2010 West Virginia Mountaineers Preview: Maryland

After running with the Buffaloes for the past couple seasons, West Virginia will welcome Maryland back to Touchdown City to renew their rivalry after a two year hiatus.

Since 1919, West Virginia and Maryland have met on the college football gridiron in a somewhat occasional rivalry series. The Mountaineers own the series lead over the Terrapins with a slim 23 to 21 advantage with two ties coming in 1944 and 1945.

As bordering states, a major issue in this rivalry has always concerned recruitment—most notably All-American running back Steve Slaton.

Since their last meeting in 2007, the Mountaineers and Terrapins have gone in opposite directions as far as win/loss records.

West Virginia posted back-to-back nine win seasons, while Maryland has slid backwards from eight wins in 2008 to just two this past season.

In that 2009 season, Maryland finished last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division with only one conference win.

With those results, head coach Ralph Freidgen has put himself on the hot seat with the school. He has only kept his job because of the expensive buyout clause in his contract of $4 million.

But University of Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow has spoken out in the press saying that anything less than a seven win 2010 season would leave Freidgen without a job, after 10 years with the school.

Away from any off field issues, Maryland has shown plenty of problems on the field. The Terrapins' offensive unit was ranked 10th in the ACC in total offense, and they were 102nd out of 120 in FBS with 316 yards per game.

The defense ranked 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 83rd nationally in FBS, allowing almost 400 yards per game and giving up 31 points per game.

From a more macro look at the squad, the Terrapins have only five full-time returning starters from 2009. The offensive line was porous while not allowing a successful running game to develop and providing no protection for the quarterbacks.

Jamarr Robertson will take over the team full time after throwing for close to 500 yards and two touchdowns in limited action toward the end of the season.

Senior Da’Rel Scott is the returning rushing leader for the team with only 425 yards on the ground and three TDs. Scott, a 2008 All-ACC selection, had only partial playing time last year due to a wrist injury that caused him to miss five games.

On the receiving side of the skill positions, Torrey Smith finished the season with 85 catches and more than 800 yards along with five touchdowns. Smith ranked sixth in the nation in all-purpose yards from scrimmage while being selected to the All-ACC second team at wide receiver and return specialist. Smith broke his own single season ACC record for kick return yards with a little more than 1,300 yards in the 2009 season.

The Maryland defense will be a young unit this year with only five returning starters, but the linebacker corps will be the brightest spot with all three starters returning from 2009. Alex Wujciak finished the 2009 campaign with almost 11 tackles per game,—good for eighth in the nation—while Adrian Moren led the Terrapins in sacks with six and tackles for a loss with nine.

Maryland will certainly improve on their 2-10 record from 2009, the first losing record in school history.

Along with improving that overall record, they will climb the standings in the ACC Atlantic division to at least fourth from their 2009 basement-dwelling season, but don't look for them to best West Virginia just yet.

For the game in Morgantown, the Mountaineers will move to 3-0 on the season with a good win over Maryland by the final score of 35-21.

NEXT GAME: West Virginia at LSU, September 25th 2010