ISO explosion

Remember last year, when there was constant moaning about the inability to get Darrius Heyward-Bey involved in Maryland's offense.

So now, it's a new season, same story, different player.

Sort of, anyway.

After a couple relatively quiet weeks, there is some curiosity as to where Torrey Smith has been in the Terps' offense. Some of it has to do with extra attention. Some of it has to do with lousy weather.

Either way, it has coach Ralph Friedgen's attention.

"We need to get him the ball some more," Friedgen said. "We went through our explosive plays, and he had a lot of them. We definitely want to get him back in the mix if we can. People are doubling him and making it difficult to get it to him."

If by "a lot," Friedgen means about 30 percent, then he's right. Smith leads the Terps in plays of 16 yards or more with 12. That total doubles up all but one other player --- injured tailback Da'Rel Scott.

Here's the full rundown, based on rushes and receptions of 16+ yards:

At some point, the problem isn't just play-calling, but the ability of other people to alleviate some pressure from a primary weapon.

That might be more important for the Terps than simply targeting Smith --- and Friedgen is fully aware of it.

"Adrian Cannon stepped up last week and had a better game than he's been having, which is what we'd been hoping for," Friedgen said. "Ronnie Tyler's another guy who makes plays. We're trying to see if we can get Tony Logan going, too."

If they do, Smith figures to do a little bit more as well.

--- Patrick Stevens