Countdown to Kickoff
September 14, 2006 04:19 PM | General
September 14, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia (2-0) plays host to Maryland (2-0) Thursday night at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000) in Morgantown. Kickoff is set for 7:45 and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Erin Andrews).
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| A 4 pm peek from inside the helmet at Milan Puskar Stadium before tonight's game against Maryland.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
No tickets remain for tonight’s game.
West Virginia under Coach Rich Rodriguez has won 27 of its last 31 regular season games and faces a Maryland team coming off victories over William & Mary and Middle Tennessee State to start the season. Tonight’s meeting will be the 45th between these two old border rivals with the series deadlocked at 21-21-2. West Virginia will travel to College Park to face Maryland next year and then the series will be interrupted for two years before resuming in 2010.
Here is tonight’s Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – West Virginia has won all TEN of its last 10 games played in September.
9 – The Mountaineers’ NINE-game winning streak dating back to last year is currently tied with Ohio State for the second longest in the nation. TCU has the most consecutive wins with 12.
8 – Steve Slaton ran for 105 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns last weekend against Eastern Washington on just EIGHT carries. The sophomore shows 308 yards and four scores in just over three quarters worth of action this year.
7 – Brandon Myles’ SEVEN catches for 73 yards and three touchdowns leads a WVU receiver corps that has seen 12 different players catch passes this year.
6 – SIX of Maryland’s eight offensive linemen listed on its two-deep roster weigh at least 300 pounds. The biggest Terrapin is 6-foot-9-inch, 350-pound right tackle Jared Gaither.
5 – The Mountaineer ground attack has now rushed for more than 300 yards in FIVE straight games dating back to last year. Last weekend WVU ran for 394 yards in a 52-3 victory over Eastern Washington; West Virginia’s best running performance during the five-game streak was a 451-yard effort last year in a 45-13 win over Pitt
4 – Maryland has won FOUR out of the last six meetings against West Virginia but the Mountaineers have taken the last two -- 19-16 in Morgantown in 2004 and 31-19 in College Park last year.
3 – West Virginia’s offense has had THREE plays covering at least 31 yards so far this year. Steve Slaton ran 49 yards for a touchdown against Eastern Washington, Tito Gonzales caught a 45-yard pass from Pat White and Jeremy Bruce caught a 31-yard pass from backup quarterback Jarrett Brown.
2 – Maryland begins a football season 2-0 for just the SECOND time under veteran Coach Ralph Friedgen.
1 – Last year’s 31-19 victory was the FIRST decisive win for the Mountaineers against Maryland since Ralph Friedgen took over the Terrapin program in 2001. Prior to 2004, Maryland had outscored West Virginia by a combined 123-31 in victories in 2002 and 2003.
Enjoy tonight’s game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete post-game coverage including highlights, official statistics and MSN game podcasts.
