the situation he inherited in College Park, one with lost practice time and scholarships. He's complained about the program's lack of discipline as a string of suspended players sat out games. He's done all this as he's preached to his players not to make excuses.

But his team's loss Saturday to Clemson proved true one excuse that Edsall hasn't used: The Terps are limited by their roster.

You can blame several things for the Terps' struggles this year: coaching, youth, suspensions, injuries, luck — whatever. They're all factors. But more importantly, the Terps just aren't that good yet.

They don't have the skill or experience to beat the ACC's elite. They don't have a player talented enough to keep someone like Sammy Watkins, he of 345 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, in check. The player who at the season's start was thought to be the Terps' difference maker — Danny O'Brien — isn't even starting anymore.

It doesn't stop there. The team lacks a formidable receiving corps. It doesn't have a lockdown defensive back or a dominant pass rusher. Running back Davin Meggett is a good, but not game-changing, tailback. And as good as C.J. Brown looked under center in his first career start, his lack of passing prowess proved he's not yet a complete quarterback.

Despite these shortcomings, the Terps hung with a top-15 opponent — again. It shouldn't be all that surprising that for a second straight week, they lost.

Close losses to top teams have become a theme in 2011 for the Terps. A loss to then-No. 18 West Virginia in Week 2 was disheartening. Losing to then-No. 13 Georgia Tech last weekend seemed inevitable, but the Terps made it closer than anyone expected.

Against No. 7 Clemson, did anyone think the Terps would even make it close, let alone hold an 18-point lead?

They gave Clemson — likely the top team in the ACC, and one of the best in the nation — a run for its money. For a while, it even looked like they might pull the upset. But Watkins and Co. proved too much for a new quarterback and a defense that started just about as many freshmen as upperclassmen.

Yes, against the best team in the conference, the Terps started five freshmen on defense. The entire linebacking corps was made up of first-year players, with both Demetrius Hartsfield and Kenny Tate out injured. Top wideout Kevin Dorsey was absent for much of the night with an injury. Oh, and Brown was making his first collegiate start.

Admittedly, the Terps allowed 56 points. But with a defense so decimated by injury going up against an elite offense, it wasn't surprising.

Yet, with an already lacking roster beset by injuries, they've still nearly beaten three top teams. If a few plays had gone differently in those games, as defensive tackle Joe Vellano lamented Saturday night, this season would have a completely different feel to it.

"Three top-20 teams, one top-10, and we were playing them in the fourth quarter," Vellano said. "You win those three games and it's a different year right there. Fourth quarter, touchdown here, touchdown last week, you can't get much closer."

Had the Terps' fortunes been different in the first two contests, maybe the reaction from this game would have been different. Instead of taking solace in coming close again, we would be talking about how a ranked Terps team choked on the big stage.

Close or not close, they lost those games. They don't get points for margin of defeat.

"You either win or you don't," Meggett said. "She's pregnant or she's not."

In the end, against teams like Clemson, it might not matter who's starting at quarterback. It might not matter who has been suspended or injured, or what defensive schemes the Terps are running.

Until Edsall has the kind of players necessary to truly compete in the ACC, we're probably going to keep hearing excuses.

schneider@umdbk.com