Atlantic Week Mailbag

Rubber_Duck: For Rutgers, which of the two QB options should win the job this year? Which do fans want to win? And how will their play to compare to the historical level of QB play at Rutgers?

For Maryland, can/will Malik save Locksley’s job? Does he want to?

Transient Buckeye: Rutgers has options at quarterback? Seems that whoever wins is going to be a step down from Athan Kaliakmanis (and I can't believe I just typed that, but last season, he was legitimately the best quarterback they've had since Gary Nova in [checks notes] 2014).

Regarding Maryland, I'm not completely convinced Locksley's seat is that hot, provided they don't go 4-8 or worse again this season (see below).

MaximumSam: Rutgers plans to go quarterback free. Instead of a quarterback they will insert another left guard. Can you imagine? Two left guards. Left one and left two. Iowa could never.

Kind of...: I STRONGLY believe that whoever plays better in practice should win the Rutgers QB job. I don't know any Rutgers fans (and I basically live in suburban Philly). Finally, as well all know, college football was born at Rutgers (or something), so "historical level of QB play at Rutgers" encompasses a lot. I wouldn't expect Ray Lucas or Gary Nova levels of play, though.

As for Maryland...I just don't see any reason for optimism. Locks has never finished above .500 in conference play. And now they're playing a couple of non-conference teams with a pulse. Feels overdetermined to me.

HoustonBoiler: I also don't personally know any Rutgers fans and I live in Bergen County, New Jersey. Perhaps this is a good reflection on my choice of friends or that I need to get out more. Basically, I have no idea who is competing to be Rutgers starting QB. For Maryland, while Malik Washington is talented, does he have enough of a supporting cast, particularly on the O- and D-lines, to win enough games to keep Locks job? Maryland generally has very good skill position players, it's in the trenches that they're usually lacking. Anyway, I think it will be close, i.e., that Maryland will win 5 or 6 games. Of course, this will require a break in tradition.

MiddleWestAverage: Pitch me the iconic sports movie or movies centered on rutger and Maryland, respectively.

Also, not a question so much as an anecdote: when I was learning to spell the state names in school, my teacher told me she has believed Maryland was “Mary Land” because she had a doll named Mary and she was extremely disappointed to discover it wasn't a doll themed amusement park.

Transient Buckeye: For Rutgers, I'm going with Piscataway to the Stars. This would be a spoof of the 1958 Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare-Way to the Stars, which featured Marvin the Martian, one of my favorite Looney Tunes characters. In the remake, Greg Schiano takes on the role of launching the Rutgers football program to new heights--but, this being Rutgers football we're talking about, the effort inevitably ends with an Earth-shattering "kaboom!"

For Maryland, we're going to stick with a theme I'll be milking thoroughly throughout this column, and go with Goodwill Hunting. The movie focuses on Mike Locksley's surprisingly successful campaign to build positive relationships with every individual above him in the University of Maryland hierarchy. This results in him having a level of job security seemingly unconnected from his team's on-field results, as everyone at Maryland just really likes him ("My guy's wicked cool!").

Kind of...: Rutgers would obviously be a re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. The modern twist would be that there was no crime. Instead, Rutgers football killed itself. Maryland would be a drug-fueled piece of psychedelia (think Alice in Wonderland-style bizarreness, but with Maryland flag trippiness) that reveals itself to be a re-imagining of "The Tortoise and the Hare." Except, in this variation the tortoise is coked up and leaps out to a quick lead during the, um September, portion of the film. But then the film just bogs down and the tortoise stops making progress.

HoustonBoiler: Will Mike Locksley still be employed by Maryland come December?

Transient Buckeye: Does Maryland care enough about football to be upset if Locksley has them hovering as a ~.450-.500 team? They should be mediocre-ish this year. If that's enough for the Maryland powers that be, they'll probably keep him. He's been there long enough now that we have a pretty good idea what he is, and what he's capable of, and we haven't seen a lot of evidence that the program's trajectory is sloping upward. But the Terps haven't moved on from him.

MaximumSam: What? You think a traffic cone could do a better job? In this economy the cone would probably be more expensive.

Kind of...: Signs point to yes. I'd lay odds that by Jan 15, Maryland will be without their coach and their QB.

HoustonBoiler: Kind Of... raises a good point - if Maryland wants to keep Malik Washington, they may have to keep Mike Locksley.

WarlockofWestwood: Why did Maryland brand their team from a couple years back the “Crab five” when their mascot is a terrapin? Does this predict a swap in mascot to a crab at some point in the future? Furthermore due to the evolutionary principle of “carcinization” are we all destined to have crab mascots in the future?

Transient Buckeye: /s This was likely an attempt to draw a connection between that Maryland team and the infamous legendary "Fab Five" squad that played for Michigan during the early 1990s. That squad reached the NCAA finals twice before time ran out on them, and several of their players were later sanctioned for accepting impermissible benefits from a booster that today's NIL deals would render completely quaint.

As for the other question, I feel crabbier with every passing year, so probably?

MaximumSam: They could have been the Teenage Maryland Ninja Turtles. Lost opportunity. Really the story of Maryland sports.

Kind of...: @TransientBuckeye has it right.

And, yes, we are all destined to have crab mascots in the future. Once the economy crashes and we have to learn to live off the fat of the sea, it will become clear that:

HoustonBoiler: If we all have crab mascots and are crab people, will we just be in one giant crab bucket? Who will escape?

DtownK: Is it weird that I find more connection to the Pac12 schools even though they've been here a much shorter time?

Transient Buckeye: Eh....not really? The Big Ten and Pac 8/10/12 schools have had a Jaime and Cersei relationship for decades through their Rose Bowl ties, whereas there wasn't really any connection to Maryland and Rutgers before Jim Delaney went for the cable subscriber dollars.

Kind of...: No. B1G would play the P12 schools in the Rose Bowl, and semi-regularly in non-conference games. Only PSU ever really played Maryland and Rutgers.

IUinVA: Is Stanford-Cal the best Atlantic rivalry?

Transient Buckeye: Historically, I'd have gone with Britain and Spain. But now? Yeah.

Kind of...: I floated this a couple of years ago elsewhere, but what could, and SHOULD, be the best Atlantic rivalry is Miami vs. SMU. We need to go full "I Love the 80s," and design a trophy that somehow honors Dallas and Miami Vice, with some Scarface thrown in, too. Cocaine, Eric Dickerson's gold Trans Am, J.R. Ewing. Let's make this happen!

HoustonBoiler: I can see an argument for Britain and Spain, but also Britain and France. Having lived in the SF Bay Area for 8 years, I can say that the Stanford-Cal rivalry is very good. The Miami-Florida State rivalry was better when Miami was in the Big East. So sure, why no Stanford-Cal as the best in the Atlantic.