Try and stop it

Georgia Tech's offense can't be stopped. Even Randy Edsall knows it.

With a vaunted triple-option attack that has put up 51.6 points per game and run for a nation's-best 378.2 yards per game, the No. 13 Yellow Jackets have proven that they're going to move the ball and get their points.

All the Terrapins football team — and its coach — can do is hope to contain it.

"You're not going to stop them. Nobody's stopped this offense since it's been invented," Edsall said yesterday. "This is an offense that you try to control it, but you don't flat-out stop it.

"If you can keep them under about 300 yards rushing, you've done a pretty good job."

The triple option is inherently unpredictable. With every snap, Georgia Tech quarterback Tevin Washington can hand the ball off to his fullback up the middle, pitch it to a wingback off the edge, run it himself or drop back for a pass.

The offense feasts on confusion, forcing opposing defenders to stick to their assignment and make one-on-one tackles in the open field — two things the Terps have struggled with this season.

It also grinds down the clock. The Yellow Jackets have kept the ball on the ground 82 percent of the time this season.

But perhaps most importantly, it thrives on the big play. The Yellow Jackets have scored eight touchdowns this season on the first play of a drive, including three touchdowns on their first play from scrimmage.

Many of the Terps aren't strangers to the triple-option, having seen it against Navy to open last season.

The difference now — the Yellow Jackets' more explosive potential notwithstanding — is that the Terps have only a week, not an entire preseason, to prepare for the unique attack.

"Everybody in the nation knows the triple option is one of the hardest offenses to stop," linebacker Kenny Tate said. "We know the things that we did last year, everybody knows what they're going to try to do. It's just all a matter of execution. This is going to be a hard week to prepare for."

As they did in preparation for Navy last season, the Terps practiced Tuesday without a ball to reinforce how important each individual defensive assignment becomes against the tricky offense.

But with a sole week to prepare and a defense that has struggled against the run, ranking 11th in the ACC with 177.5 rushing yards allowed per game, the Terps are hoping they can turn things around against perhaps the most prolific attack they'll see all season.

"I truly don't think it's that hard, you just have to do your job," defensive tackle Joe Vellano said. "When it comes your way, it comes your way. That's what they try to do: get everybody out of position."

Where the Terps may be able to capitalize defensively is in forcing turnovers. While the Yellow Jackets have controlled the ball for the most part, losing just six turnovers through five games, the triple option can be prone to changes in possession. That could be good news for the Terps, who have the conference's best turnover margin.

"One thing I noticed about teams that have played them and been successful, they get them to turn the ball over a lot, and that's one thing we've done as a defense pretty good, I think," linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield said.

On the other side of the ball, the Terps may have another advantage. The Yellow Jackets rank 10th in the conference in scoring defense and surrendered 35 points last weekend to a 2-3 N.C. State squad. And with the possible absence of two Georgia Tech starting linebackers, the Terps will look to get their offense back to the level it was at against Miami last month.

For the Terps to have a chance to improve to 2-0 in conference play, they'll need quarterback Danny O'Brien and the offense to find a rhythm, control the ball and get on the scoreboard.

Because if the Yellow Jackets have shown one thing, it's that they're going to score.

"You can hold them down and you can control the ball and keep them off the field, but you've got to score points while you're doing that," Edsall said. "The conference games have a little bit more meaning to them. … I think we're prepared and we're ready to go and we just have to go out there and do it on Saturday."

cwalsh@umdbk.com