Redskins & Maryland Football

Has anyone every notice the relationship between the Redskins successes & failures and Maryland football?

This old idea came back watching the last 2 weekends. Maryland on the road at Clemson looks completely out matched in the first half and one could only hope that the Skins would not get routed by Dallas the next day. The Terps came back to win and the Redskins beat Dallas.

The same feeling came when Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee State and the Skins poor showing against the NY Giants. So you can imagine the feel of doom & gloom after Maryland was routed by Virginia. The Redskins were in the same scenario coming off a big-time road victory and on the road again. The hope was that the Redskins would stay competitive in Philly. Naturally the Skins made the weekend by winning.

This feeling of happiness and sadness did not start this season. It goes back to the early 1970s where the only football success since the mid 1950s, came and died with Vince Lombardi. While the years do not match exactly, Jerry Claiborne showed up at Maryland and George Allen with the Skins. Allen got the Skins to the Super Bowl and a couple years later Claiborne coached Maryland to the Cotton Bowl. The locals lost both games. The coaches kept their squads competitive but never reached those heights again.

Then came the early 80s, which is the best decade of football in Washington. Nothing can match Joe Gibbs guiding the Redskins to three Super Bowl appearances in seven years. Under Bobby Ross Maryland football became fun again, consistently ranking in the top 25. After basketball star Len Bias’s death, Ross was run out of town by Maryland’s academics, who would not let him recruit players who were allowed into schools like Virginia and North Carolina. This is still an issue at Maryland.

Gibbs retired after winning his 3rd Super Bowl in 1991 and both programs became irrelevant. Maryland became a factor again when Coach Ralph Friedgen arrived in 2001, winning 20 games his first 2 years and taking the squad to the Orange Bowl. After the Virginia loss last week, there is the feeling that the program is just hanging in there.

Four years ago Joe Gibbs returned to save the Redskins. While they made the playoffs twice in his four years, there was a feeling that a run in the playoffs was becoming an impossible dream.

Coach Jim Zorn is off to a fast start like Friedgen. The Redskins are exciting and a contender. We now get to see if the Redskins become relevant in the NFL again.