USC got crushed by Texas, which lost to Maryland, which got crushed by Temple, which lost to Villanova and Buffalo

Two weeks ago, Temple lost to an FCS team, Villanova. The week after that, Temple lost to Buffalo.

Also two weeks, ago Texas lost to Maryland. You may have heard that this was the second year in a row in which that happened. Tom Herman’s Longhorns are 0-2 against the Terps.

On Saturday, Temple visited Maryland in College Park and blew the Terps the hell out. The final score was 35-14. Temple out-gained its hosts 429 yards to 195 and controlled the ball for 36 minutes.

Later on Saturday, Texas beat USC quite badly in Austin.

This is primarily Maryland’s fault.

Maryland losing in such an ugly fashion to a non-power team that didn’t appear to be much good before that might have a downstream effect on Texas. The Longhorns still only have one loss when the Temple-Maryland score went final, and there had been a flicker of hope for UT that the Maryland loss might not turn out to look that bad. Now I can see a future where Texas wins, like, 10 games, and one of its losses is to a 4-8 Maryland.

Heading into Week 3, the Terps had only played two games, and they’re playing under an interim coach while the long-term coach sits on administrative leave.

But the Texas win was a feather in their cap, and they looked even more dominant than a Big Ten team is supposed to look against a MAC team when they crushed Bowling Green on the road in Week 2. The Terps were only a few spots outside the AP Top 25 entering this game. So there was at least an idea that this might be a good team that would, with time, make Texas losing to it look not so bad.

With Maryland now more than likely revealing itself to be bad, those hopes have taken a huge hit. Texas losing to Maryland for a second time in a row is now back to being just what it sounds like when you say it out loud. But, thanks to Saturday, it’s even worse for USC.