I thought it was going to be ugly, a blowout that would send Ralph Friedgen’s critics into an uproar, the type of loss that would typify this season. Two out of three isn’t bad.

The game was close-a lot closer than anyone expected-but the result was the same. Another loss in a dismal season, and one that may have been the nail in the coffin for Friedgen.

The future of the program is up in the air now as the team tries to avoid a dreaded 10th loss.

Without further ado, some things we learned from the game:

Friedgen’s status for next year is extremely jeapordized:
According to Eric Prisbell at The Washington Post, a source has said that the future of Friedgen is officially in doubt and that the school will have no problem with the $4 million buyout they would owe the coach. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this tommorow but it’s interesting that the school has said the buyout won’t be a factor. I’ve got to imagine it will be. And if he is fired, I hope the school is willing to pay James Franklin to go away as well. He was being heavily pursued for other jobs when the school named him as their coach-in-waiting but his star has fallen pretty fast.

A special teams play may have lost this game:
A lot of blame will go to the offense, who couldn’t get a first down when it needed it most, and to the defense, who couldn’t come up with a big stop. The real goat of the game, however, may have been the special teams unit. Nursing a slight lead, the punting unit came on with under three minutes to play and was instructed to punt it out of bounds, away from return man Greg Reid. Instead, the ball sailed right into Reid’s hands and he returned it 48 yards and into Maryland territory. If that doesn’t happen, we may have pulled off the upset.

Jamarr Robinson and Da’Rel Scott looked good:
I said on Friday that Robinson would need to improve his passing numbers and he did. He finished 20-27 with 214 yards and touchdown. He also ran for 58 yards. Robinson looked a lot better this week than last and it will be extremely interesting to see how he plays against B.C. next week. Scott, playing for the first time since October 3rd, was also impressive, finishing with 83 yards.