Football Team Hosts FSU On Thursday
9/25/2000 8:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 25, 2000
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The University of Maryland football team plays its second-straight home game this week as it takes on second-ranked and defending national champion Florida State University. The Terrapins are coming off of a 45-27 win over Middle Tennessee while Florida State shut out Louisville in Tallahassee, 31-0.
The Terps head into the contest with a 2-1 record while FSU is 4-0 overall. The game will be televised to a national audience by ESPN, thus the Thursday game and the late start.
The contest will mark the start to the Atlantic Coast Conference season for the Terps while the Seminoles are 2-0 (at Georgia Tech, 26-21, North Carolina, 63-14).
In contrast to its previous two games, Maryland got it done against Middle Tennessee with an offensive explosion and, in particular, a strong passing night. The Terps racked up 528 total yards with 357 coming through the air, the most since 1995.
LaMont Jordan (Forestville, Md.) had his best game of the young season as he rushed for 88 yards on 24 carries while catching a pair of passes for 69 yards. As has been the case for most of the year, his numbers were not particularly spectacular, but he still continued to break records as he supassed a pair of Virginia Cavaliers (Terry Kirby, 14th, and Tiki Barber, 13th) on the ACC all-time rushing list and into the No.12 spot with 3,415 career yards. He also became Maryland's career leader for all-purpose yards, surpassing Jermaine Lewis (3,950 yards, 1992-95) as he now has 4,047 yards.
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.
-- After leading the country in rushing over last year's final six games, he is 1,188 yards from becoming the ACC's all-time rushing leader.
Records
Maryland is 2-1 after its 45-27 win over Middle Tennessee at Bryd Stadium. Florida State is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC after its 31-0 win at home over Louisvile.
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 12-24 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.
FSU Coach Bobby Bowden
Florida State's Bobby Bowden (Samford `53) is one of the deans of college coaching and is moving up the all-time NCAA charts in this, his 25th season in Tallahassee (and 33rd overall). He is one of just five coaches ever to record over 300 victories and this year (against Georgia Tech) he moved ahead of Paul "Bear" Bryant and into fourth all-time for wins (234) at a single school. Second among active coaches (behind Joe Paterno, 318) in wins with 308, he is the only coach in college football history to post 12 consecutive 10-win seasons. Bowden has also guided the `Noles to every ACC title since the team joined the league in 1992.
Next Games
On deck for the Terrapins are a pair of conference road games as Maryland heads to Virginia on October 7, and then to No.11 Clemson the following week (Oct. 14).
Florida State will stray from ACC play next week as it heads to Miami, Fla., to take on the Hurricanes in the annual in-state rivalry.
Gameday at Byrd / Promotions
This week, Maryland welcomes a national television audience as defending national champion Florida State invades Byrd Stadium.
Homecoming is slated for the Wake Forest game on Oct. 21. It also is the Terps' annual Letterwinners' Day as past athletes from all sports are welcomed into the stadium and onto the field.
Against NC State on Nov. 4, 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 152-97-1 (.610) 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.
