Maryland Football Faces NC State This Weekend
10/30/2000 7:00:00 AM | Football
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Oct. 30, 2000
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- - The University of Maryland football team returns to Byrd Stadium this week for a nationally televised game versus the NC State Wolfpack. The Terrapins are coming off of a 20-9 victory at Duke and will be seeking a third-straight ACC victory.
The Terrapins take on the Wolfpack with a 4-4 record (2-3, ACC), while NC State is playing its best ball in years (5-2, 2-2 ACC) under first year head coach Chuck Amato despite a rough 58-14 loss at home last week to Amato's previous employer, Florida State.
A win by the Terps will put them fifth in the conference standings and ahead of the Wolfpack, a feat that seemed unlikely just a couple of weeks ago.
The game will be televised by ABC Sports and will be broadcast locally by WTEM (980 AM) and WBAL (1090 AM).
Maryland continued its winning ways last weekend in the same fashion that it had gotten back on track versus Wake Forest - with defense. After holding the Demon Deacons to seven points a week earlier, the Terps held Duke to nine points while sacking Blue Devil quarterbacks a season-high nine times.
After a slow start by the Maryland offense, senior LaMont Jordan broke loose for a 77-yard TD run (the second-longest of his career) to get the Terrapins started. Jordan finished the game with 158 yards on just 21 carries and scored two TDs. The 158-yard performance marked the 16th time in his career that he has surpassed the century mark, second most in Maryland history.
The Jordan Watch
LaMont Jordan, a unanimous preseason first team All-American in preview magazines nationwide, rushed for a school-record 1,632 yards as a junior and against West Virginia this season officially became the leading rusher in school history. He trails only TCU's Ladainian Tomlinson among active NCAA career rushing leaders.
-- Although he will not likely gain the 679 yards needed to become the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-time rushing leader, Jordan can still make headway in the conference's record books. Currently seventh, Jordan can feasably get as high as second as he needs 472 to surpass UNC's Amos Lawrence (`77-80) in the two slot.
Terp Coach Ron Vanderlinden
Terrapin head coach Ron Vanderlinden (Albion College `78) is in his fourth season at Maryland, guiding the re-shaping efforts from a run-and-shoot offense to a power run game and more balanced, physical attack. After helping rebuild struggling programs at Colorado (1983-91) and Northwestern (1992-96), Vanderlinden is 14-27 as a college head coach. He was named the Terps' field boss in December of 1996.
Vanderlinden, 44, arrived in College Park after a five-year stint as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under Gary Barnett at Northwestern where the Wildcats won a pair of Big Ten championships and made a 1996 Rose Bowl appearance. As defensive line coach in nine seasons under Bill McCartney at CU, the Buffaloes won the 1990 national championship, three Big Eight titles, and six bowl games.
Counting two years at Michigan, Vanderlinden has coaching experience in 10 major bowl games.
Vanderlinden's teams at Maryland have been characterized by vast improvements made to the rushing game and the overall defense. In 1998, Maryland was the sixth-most improved rushing team in America, and among the top 15 most improved teams in the country in total, scoring and pass defense. Last season, the Terps completed a "worst-to-first" ascent among ACC rushing leaders, climbing to a league-best 231.4 yards per game after ranking ninth in 1997.
NC State Coach Chuck Amato
Chuck Amato (NC State, `69) is in his first season as head coach of the NC State football program. He came back to his alma mater two days after standing on the sideline for Florida State's national championship win in the Sugar Bowl and after spending 18 years with the Seminole program.
For the last 14 of Amato's 18 years at FSU, he served as the team's assistant head coach. He was the defensive line coach for the first 14 years of his tenure and then the linebackers coach for his last four. His only coaching experience not at NC State or Florida State came in 1980-81 when he served as a linebackers coach at Arizona.
A part of 11 ACC championships (one as a player in `65 at NCSU, two as an assistant in `73 and `79) and eight-straight as an assistant at FSU, Amato is a 1969 graduate of NC State where he was a three-year letterwinner in football and wrestling.
Next Games
The Terrapins hit the road again next week as they will head off to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face NC State's in-state rival, North Carolina.
NC State will next face Duke in Raleigh as part of its 2000 homecoming celebration.
Gameday at Byrd / Promotions
For the NC State game, the University of Maryland campus community hosts Family Weekend with the Terps' football game scheduled as its centerpiece. Byrd Turns 50!
Byrd Stadium celebrates its 50th birthday as home of the Maryland Terrapins in 2000. Constructed in 1950 at a cost of $1 million, Byrd Stadium first opened on Sept. 30, 1950 when Maryland defeated in-state rival Navy 35-21 in the dedication game before a school-record crowd of 43,386 fans.
Byrd has since undergone a series of major facelifts, three of which occurred in the 1990s and resulted in its present form.
Situated at the foot of the campus' North Hill, the stadium is named for Dr. H.C. "Curley" Byrd, a multi-sport athlete as an undergraduate who later became head football coach and eventually served as university president. Beginning its 51st season, Maryland has posted an all-time record of 154-98-1 (.609) in games at Byrd Stadium.
Ticket Information
Individual game tickets for home games may be purchased locally at any Ticketmaster outlet or by visiting the Maryland ticket office at Cole Field House. Tickets also may be purchased online at www.Ticketmaster.com.
Call 800-462-TERP for questions, or to order by phone.
