Tackling the Terrapins
December 06, 2003 12:21 AM | General
December 8, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia gets another crack at the Maryland Terrapins in the 2004 Toyota Gator Bowl played at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. Back in September, Coach Ralph Friedgen’s outfit easily dispatched West Virginia 34-7 in College Park in a game the Terps clearly dominated.
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| Maryland senior running back Bruce Perry has battled injuries for the last two years after being named ACC player of the year in 2001 (AP photo) | |
At the time, the young and inexperienced Mountaineers were in the midst of a three-game losing streak that left WVU with a 1-4 record after a heartbreaking 22-20 loss at then-No. 2 Miami.
Certainly not even the most optimistic West Virginia supporter could have imagined Coach Rich Rodriguez pulling off the biggest turnaround in school history.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Beginning with Rutgers, West Virginia reeled off seven straight victories to finish the year with an 8-4 record and a share of the Big East championship with Miami. It was just the second time in Mountaineer history a team started the year 1-4 and ended it with a winning record and a bowl-game invitation.
West Virginia’s strong late-season push, coupled with Maryland’s second-place ACC finish, forced the Gator Bowl committee to pit two of the nation’s hottest teams in a rare postseason rematch.
West Virginia, ranked No. 23 by ESPN/USA Today, stunned then-No. 3-ranked Virginia Tech, 28-7 in Morgantown and later tacked on a 52-31 win over Big East rival Pitt to put itself into the bowl picture once again.
Senior Quincy Wilson ran for 1,331 yards and 12 touchdowns to lead the nation’s 14th-ranked rushing offense.
Junior quarterback Rasheed Marshall has complimented WVU’s powerful running game with a vertical passing attack that keeps defenses honest. Even though the Pittsburgh native has completed less than 50 percent of his passes, he has still managed to throw 15 touchdowns and average 16.6 yards per completion.
Marshall’s main target has become sophomore Chris Henry, a rising 6-foot-5, 190-pound speedster. Henry shows 38 catches for 960 yards and 10 touchdowns. His 25.3 yards-per-catch average is the best in the country and he is 40 yards shy of becoming just the second player in WVU history to have more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
The West Virginia defense is anchored by All-America linebacker Grant Wiley, a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award given to the nation’s top defensive player. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior leads the team with 158 total tackles, 14 tackles for losses and has forced seven fumbles.
Senior defensive backs Brian King (6 interceptions) and Lance Frazier (5) have led a secondary that has managed 21 picks for the year.
Maryland, meanwhile, slipped back into the national polls after exiting it early in the season following a pair of losses to Northern Illinois and Florida State.
The Terps got things going with a 61-0 win over The Citadel that began a five-game winning streak. A 7-3 loss at Georgia Tech when starting quarterback Scott McBrien was sidelined with a concussion was the only other blemish for Maryland, which finished the regular season 9-3. In succession, Maryland won games against North Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina State and Wake Forest to complete the season with a 6-2 ACC record and a second-place finish behind Florida State.
McBrien had a solid senior season guiding the Terrapin offense. The 6-foot, 181-pounder completed 152 of 281 passes for 2,291 yards and 16 touchdowns. McBrien was particularly effective against his former West Virginia teammates, completing 14 of 25 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown this year. In two career games against the Mountaineers, McBrien is 22 of 43 for 382 yards and two scores.
Maryland also boasts an effective one-two rushing tandem in 5-foot-11, 206-pound sophomore Josh Allen and 5-foot-9, 203-pound senior Bruce Perry.
Because Perry has been hampered by nagging injuries the past two seasons, Allen has become a big part of the Maryland offense and shows 175 rushes for 894 yards and eight touchdowns this fall. He ran for a career-high 257 yards with two touchdowns in a 27-17 win over Virginia earlier this year.
Perry, the 2001 ACC player of the year, hasn’t managed to stay healthy enough the past two seasons to duplicate that feat. Still, Perry rushed for 646 yards and six scores this year and has 2,261 yards for his career.
Latrez Harrison, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior, is Maryland’s top pass-catcher with 38 receptions for 553 yards and six touchdowns. Multi-dimensional Steve Suter, also a dangerous punt returner, ranks second on the team with 25 catches for 387 yards and a score. He made the all-ACC team as a return specialist.
All-ACC guard C.J. Brooks anchors an offensive line that has helped Maryland score 30 or more points six times in 2003.
The Maryland defense features one of the country’s top down linemen in junior tackle Randy Starks. The 6-foot-4, 312-pound Waldorf, Md., product was an all-ACC pick this year and anchors a very stingy Turtle defense.
Since Friedgen took over in 2001, Maryland has had West Virginia’s number, winning all three games. Friedgen’s record during that span is an impressive 30-8.
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| Maryland quarterback Scott McBrien has thrown 16 touchdown passes this year (AP photo) | |
After a slow start in 2001, Rodriguez has also posted gaudy numbers at his alma mater. West Virginia is 17-8 over the past two seasons, including a 12-2 mark in Big East play. Rodriguez and Don Nehlen are the only West Virginia coaches to ever lead teams to back-to-back bowl games.
The Gator Bowl will be West Virginia’s 23rd bowl appearance; Maryland is making its 20th bowl appearance.
The two teams have played 41 times with Maryland holding a narrow 20-19-2 record. This will be the first time these two long-time border rivals have met in a bowl game.
