COLLEGE PARK — Maryland defensive coordinator Andy Buh knows it's coming.
After watching what Central Florida's offense did against Michigan in Ann Arbor, and being familiar with first-year coach Scott Frost's background at Oregon, Buh knows that his defense will have to be ready for the possibility of a big play – or two – in Saturday night's game at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando.
In their first two games this season, blowout wins over Howard (52-13) and Florida International (41-14), the Terps surrendered just one big play – a 55-yard run last Friday by FIU running back Alex Gardner that set up a short touchdown run.
"It's much harder for a team to drive down the field than to make one big play," Maryland coach DJ Durkin said Tuesday. "It shows up on the back end. If a guy misses a gap on the defensive line, you probably don't even notice it. But, if a guy on the back end misses a tackle, you see the big play."
As much as a school-record-tying 87-yard touchdown run by Central Florida freshman Adrian Killins "sticks in my mind," Buh said that the 275 rushing yards the Knights put up in a 51-14 loss in Ann Arbor "sticks heavy into our minds ... we have to eliminate the big play."
Said Durkin: "They do a good job in their offense of getting the ball to guys in space. They spread you out and in their minds, instead of a one-and-one tackle, their guy's going to make you miss and they're going to hit a big play. We've got to squeeze and condense that space the best we can."
Buh doesn't believe that the big play the Terps gave up to FIU was a byproduct of already being ahead 17-0. It's not a matter of the Maryland defenders, especially the freshmen, losing focus momentarily as it's just being inexperienced and out of position.
"All the big plays that have happened against us, it's been a guy not doing his assignments," Buh said. "We're still growing in a lot of areas on the field. One great thing is that they're correcting the mistakes that they're making from game to game, but you've just got to limit those mistakes, because obviously it's not part of our plan to win."
Buh and Durkin have purposely paired up younger players and older players defensively when possible, whether it means having his most experienced starting linebacker, junior Jesse Aniebonam, with his most inexperienced backup, freshman Brett Shepherd. It is particularly true in the secondary, but having senior All-Big Ten cornerback Will Likely as much as possible certainly helps.
"Just to kind of balance out their knowledge and calm [the younger guys] down a little bit," Buh said of the upperclassmen. "It's helped the older guys, too. As we all know, the teacher learns, too. When they're out directing traffic, it's helping them understand the details of what we're trying to accomplish, too."
Senior safety Darnell Savage Jr. said that some of the success defensively this season - aside from the lackluster offenses Maryland has faced so far - is the chemistry that has developed, especially in the secondary.
"We've always been close, but since [summer] camp and since the season has started, I think we've got a lot closer," Savage said Tuesday. "I think we have a special bond back there."
Buh said the chemistry will improve as the competition gets tougher.
"The chemistry comes from just playing," Buh said. "We have a pretty good rotation of guys going in, and because we've been in the lead, we've been able to get some of these young guys in. Anytime you get more people involved, the chemistry of the group gets even better. There's a level of trust that starts to evolve as people get experience."