Maryland football is four days from season opener

Maryland will open its football season in four days, like most teams in the country. But interim head coach Matt Canada, his staff and players are preparing to face Texas on Saturday while navigating a situation without compare.

“We're helping each other,” Canada told reporters before practice Tuesday regarding program upheaval in the wake of offensive lineman Jordan McNair's death in June from heatstroke suffered during a team workout. “When somebody's having a tough day, we try to help each other out. I think everything that they've dealt with, they've done the best job they could possibly do. I think we're as ready as we can be, given the situation that we're in.”

Canada met with reporters for the second time since he took over the job on an interim basis Aug. 11, a day after reports broke alleging a toxic team culture. Canada answered — and in a couple of cases dodged — questions about separate investigations into McNair's death and the program, and about his communication with Coach DJ Durkin, who remains on administrative leave.

The only topics that did not in some way point back to the recent tragedy and ensuing controversy were about Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger and the competition between Kasim Hill and Tyrrell Pigrome to start at quarterback for the Terrapins. Canada said Tuesday that he has chosen a starter but would not say who.

“I'm glad those two quarterbacks are back. I'll say that,” Canada said of Hill and Pigrome, who suffered torn anterior cruciate ligaments three weeks apart early last season. “I'm glad they're back and healthy.”

During the period of practice that was open to the media, Hill rotated first during most quarterback drills. Pigrome, however, also had a few turns at the front of the line toward the end of the period.

The Terrapins have tried to separate their focus on the game from the loss of a teammate, Canada said, while recognizing that grief over McNair is “never going to go away and we're not asking it to go away.” The game against No. 23 Texas at FedEx Field will feature a moment of silence, and players will wear helmet stickers with McNair's No. 79.

Maryland players were not made available to comment Tuesday, and other than two instances have not been made available to reporters since the spring game more than four months ago. Offensive linemen Johnny Jordan and Ellis McKennie delivered a joint statement to reporters last week addressing how the team plans to honor McNair during the season, but they did not answer questions. The only other public comments made by players about McNair's death or the upcoming season were when Derwin Gray, Darnell Savage Jr. and Taivon Jacobs answered questions at Big Ten media days in Chicago in late July.

Maryland's preparations Tuesday stood in stark contrast to those addressed by Texas Coach Tom Herman during the Big 12 Conference's weekly teleconference. Herman responded to a more typical array of questions — how the team has looked on the practice field, handling external expectations and the importance of an opener against a Power Five opponent.

Herman said Maryland's offseason problems have had no effect on his team's preparation. During preseason camp, Herman said his staff reminded Longhorns players that “this isn't a team that thinks they can beat us. They know they can because they have,” alluding to Maryland's 51-41 upset win at Texas to open last season.

In reference to Texas's cycle of disappointing results — as well as changes in university presidents, athletic directors and head coaches — in recent years, Herman said: “Any time you have that much instability in such a short amount of time, that's not usually a recipe for success. We've got stability.”

Big Ten football is poised for a strong season while mired in offseason scandal

The on-field happenings step into the spotlight this week, at least for those inclined to partake in a form of intentional amnesia. And the usual suspects — Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin, all of which but Michigan has claimed at least one Big Ten title since 2013 — are set up for strong seasons.

In a different time, maybe it would have had the potential for an, ahem, legendary season. Ultimately, though, that's a poor description of the off-field happenings likely to be most remembered about Big Ten football's 2018.

West Division

1. Wisconsin (No. 3 nationally, 13-1 in 2017): The Badgers have three great advantages, all of which make them a strong playoff contender. First, they own one of the strongest offensive identities in the country, and capable returnees at tailback (Jonathan Taylor) and quarterback (Alex Hornibrook). Two, it feels like they've been superb on defense for forever, lending a sense of invulnerability even in a year when there are significant graduation losses to replace. And three, a place in the Big Ten West.

While the Badgers' defense probably won't match last year's, it will be fine. They haven't allowed more than 350 yards a game since 2007, and even some minor regression won't put them close to that figure. While the top half of the division should be better this season, Wisconsin still resides in a comfortable neighborhood. There's an obvious path to playoff: Split games at Michigan and Penn State, roll through the rest of the schedule and win the Big Ten title game. Easier said than done, but it's plenty plausible.

2. Northwestern (No. 35, 10-3): Not to pick on the Wildcats, but a lot of things went their way during an eight-game winning streak to close last season. Four of those victories came by one possession, and three in a row at one point were earned in overtime. It was a fortunate team.

But it's also a program that has become more talented in recent seasons. The defensive front is especially strong. Clayton Thorson could become the school's career passing leader with a good senior year, though he is coming off ACL surgery. Wildcats career rushing leader Justin Jackson graduated, but replacement Jeremy Larkin had 112 yards in the Music City Bowl against Kentucky.

In other words, a similar season isn't out of the question. But it might require a similar degree of success in tight games to match last year's record.

3. Iowa (No. 36, 8-5): Whose turn is it now to have their season ruined at Kinnick Stadium? Two years ago, things went sideways on Michigan. Last year, the Hawkeyes effectively knocked Ohio State out of the national title picture with a 55-24 drubbing. This year's candidates to curse a trip to Iowa: Wisconsin (Sept. 22) and Northwestern (Nov. 10).

As usual, you know Kirk Ferentz's team isn't going to be the most exciting bunch on offense, but they'll be technically sound and opportunistic on defense. They're also the most likely team to clock in with a sub-three-hour game in the early-afternoon television window. Iowa is hardly ever bad, excellent once every five years or so and rock-solid the rest of the time. Go ahead and put the 8-4 in the bank now.

4. Purdue (No. 48, 7-6): The funny thing about Jeff Brohm's first season at Purdue is that while the first impressions suggested the Boilermakers got much better on offense, their greatest progress was in more effectively stopping opponents. That was especially true in preventing the run, an area Purdue was downright inept at the entire decade.

There's some rebuilding to do this season on defense, but that's easier to gloss over after making a surprise bowl appearance in which the Boilermakers held Arizona to 26 yards on the ground. Offensively, the same two quarterbacks who split time last year (David Blough and Elijah Sindelar) are back and vying for time.

Count Purdue among the teams with the most intriguing schedules of the first month. The Boilers will see Northwestern, Missouri, Boston College and Nebraska, and anything from 4-0 to 0-4 in those games is a reasonable prediction. The better the start, the brighter the immediate future for a team that's trended up ever since Brohm's arrival.

5. Nebraska (No. 55, 4-8): Sept. 22 could be the time the “Scott Frost: Returning Hero” story line runs into harsh reality. The Cornhuskers will visit Michigan that day, and will later travel to Wisconsin, Northwestern, Ohio State and Iowa, with no sign of Indiana, Maryland or Rutgers among the cross-divisional games.

Frost will get a mulligan if necessary, in part because he's a former Cornhusker quarterback who helped Nebraska earn a share of the 1997 national title and in part because he guided Central Florida to a perfect season last year.

It will probably be necessary. A true freshman, Adrian Martinez, will start at quarterback in the opener for the first time in program history. Nebraska ranked 119th nationally in rushing offense last year and was No. 114 against the run. That's almost an unthinkable combination for the Cornhuskers, and they aren't going to become good at both overnight. A more reasonable expectation for Year 1 is adequate, and that would probably be enough to win two or three more games and earn a bowl invitation.

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In tiny Bartlett, football retains big dreams

When Barbara Sandobal opened Rustic Café on Clark Street in downtown Bartlett two months ago, she had more in mind than selling her delicious hand-made burgers.

The 71-year-old Bartlett wanted to do her part in rejuvenating the nearly empty downtown, whose red-brick streets and early 20th-century architecture draws a handful of tourists on the weekends.

“I opened this, really, to put another business in town,” she said on recent weekday afternoon as a handful of customers ate lunch or a $1 Bluebell ice-cream cone. “It's good some days and other days, it's very slow. We'll probably rearrange some of our hours to accommodate people at the football game when school gets going. But we're going to stick with it, because we figure it's going to get better.”

That type of attitude pervades the fieldhouse at Bartlett High School on the other side of this cotton-farming town that straddles the line of Williamson and Bell counties. The proud program — Bartlett won three state titles in the 1990s – has struggled in recent years on the field and with enrollment; the Bulldogs have won just four games over the past three seasons, and the student population has dropped from 125 in 2012 to its current UIL number of 94 students.

Bartlett is the smallest school in the Austin area and became eligible to play six-man football this past realignment. However, the program's players and coaches have no interest in a game that senior Roy Degollado says “isn't real football.”

“I've heard of it, but I thought it was something you play on the playground,” said Degollado, a four-year starter at linebacker and on the offensive line whose father and cousins played for the powerhouse Bartlett squads in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Second-year coach Drew Bridges, a 31-year-old who has already worked in schools ranging from his small hometown of Ganado to Class 6A's Katy Mayde Creek, shares his captain's opinion.

“I wouldn't have come here if they were going to play six-man,” he said. “The community here supports 11-man. Now, we know the challenges that comes with that, but I believe that we're starting to put some things in place that will allow us to compete and be successful. There's a lot of schools in our state that play 11-man with our numbers and do well.”

Bridges has already taken significant steps toward such success. In a school with less than 50 boys, almost 40 participate in the football program. Bridges re-established a junior varsity team last season after Bartlett went years with just a varsity squad, and he says that experience helped the varsity last season when a few injuries cut into the Bartlett lineup.

“Right after that first (JV) game, boy, they were excited,” he said. “They had so much fun. And they played the whole time. And then some came up (to varsity) and helped us, and they wouldn't have been ready for that f they didn't have that JV experience.”

Growth in the school as well as the town may soon creep up as more and more people that work in Austin seek affordable housing. Taylor, 16 miles south of Bartlett, has had its high-school enrollment grow from 882 in 2012 to its current UIL number of 1,024. Just 12 miles west of Bartlett, Jarrell High School' student population has almost doubled over the past 10 years.

“We've gotten smaller, but the corridor is pushing out this way,” Sandobal said. “And I hope people start taking an interest in these (downtown) buildings and fixing them up. It wouldn't be that difficult for the town to come alive again.”

10 things to look out for this weekend

1) Van Dijk finally making his Liverpool bow

If there is one message that Jürgen Klopp has to drum into his defenders before Friday night's Merseyside derby, it is to resist the temptation to place their hands on any Everton attackers in their own area. Manage that and Liverpool should be capable of extinguishing the frustration of last month's draw with Sam Allardyce's side, when Dejan Lovren conceded a late penalty with a needless and clumsy push on Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Klopp turned on plenty of people after the game – even a member of Everton's press team was in the firing line after Wayne Rooney's penalty – but Lovren was the real culprit and it is telling that Liverpool have bolstered their defence by spending £75m on Virgil van Dijk. Having scored once in their past four matches, Everton could find goals even harder to come by if Van Dijk is ready to make his debut. Jacob Steinberg

2) Derby fans left high and dry by scheduling

Any Derby supporters hoping to get the train back to the Midlands on Friday night will have to leave the away end at Old Trafford at half-time. Ridiculously, the last feasible train journey to Derby (via Sheffield) leaves Manchester Piccadilly at 9.22pm, midway through the second half. To make matter worse, a train previously advertised as leaving at 11pm is no longer running – East Midlands Trains were forced to apologise for “an error in the national Network Rail train planning system” – meaning there will likely be plenty of people stranded in Manchester on Friday night. The good news: those that bought tickets for the 11pm will be entitled to a free refund. The bad news: they won't be able to get home. The draw was made in early December. How has this shambles been allowed to happen? Michael Butler

3) Dyche going toe-to-toe with Guardiola?

Burnley wasted a golden chance to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last season when Lincoln City became the first non-league team in 103 years to reach the last eight of the competition. In the third round this year, Sean Dyche's team face a tougher task: a trip to Manchester City. But while Pep Guardiola will almost certainly use Saturday's game as a chance to rest key personnel with league titles and the Champions League still to come, Dyche would be unwise to follow suit. Just as a weakened Leicester side came unstuck at Millwall in the fifth round last year, too often Premier League sides play their second string when they are clear of relegation danger and have nothing else to play for. Get through this tough tie, and Burnley have a genuine chance of winning the FA Cup – after all, the league table says they are the seventh best team in England. Dyche should go for glory – three points at Crystal Palace a week on Saturday doesn't matter nearly as much. MB

4) Bristol City need right balance before Etihad trip

In different circumstances it would be tempting to make Bristol City favourites to win at Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon. The team who stunned Manchester United last month have already performed heroics in the Carabao Cup, reaching the last four after putting out four Premier League sides, and that giantkilling run began with a 3-2 victory away to Watford in August. Yet Lee Johnson has some tough decisions to make before facing Marco Silva's inconsistent side. Not only are his team chasing promotion from the Championship, he also has to keep his players fresh before they visit Manchester City for the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final next Tuesday. Do not expect Johnson to wave the white flag, especially as Watford are vulnerable after a poor run of form, but finding the right balance will not be easy. JS

5) VAR may stir passions in Monday night derby

All eyes on the Amex on Monday night for the preposterously scheduled 7.45pm kick-off between rivals Brighton and Crystal Palace. During the match, Neil Swarbrick will be making history from a studio near Heathrow, becoming the first Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to be used in an English competitive club match. Surrounded by approximately 70 screens to aid him, Swarbrick will be able to liaise with the match referee, Andre Marriner, if a clear error has been made regarding goals, penalties, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity. Two stewards were taken to hospital when Brighton and Palace met in the Premier League in November – the FA could hardly have chosen a more fiery fixture for their latest innovation. MB

6) More woe for Pellegrino against Fulham?

It is strange to think that Southampton were preparing for a League Cup semi-final against Liverpool this time last year. They still felt like the perfect example of a modern, well-run club 12 months ago. They remained comfortable in mid-table despite being hit by so much upheaval, and beating Liverpool over two legs seemed to offer further vindication of Southampton's vision. Since then, however, drift has taken hold and Mauricio Pellegrino is under immense pressure after Tuesday night's defeat to Crystal Palace pitched his directionless team firmly into a relegation battle. The constant talent drain has taken a toll, sapping Southampton's spirit, and it will not go down as a shock if Fulham further loosen Pellegrino's grip on his job by beating the Premier League strugglers at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon. JS

7) Mir to make his mark at Molineux

Top of the Championship meets bottom of the Premier League – it will come as a surprise to nobody that Wolves are favourites to beat Swansea on Saturday. What will be interesting to see is if manager Nuno Espírito Santo utilises his new £1.8m signing Rafa Mir, who this week turned down a move to Real Madrid to play in England's second tier. Mir has been handed the No9 shirt at Molineux and a match against a Swansea defence bereft of confidence could be the perfect way to bed him in. If the 20-year-old scores on debut, all the better to give competition to the first-choice forward Léo Bonatini, who hasn't scored in a month. If Mir has a stinker, at least it won't affect Wolves' push for promotion. MB

8) Wimbledon fans soaking up Wembley return

Wimbledon have an excellent record at Wembley. On their last outing in the League Two play-off final in 2015-16, they beat Plymouth 2-0. In 2008, they won a pre-season friendly 8-1 to mark the 125th anniversary of Corinthian Casuals. The club's previous visit to that, albeit under a slightly different name, ended with them winning the FA Cup in 1988, 30 years ago. Whatever the score is when they play Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday, the trip from one side of London to another will be a nostalgic one for the thousands of travelling away fans. When they marched up Wembley Way before the final in '88, Wimbledon fans had to endure opposition fans pre-emptively wearing ‘Liverpool FC Double Winners' T-shirts. This time, AFC fans will be wearing a smile as wide as Wembley's arch and maybe even a limited-edition ‘We Are The Resurrection' T-shirt. MB

9) Pardew risks further pain by resting players

The Alan Pardew bounce is yet to materialise for West Bromwich Albion. Tuesday's painful defeat to West Ham means it is 20 games since their last victory and their new manager has been unable to ease their relegation fears. Goal difference alone is keeping West Brom off the bottom of the Premier League and after a draining run of fixtures, Pardew must be tempted to rest players for Saturday's trip to Exeter City. But that would be a huge gamble from a manager whose team desperately needs a win to start repairing their battered confidence. Defeat to the League Two side would only deepen the gloom and the danger is that another disappointment could still be on West Brom's mind when they host Brighton on Saturday week. JS

10) Cardiff look to bounce back against Stags

Cardiff have had a rotten Christmas, losing their last four matches in the Championship. Remarkably, they have only slipped one place to third – thanks to rivals Bristol City losing heavily at Aston Villa – but they are just a couple more bad results away from falling out of the play-off places. Confidence is key, and whilse Neil Warnock's assertion last week that Sol Bamba is a better defender than Virgil van Dijk has done nothing but heap more pressure on one of his key players, a clean sheet and comfortable win against League Two Mansfield could get his side back on the promotion trail. MB

Vincent Kompany calls on Premier League clubs to drop ticket prices

Vincent Kompany has called on Premier League clubs to force down the price of match tickets and attract the “right people” back into football.

The Manchester City captain has recently graduated with an MBA [Master of Business Administration] from Manchester Business School and, during his research on maximising revenues from home advantage, he concluded ticket prices should be reduced for business reasons.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live's Wake Up To Money, Kompany said: “You get better home advantage depending on the atmosphere that you can create within your facilities, and that is linked to the people who enter your stadiums. The Premier League is generating two or three times the revenue of the other top five leagues in Europe, so at what point do you realise that your revenues are that big as a TV product, and the revenue from match-day tickets is only getting smaller?

“At what point do you decide we are actually now going to make sure if it is a TV product, it is the best product in the world? Meaning not just the best players, but the best atmosphere in the stadium; meaning the right people in the right place.”

Kompany, who has been at City since 2008, in which time the club has been transformed into one of the world's richest, added: “Those that live for the club, are probably more attached to the club than anybody else. But those are probably not always the guys who can afford it.

“We know the Premier League can still grow. The question is at what point do you reach breaking point where you squeezed so much out of your people at home?”

Kompany, 31, who is likely to be part of the Belgium squad that faces England in their World Cup group in Russia this summer, added: “If you assume the Premier League gets bigger and you gain markets in China, India, Africa, America, you could fill the grounds with tourists. You can do it, and make more money. They'd just come and spend £400 a ticket, it's nothing for them because it is a once in a lifetime experience, like going to an NBA or NFL game. The question is if that affects your product, as the Premier League?”