Countdown to Kickoff – Maryland
September 04, 2021 01:02 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia opens its 2021 football season today at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium against border rival Maryland in a contest that will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and be televised nationally on ESPN.
"Until you go out and play a game, I'm not sure you know what you have," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier this week. "Any coach who says they know what they have, I don't know if I'm believing them because you are lining up and playing against yourself the whole time.
"Now, it's definitely time to play. We need to play and kind of see where we're at and see where we need to grow, but there are always concerns because of the unknowns," Brown added.
It will be the 53rd meeting between these two old rivals and the first since 2015 when Maryland was a year-old member of the Big Ten Conference. The two schools played annually from 2010-15 and from 1980-2007 when the Terps were in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Prior to 1980, the series was played sporadically from 1943 until 1977. The first meeting in 1919 was in Morgantown when the Terps were then known as the Maryland Aggies.
West Virginia has won nine out of the last 10 games in the series to take an overall 28-22-2 lead.
The Mountaineers' record in College Park is 13-11-1.
Maryland's last victory came at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Sept. 21, 2013 when the Terps blanked the Mountaineers 37-0. The last time these two teams met in College Park on Sept. 13, 2014, WVU got a 47-yard field goal from Josh Lambert on the game's final play in front of a crowd of 48,154 to pull out an exciting, 40-37 victory.
"Coming out of camp, we have to figure out what were we best at and who do we want to feature?" Brown said. "We take the concepts and the schemes we are best at coming out of fall camp and the players we want to highlight and that's what we focus on because we're guessing at best what they are going to do."
Brown indicated on his radio show Thursday night that tight end Mike O'Laughlin is doubtful for today's opener while backup running back Tony Mathis Jr. will be a game-time decision.
Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Quarterback Jarret Doege ranked TENTH in the nation last year averaging 23.9 completions per game.
9 – West Virginia's secondary ranks NINTH in the country over the last six years with an average of 1.12 interceptions per game
8 – Six out of the EIGHT players Mountaineers who caught touchdown passes last year are returning for the 2021 season.
7 – Today's game will be the SEVENTH time West Virginia is playing a football game on Sept. 4. The last time WVU played on this date was in 2011, a 34-13, weather-shortened win against Marshall.
6 –West Virginia has lost just SIX times (out of 200 games) when scoring at least 40 points in a football game. All six defeats have occurred since 2000.
5 – FIVE Mountaineer offensive players have started at least 10 games during their collegiate careers.
4 – Today's game is the FOURTH time West Virginia is opening its season against Maryland in College Park. The last time was in 1973 when the game was decided with eight seconds left on Danny Buggs' 65-yard punt return for a touchdown.
3 – West Virginia's defense returns THREE players with at least 13 career starts, including senior linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo with a unit-best 22 career starts.
2 – West Virginia has made bowl appearances in all but TWO out of the last 19 years, including last season's 24-21 Liberty Bowl victory over Army.
1 – Neal Brown and Maryland's Mike Locksley will be facing each other for the FIRST time as head college football coaches today.
Saturday's game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Anish Shroff, Mike Golic Jr. and Taylor McGregor).
Mountaineer Sports Network Radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace, Jed Drenning, Dan Zangrilli and Dale Wolfley begins with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show at noon on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
"Until you go out and play a game, I'm not sure you know what you have," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier this week. "Any coach who says they know what they have, I don't know if I'm believing them because you are lining up and playing against yourself the whole time.
"Now, it's definitely time to play. We need to play and kind of see where we're at and see where we need to grow, but there are always concerns because of the unknowns," Brown added.
It will be the 53rd meeting between these two old rivals and the first since 2015 when Maryland was a year-old member of the Big Ten Conference. The two schools played annually from 2010-15 and from 1980-2007 when the Terps were in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Prior to 1980, the series was played sporadically from 1943 until 1977. The first meeting in 1919 was in Morgantown when the Terps were then known as the Maryland Aggies.
West Virginia has won nine out of the last 10 games in the series to take an overall 28-22-2 lead.
The Mountaineers' record in College Park is 13-11-1.
Maryland's last victory came at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Sept. 21, 2013 when the Terps blanked the Mountaineers 37-0. The last time these two teams met in College Park on Sept. 13, 2014, WVU got a 47-yard field goal from Josh Lambert on the game's final play in front of a crowd of 48,154 to pull out an exciting, 40-37 victory.
"Coming out of camp, we have to figure out what were we best at and who do we want to feature?" Brown said. "We take the concepts and the schemes we are best at coming out of fall camp and the players we want to highlight and that's what we focus on because we're guessing at best what they are going to do."
Brown indicated on his radio show Thursday night that tight end Mike O'Laughlin is doubtful for today's opener while backup running back Tony Mathis Jr. will be a game-time decision.
Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Quarterback Jarret Doege ranked TENTH in the nation last year averaging 23.9 completions per game.
9 – West Virginia's secondary ranks NINTH in the country over the last six years with an average of 1.12 interceptions per game
8 – Six out of the EIGHT players Mountaineers who caught touchdown passes last year are returning for the 2021 season.
7 – Today's game will be the SEVENTH time West Virginia is playing a football game on Sept. 4. The last time WVU played on this date was in 2011, a 34-13, weather-shortened win against Marshall.
6 –West Virginia has lost just SIX times (out of 200 games) when scoring at least 40 points in a football game. All six defeats have occurred since 2000.
5 – FIVE Mountaineer offensive players have started at least 10 games during their collegiate careers.
4 – Today's game is the FOURTH time West Virginia is opening its season against Maryland in College Park. The last time was in 1973 when the game was decided with eight seconds left on Danny Buggs' 65-yard punt return for a touchdown.
3 – West Virginia's defense returns THREE players with at least 13 career starts, including senior linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo with a unit-best 22 career starts.
2 – West Virginia has made bowl appearances in all but TWO out of the last 19 years, including last season's 24-21 Liberty Bowl victory over Army.
1 – Neal Brown and Maryland's Mike Locksley will be facing each other for the FIRST time as head college football coaches today.
Saturday's game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Anish Shroff, Mike Golic Jr. and Taylor McGregor).
Mountaineer Sports Network Radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace, Jed Drenning, Dan Zangrilli and Dale Wolfley begins with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show at noon on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
Players Mentioned
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Eddie Vesterinen | Nov. 15
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Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 15
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Saturday, November 15
