All 14 publishers decided to do mid-season power rankings and awards with most teams at the halfway point. The Terps came in 4th in the power rankings behind Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State, in that order. Those were my top four and the order I had them, also.
Offensive player of the year is Michigan QB JJ McCarthy who beat out Tagovailoa and Marvin Harrison Jr. Full disclosure, I had McCarthy as my OPOY. Honestly, before Saturday's games I was probably leaning towards Lia and after I feel like Harrison was right there, also. But McCarthy has been the most efficient, consistent QB on a very balanced, high-scoring offense.
Defensive player of the year I voted for Curtis Jacobs. Simply, he's the leading tackler on the nation's leading defense. I'm honestly shocked at how little love the McDonogh product gets all things considered.
I voted James Franklin for coach of the year. Harbaugh was a non-starter and again, I was ready to pick Locks before Saturday's loss but instead went with Franklin, although it was really close.
Purdue freshman safety Dillon Thieneman was my freshman of the year and honestly, an argument can be made he is the overall defensive player of the year thus far. Kid is having just an absolutely unreal season.
But the fact other Big Ten publishers are picking the Terps 4th, Lia as OPOY and Locks as COTY should tell you just how far this program has come and how good of a season others around the nation think this team is having so far. If they can knock off one of the remaining top-10 teams left on the schedule, you are going to see Terps winning some postseason awards.
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