Maryland Preview
September 11, 2007 02:51 PM | General
September 11, 2007
MARYLAND GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When Rich Rodriguez examines video tape of 2-0 Maryland he sees many of the same characteristics that have led to a 52-24 record over the last six and a half years under veteran coach Ralph Friedgen. The Terps are massive up front, possess great speed on defense and have tremendous playmakers at the skill positions.
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| Steve Slaton ran 21 times for 195 yards and two touchdowns in West Virginia's 45-24 win over Maryland last year in Morgantown.
AP photo |
The real question in College Park is whether or not quarterback Jordan Steffy has the same qualities Sam Hollenbach and Scott McBrien had in leading Coach Ralph Friedgen's team to bowl victories. Rich Rodriguez believes he does.
“He’s very athletic. We remember him from high school. He can run the option and they do some quarterback runs with him,” Rodriguez said Monday afternoon.
Despite suffering a serious knee injury his freshman season, Steffy has remained willing to run the football gaining 26 yards and scoring a touchdown on 19 carries in wins against Villanova and Florida International.
The junior has completed 37 of 50 passes for 309 yards while throwing just one interception.
“They do some things that we do with our offense with Steffy,” said Rodriguez.
Sophomore Darrius Heyward-Bey has caught a team-best 10 passes for 129 yards and shows 55 career catches for 823 yards and five touchdowns. He had five catches for 49 yards last year against the Mountaineers in Morgantown.
“He’s very explosive and he had a big game against us last year,” said Rodriguez.
Maryland has a pair of massive tight ends in 6-foot-6-inch, 263-pound junior Dan Gronkowski and 6-foot-8-inch, 260-pound senior Joey Haynos. The two are threats both in the passing game working the middle of the field and in the running game consuming smaller linebackers and safeties.
“They’ve got two huge tight ends that are great targets,” Rodriguez said. “They cause match-up problems for a lot of people.”
Rodriguez believes the strength of Maryland’s offense remains at offensive line and at running back where the Terps have an outstanding tandem in seniors Keon Lattimore and Lance Ball.
Lattimore carried 17 times for 111 yards and scored two touchdowns in Maryland’s 26-10 win at Florida International last weekend. Lattimore, a 223-pounder, ran for 743 yards and three scores last season while showing 11 career touchdowns.
Ball is also physical runner who is closing in on 2,000 career yards to go with 15 rushing touchdowns. Ball has gained 96 yards and scored a touchdown in two games so far this year.
“They’ve got in my opinion two starting tailbacks and they’ll mix Ball and Lattimore in there with Steffy and all of the sudden you’ve got three guys that can run the ball pretty well,” Rodriguez said.
The Maryland offensive line is one of the biggest West Virginia will face this year going 324, 339, 326, 301 and 312 across the front.
“They’ve got big guys and they’ve always had big guys. We’ve got to play with great leverage because we’re not real big up front and we’ve got to use good technique and try and get off blocks,” Rodriguez said.
Statistically, Maryland has the No. 1-ranked defense in the ACC giving up only 175 yards per game. The Terps allowed only 163 yards in last weekend’s win at Florida International. FIU was just 1 of 10 on third-down conversion tries and had the football for only 50 plays.
“What they are doing is they are controlling the game,” Rodriguez said of Maryland’s defense. “I think their last two opponents had the ball for less than 60 plays. They are getting a lot of three-and-outs, their offense is staying on the field and it’s hard to score when you don’t have the ball.”
The Terrapin defense has managed 11 negative yardage plays, three interceptions and a fumble recovery in their first two games. Linebacker Erin Henderson, the younger brother of former Maryland standout linebacker E.J. Henderson, leads the Terps with 21 tackles and a pair of tackles for losses.
Defensive tackle Carlos Feliciano and strong safety Christian Varner show 11 tackles each. “Their defense has been playing very well,” says Rodriguez.
“We’ve got to, one, on offense do a good job of getting some first downs and, two, on defense try and get some stops,” Rodriguez noted.
In last year’s game Steve Slaton ran 21 times for 195 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. The Mountaineers managed 340 yards on the ground and 383 yards of offense in a 45-24 victory. After taking a 28-0 first-quarter lead, Maryland outscored West Virginia 24-17 over the remaining three quarters.
West Virginia has won the last three meetings after Maryland won four in a row including a 41-7 victory over the Mountaineers in the 2004 Gator Bowl. The long-time series will take a two-year hiatus in 2008 and 2009 before resuming again in 2010 in Morgantown.
“It’s always been a very intense rivalry; a very physical ball game,” Rodriguez said. “I think it’s been great for both fans because it’s so close. It seems like it’s always sold out whether we’re at their place or they are at our place. I think it’s been a great series and from what I understand it’s coming back in a few years.”
Both teams have had a short week of preparation for Thursday night’s game having both played on the road. West Virginia is coming off a tough, 48-23 win at Marshall and had a three-hour bus ride back to Morgantown after the game. Maryland played a night game in Miami and didn’t return to campus until early Sunday morning.
Thursday’s game will be televised nationally on ESPN (Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie, Craig James and Erin Andrews).
