By Peter Schlehr, SID Emeritus

Here are some random thoughts on last Saturday's game at Maryland while the Tigers prepare for the Richmond Spiders to visit Johnny Unitas® Stadium this Saturday night:

"ONLY 28-3": That's probably what popped in the minds of folks near and far when they saw Saturday's final 28-3 score crawl across their television screen while watching one of the featured college matchups. Hope they caught the earlier scrolls, especially the one that told them the Tigers were down 7-3 at halftime. Of course, there were two ways to look at that: hooray for Towson or, what's wrong with the Terps?

OUCH: A standard response when you shoot yourself in the foot, especially from as many rounds as the Tigers took. Take away costly penalties (roughing the passer, interfering with a fair catch, chop block), two lost fumbles, two interceptions, several dropped passes and a failed scoring opportunity with a first-and-goal at Maryland's two - and what do you have? A different game maybe.

STATS: Most coaches will tell you statistics are for losers. Well, rather than dwell on the aforementioned, the Tigers put up decent numbers too. By the end of the third quarter, Towson had forged an enormous gap in the time of possession, holding the ball for 30:39 to 14:21 for the Terps. The Tigers had converted seven of 13 third downs while Maryland was 0-for-5. The Tigers outgained the Terps 313 to 223 in total offense. A third of Maryland's total yards was registered in the Terps' big fourth quarter when it scored twice in the final 7:09 off.

POOR CLOCK MANAGEMENT: Not buying that in this corner. Tiger Coach Rob Ambrose was forced to use precious timeouts early to settle his troops and clear up some confusion. As a result the Tigers' dash to get off a 24-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter almost put three points on the scoreboard. Considering there were just 10 seconds left for the field goal unit to race on to the field, get set, snap the ball and beat the gun with the kick, the play had potential. The kick just missed right.

COULDN'T PUNCH IT IN: The Tigers put together their best drive of the contest as the first quarter was closing. They marched from their own 28 to earn a first-and-goal at Maryland's two-yard line where the Terps turned them back. Towson had to settle for D.J. Soven's 23-yard field goal at the 10:07 mark of the second quarter. Those were to be Towson's only points of the day. A touchdown there might have resulted in a 7-7 tie at halftime.

WORE 'EM DOWN: Not buying that one either, despite the fact that Maryland had 22 more scholarship players than Towson. The Tigers didn't quit. They were physically sharp to the end. There was, however, a sense of urgency in Maryland's posture. "Nobody was down," Maryland linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield said in the post-game presser. "We were all like, 'We should be beating these guys. Let's just go ahead and go do it.'" Much to Maryland's chagrin it sounded as though things hadn't gone according to someone's game plan.

CONFERENCE FOCUS: Hopefully the Tigers will put last week's shoulda-coulda-woulda game behind them. They have to. The most important segment of their schedule lies ahead. From here on it's a steady diet of CAA opponents who are just as capable of handing them a 28-3 setback as the ACC Terps. The No. 10 Spiders and former national champions aren't going to be a happy bunch, having scored first only to surrender 31 unanswered points in a 31-7 loss at No. 9 James Madison.