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University of Maryland Athletics

Football Game Notes -- Terps at NIU

Football Maryland Athletics

Football Game Notes -- Terps at NIU

Aug. 23, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -

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The University of Maryland football team opens its 111th season of college football and year three of the Ralph Friedgen era as it takes on Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois on Thursday, August 28th, at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, Ill. Kickoff for the game is set for 7:40 p.m. EST and the game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net and broadcast by the Terrapin Radio Network (radio pregame starts at 7:00 p.m.).

  • The Terrapins seek to continue their strong play of the past two years, winning 21 of their 26 games in that span. Maryland closed its 2002 season in as strong a fashion as any team in the country, winning 10 of its last 11 games, concluding with a 30-3 thrashing of perennial-power Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
  • Maryland is 66-42-2 (.605) all-time in season openers. This year marks the 32nd time in school history that it has opened a season on the road. The Terps are 16-14-1 in openers on the road.
  • The Terrapins enter the season ranked No. 15 in the preseason Associated Press poll and 13th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll. Northern Illinois enters the season unranked.
  • The No.15 status in the AP poll gives Maryland its highest ranking since 1985 when the Bobby Ross-led Terps entered the season ranked seventh, while the preseason spot on the coaches' poll is the Terrapins' highest post in an opening ranking since ESPN and USA Today took over the poll from UPI in 1991.
  • With its No. 15 ranking in the AP poll, Maryland is the second-highest ranked school to ever take on NIU at Huskie Stadium. The highest was No. 14 Toledo, a 45-7 winner in November 1970.
  • This week's game is the first of a pair of road games to start the season for the Terrapins. It marks just the sixth time in the modern era (since 1950) that Maryland has played its first two games on the road, with the last time being 1982, a span of 21 years.

    Series Notes

  • Thursday's game marks the second meeting between the Terrapins and Huskies. The two teams first met in 1996, a 30-6 Maryland win at Byrd Stadium.
  • Like this year, the 1996 game between Maryland and NIU was a season opener. Despite the final score, Northern Illinois carried a 6-3 lead into the half before the Terps came back with 12 unanswered points in the third quarter and 15 in the fourth en route to the eventual 24-point win.
  • In that contest, the Terrapins averaged 6.1 yards per carry, a feat which was their best in 12 years at the time. By comparison, Maryland has had at least one game in each of Ralph Friedgen's two seasons as a head coach where it averaged 6.1 yards or better in a game.
  • Maryland has a 5-2 record against current Mid-American Conference schools and has won its last three against MAC opposition.
  • It has been 77 years since the Terrapins have played a game in the state of Illinois and their last outing in the "Prairie State" was their first. Maryland last played a game in Illinois in 1926, losing to the University of Chicago, 21-0.

    Terps Among Nation's Elite

  • Over the course of the past two years, the Maryland football program has been among the best in the nation. The Terrapins are 21-5 in that span with a 13-1 record at home and 7-2 mark on the road.
  • Maryland is one of just five Division I-A programs to have won at least 10 games in each of the last two seasons. The four others are Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma, Texas and Marshall.
  • The Terrapins are joined by just three other schools since 2001 to finish each season ranked in the nation's top 15 in both major polls while also residing in the top 15 of both preseason polls for 2003 (Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma and Texas are the others).
  • Trimming the field even further, the Terps are joined only by Miami (Fla.) and Texas as the only three teams in the nation to have finished in the NCAA's top 25 in both scoring offense and scoring defense each of the last two years. Maryland ranked 21st in scoring offense (32.2 ppg) and seventh in scoring defense (16.3 ppg) a year ago while ranking 12th (35.4) and 18th (19.1), respectively, in 2001.

    Depth And Experience

  • This year's Maryland squad is easily the deepest and most experienced of any during Ralph Friedgen's two-plus year tenure in College Park.
  • The 2003 edition of the Terrapins features 22 seniors, a stark contrast to the '02 Terps, a team with just 10 seniors. Of the 10 seniors on last year's roster, just six were starters at season's end.
  • A look at the preseason depth chart shows that 15 seniors are listed atop the chart at their respective positions. Injuries in the preseason have depleted that number by at least one (Lamar Bryant), but the role seniors will play this year is far from diminished.
  • From a depth standpoint, only three positions -- quarterback, fullback and defensive end -- have concern regarding depth. Other positions such as tailback, wide receiver, linebacker and defensive back are as deep as they are talented, while the defensive interior is deeper than it has been at any point in Friedgen's tenure.

    Friedgen's ACCeptional Start

  • Ralph Friedgen has opened his career as a head coach by setting one coaching record after another and as his third season in College Park gets under way, he is in position to place his name in the record books once again.
  • Last year, Friedgen became the winningest second-year head coach in ACC history with his 21-5 record, surpassing Clemson's Ken Hatfield by two wins. Without having played a game in 2003, Friedgen ranks tied for eighth with former Terp mentor Jerry Claiborne and will move into a tie with Clemson's Tommy Bowden with his next victory.
  • Friedgen will become the conference's winningest third-year coach with six wins this season. Lou Holtz (26-8-2, NC State, 1972-74) and Danny Ford (26-9-0, Clemson, 1979-81) are currently atop that list.
  • No other coach in Maryland history had won more than 17 wins in his first two seasons. Bobby Ross' 25 wins from 1982-84 is the school record for wins in three seasons.

    Three-For-One

  • With the hiring of Ralph Friedgen and Friedgen's ensuing hires of offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe and defensive coordinator Gary Blackney prior to the 2001 season, the Terrapins got the equivalent of three head coaches atop one coaching staff. Though Friedgen is in just his third season as a head coach, Taaffe (Montreal Alouettes and The Citadel) and Blackney (Bowling Green) each bring significant head coaching experience to the table.
  • Taaffe and Blackney were able to maintain success virtually everywhere they went as head coaches. While in Montreal, Taaffe guided the Alouettes to a combined 25-14 record (two seasons) and an appearance in the 2000 Grey Cup. In 1999 and 2000, he was named the CFL's Coach of the Year, making him only the second coach to earn such an honor in back-to-back seasons (Marv Levy the first in 1974) and the first ever to do so in his first two campaigns. In addition, he is the winningest coach in The Citadel's history (55-47-1).
  • Blackney was able to achieve success in his own right as a head coach at Bowling Green. In 10 seasons, Blackney won 60 games (third-most in school history), was the only coach in school history to win a bowl game (his Falcons won the 1991 California Raisin Bowl and the 1992 Las Vegas Bowl) and was the only coach to win more than 10 games in back-to-back seasons (11 in 1991; 10 in 1992).
  • Now in their third seasons at Maryland, the three coaches comprise one of the most experienced triumvirates in college football. With their 88 years of combined, full-time experience at the college and/or pro levels, Friedgen, Taaffe and Blackney are the fifth-most experienced trio in Division I-A.

    A Wealth of Experience

  • The coaching experience does not end on the Terrapin coaching staff with Coach Friedgen and his coordinators. The Maryland staff, overall, possesses a combined total of 187 years of full-time experience at either the collegiate or pro levels.
  • That total includes four coaches (excluding Friedgen, Taaffe and Blackney) who have been at it for 17 years or more, and the 187 years means an average of almost 19 years of experience per coach on the 2003 staff.

    McBrien Looking Good

  • Senior signal caller Scott McBrien has come a long way in three years. In 2001, he ran the scout team offense after transferring from West Virginia. Last year, he fought for and won a starting job only to struggle early in the season. By season's end, however, the Rockville, Md., native had the Terp offense rolling and early indications are he will finish his collegiate career as one of the top players in the nation at his position.
  • Last year, the Terps seemingly got rolling as McBrien did. Over the course of the season's last 11 games, McBrien completed 130 of 220 passes for 2,114 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.
  • McBrien's quarterback rating for the season was 141.3, 12th-best in Division I-A and second in the ACC.
  • For his efforts -- in his first full season as a starter -- McBrien was named an honorable mention All-ACC selection.
  • In the '02 finale, McBrien was named the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl's Offensive Player of the Game as he went 11-of-19 for 120 yards while rushing for a pair of touchdowns in the 30-3 Terp win.

    The Bottom Line

  • Though the Terrapins' yardage numbers on offense and defense continued to improve each week as last season went along, none of their averages or national rankings qualified as eye-popping. Where the team did impress, however, was where it matters most -- in scoring.
  • On offense, Maryland averaged a robust 32.2 points per game, a total that ranked second in the ACC and 21st nationally.
  • The Terps posted 451 points in '02, marking the first time in school history that a team hit the 400-point mark in one season. In two years under the tutelage of Ralph Friedgen and offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe, Maryland has tallied 841 points for an average of 32.3 points per outing (last year's team owned the previous single-season scoring record with 390 points).
  • On defense, the Terrapins allowed just 16.3 points per game. That figure led the conference and was seventh-best nationally.
  • Like the success the team has had on the other side of the ball, the defensive Terrapins have also flourished under their coordinator, Gary Blackney. In back-to-back seasons Maryland has allowed less than 20 points per outing and in the two years combined, opponents have averaged just 16.8 points per game.

    Defense Returns Nine

  • The Terrapin defense -- as mentioned previously -- was outstanding last year, finishing seventh nationally in points allowed. The good news in 2003 is the unit that returns has barely changed, losing just two starters from a year ago.
  • Maryland was very stingy when it came to the scoreboard last year. The Terps held opponents scoreless in 30 quarters in '02, second-most of any team in Division I-A football (Kansas State led the nation with 34).
  • In their 11 wins, the Terps allowed just 14 touchdowns and an average of 11 points per game.
  • Maryland finished the season ranked second in the ACC in sacks (32).

    Ground Turtle

  • With the season opening and the likelihood being that star tailback Bruce Perry (ankle) will not play in game one, some pundits feel that the Terrapins' ground game will suffer. One look at practice this preseason, however, suggests that the tailback position is one of the deepest and most talented on the Maryland roster, with or without the 2001 Doak Walker finalist.
  • In Perry's absence, sophomore Josh Allen is the team's probable starter and Allen has the size (5-11, 206) and speed that teams seek from a featured back. Allen rushed for 405 yards on 60 carries as a true freshman, averaging 6.8 yards per carry, while scoring an average of every 7.5 times he touched the ball (eight TDs). In addition, he was only thrown for two yards of losses all year.
  • A new face in the Terrapin backfield is junior transfer Sammy Maldonado. Maldonado's timing in leaving Ohio State prior to last year may not have been the best for him then, but it seems as though it will pay off in playing time for the hard-charging back. A prep superstar, "Sammy the Bull" brings 233 pounds and quick feet to the Terp backfield, an ideal short-yardage back if not more.
  • A youth movement at the position includes talented players who -- at a minimum -- will add depth. Mario Merrills (Soph.), J.P. Humber (Fr.-RS) and Lance Ball (Fr.-HS), all have the talent to start at this level.

    The Four Corners

  • Once a liability at Maryland, the defensive backfield is one of the strengths of this year's team. The fact that the Terrapin secondary is ranked as the 10th-best such unit in the country by The Sporting News speaks volumes and it is largely due to the skills of the four starters in that unit.
  • Described by Ralph Friedgen as four players with "great character," corners Curome Cox, Domonique Foxworth along with safeties Dennard Wilson and Madieu Williams also bring extraordinary skill to the table. All four players started a year ago and all four have spent at least some portion of their collegiate career at cornerback, giving the team one of the most versatile secondaries in the country.
  • Between them, Maryland's starting cornerbacks bring 50 career starts, 13 interceptions and 37 pass breakups.
  • Foxworth earned first team All-ACC honors as just a sophomore last year, while Cox returned two interceptions for touchdowns, including one that turned the tide in the Peach Bowl.
  • At safety, Wilson and Williams each started their career at cornerback, bringing skills to safety most teams don't possess. Wilson had his finest year as a Terp last year, his first at strong safety. Williams is on several preseason All-America lists as well as the "watch lists" for the Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski awards, awards which recognize the best defensive back and defensive player, respectively, in college football.

    Size-Wise

  • One matchup that could benefit the Terps this year is that of the team's wide receivers against the opposition's defensive backs, as Maryland possesses the best size in years at wide receiver.
  • Maryland's starters in week one average 6-2, 217 pounds.
  • Of the 11 wide receivers on the Maryland roster most likely to see significant playing time in 2003, seven are 6-2 or taller. Three are 6-4 and only one player who isn't a slot receiver (Derrick Fenner, 5-11) is under 6-0 tall.
  • This week's opponent, Northern Illinois, has starting cornerbacks averaging just over 5-10 and 190 pounds.

    What's In A Name?

  • It may be a bit premature, but just based on the fact that junior Randy Starks has been compared by some media to Terp legend Randy White speaks volumes about how far the third-year defensive tackle's game has come.
  • Starks, a viable preseason candidate for the Outland and Lombardi trophies (awards White won in 1974), enters his junior year as a force in the middle along with senior C.J. Feldheim. Starks finished his true sophomore season third on the team in tackles (93) and second on the team in TFLs (12.5) and sacks (6.5) en route to second team All-ACC honors.
  • Despite only garnering enough attention from the press to earn second-team status a year ago, Starks has already caught the eye of some media members. Most notably, ESPN.com picked the junior as its preseason ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
  • Starks' tackle total was tops in the ACC among defensive tackles last year and third among defensive linemen, overall.
  • The Waldorf, Md., native enters this season tied for fourth in career sacks (10) among active ACC players. The three players ahead of him are all seniors.

    AutoMat-Nick

  • Placekicker Nick Novak came on midway through the 2001 season and now, just a junior, enters this season as one of the nation's premier kickers.
  • Starting with his game-tying kick at Georgia Tech in '01, Novak has made 35 of his last 40 field goal attempts, with three of the misses coming from further than 50 yards.
  • With 1.71 field goals per game, Novak finished last year ranked atop the ACC and fifth nationally. He led the league's kickers in scoring (8.9 ppg) and in field goal percentage (85.7).
  • Against NC State in 2002, Novak broke his own record for PATs in a season with his 43rd (he now has 53).
  • In last season's Virginia game, he broke the school record of 17 field goals set by three players (most recently Dan Plocki in 1988). Novak finished the season having converted 24 field goals.
  • Novak -- who enters this season on the "watch list" for the Lou Groza Award -- has hit the only two game-winning attempts of career, beating Georgia Tech in 2001 and NC State in 2002.
  • The Charlottesville, Va., native has made 5 of 8 for his career from 50 yards or further.

    Homeboys

  • In his first signing day with the Terps (2001), Ralph Friedgen said that in addition to landing some of the top recruits nationally, one of his goals was to make sure that all of the best players in the state of Maryland stayed in state and became Terps.
  • Over the course of the past six years, the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia recruiting area has been tapped more successfully in each ensuing year. In 1997, just 23 players on the Maryland roster hailed from either Maryland, D.C. or Virginia, with six of those serving as opening-game starters. Since that time, however, numbers in both categories have risen steadily. Below is a look at the trend:
    	Md./D.C./Va.    	'97	'98	'99	'00	'01	'02	'03
	Players on Roster	23	34	39	46	49	54	56
	Starters*       	6	5	7	12	10	14	--
    *reflects number of starters in the season opener.

    Coaching Connections

  • Ralph Friedgen is not the only member of the Terrapin coaching staff with ties to College Park, though this is his fourth stint at Maryland (player from 1965-68; graduate assistant from 1969-72; offensive coordinator/offensive line coach from 1982-86 and the present stint).
  • Defensive line coach Dave Sollazzo was a graduate assistant for the Terrapins in 1984 and defensive line coach in '86-87.
  • Sollazzo is also one of several coaches with a connection to another institution - The Citadel. Sollazzo played for (1974-76) and helped coach (1989-98) the Bulldogs, while Friedgen coached there from 1973-79, Charlie Taaffe was a head coach there from 1987-96 and outside linebackers coach Al Seamonson served there from 1987-99.
  • Friedgen was actually Sollazzo's position coach at The Citadel.

    Tough Losses

  • All five of Maryland's losses in the last two years have come against the stiffest of competition.
  • FSU was ranked 19th in 2001 and fifth in 2002 when the Terps played. Florida was the fifth-ranked team in the nation when it faced Maryland in the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame -- although unranked at the start of the season -- finished 2002 ranked 17th, while Virginia finished 22nd.

    Iron Terps

  • For the third straight season, Maryland boasted record strength numbers and again posted its highest number of student-athletes earning "Iron Terp" status. In preseason strength and conditioning testing this year, the Terrapins again set four team strength records.
  • This year's Terps set team records for strength index, power clean, squat and vertical jump, improving on the previous all-time team highs that had been established since such records have been kept (started in 1983).
  • Not only were new records set, but the team as a whole improved dramatically, as 84 percent of the players on this year's team elevated their personal bests in strength index -- which encompasses all of the tests into one number -- from the year previous.
  • The player who set the most records at his position this year was the versatile Steve Suter. The standout wide receiver and return man posted records for strength index (768), squat (580 pounds), power clean (352 pounds) and vertical jump (42 inches).

    Local Ties

  • There are no players or coaches from either current roster with ties to the other school, however, there is one notable tie between the two schools.
  • Former Maryland assistant coach and current ESPN analyst Lee Corso was a head coach at Northern Illinois in 1984.

    ACC Football on the Rise

  • Long considered a basketball league, the Atlantic Coast Conference is in the midst of somewhat of shift in the balance of power.
  • Last season, four ACC schools finished the season in the Associated Press' Top 25. In this year's preseason Top 25, four ACC schools are ranked in the nation's top 18 in the Associated Press poll and four of the top 17 in the coaches' poll.
  • With the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech -- schools who will be a part of the conference next year -- the ACC total in this year's preseason polls rises to six of the top 18 teams in the country, a claim no other conference can boast.

    Scouting The Huskies

  • Northern Illinois is coming off an 8-4 season and a first-place tie in the MAC West after going 7-1 in conference.
  • The Huskies were picked by their conference's sports writers in the preseason to win the Mid-American Conference in 2003.
  • Last season, Northern Illinois posted some lofty numbers on offense (376.1 ypg), but gave up a similar total on defense (386.8 ypg). The majority of the yards the Huskies yielded, however, came to the opposition's passing game, as they gave up 254.9 yards per outing.
  • On offense, NIU was led in 2002 by TB Michael Turner. Turner finished last year ranked second nationally in rushing, averaging a robust 159.6 yards per game while going for a net 1,915 yards. The Doak Walker semifinalist posted 19 touchdowns and his season was the 13th-best single season in NCAA history.
  • Leading tackler Akil Grant returns to pace the defense in 2003. The safety posted a team-high 138 tackles a year ago with four TFLs, one sack and two interceptions.

    NIU's Joe Novak

  • Joe Novak is in his eighth season as head coach at Northern Illinois, a school he has helped take from the depths to the upper echelon of the Mid-American Conference.
  • The NIU job is Novak's only stint as a head coach, the culmination of a career that has now seen 30 seasons. Novak is 28-50 in his seven previous years with the Huskies and has seen an improvement in his team's wins and losses every season since 1997.
  • Last year, Novak was named MAC Coach of the Year after leading NIU to an 8-4 mark, his best season as a head coach. The Huskies went from winless and last in the league in '97 to tied for first in the conference's West division a year ago.
  • A 1967 Miami (Ohio) grad, Novak got his start in coaching at his alma mater before moving on to Illinois (Defensive Line;1977-79), NIU (Defensive Coordinator/LBs; 1980-83) and Indiana (Defensive Coordinator; 1984-95).
  • Novak, a native of Mentor, Ohio, coached at the prep level in his home state for the six years prior to being hired at Miami, where he served as the Redhawks defensive coordinator from 1974-76.

    Byrd Stadium

  • Now in its 54th year of operation, Byrd Stadium continues to serve as the home of the Terps. Opened on September 30, 1950, and constructed for a sum of $1 million, Byrd was named after Dr. H.C. "Curley" Byrd, a multi-sport star at Maryland who later became the school's head football coach and ultimately its president.
  • Heading into the season, the Terrapins are 174-101-1 within the friendly confines of Byrd.
  • With temporary bleachers installed for the remainder of this season, Byrd Stadium can hold up to 51,500.
  • In two seasons under Ralph Friedgen, the Terrapins are 13-1 in games played at Byrd Stadium.

    Terp Alley

  • In an effort to restore some tradition on gameday in College Park, the football staff created Terp Alley in 2001, a tradition that has become a part of the gameday experience outside Byrd Stadium.
  • For every football home game, the entire football team makes its first appearance of the day at "Terp Alley." The team is dropped off at the circle at the top of Field House Drive (between the football press box and Ludwig Field) approximately two hours before kickoff and is led past fans gathered along the street to the football complex by the Maryland band and cheerleaders.

    A Class Act

  • The success of the Maryland football team has not stopped on the playing field in recent years, as the team has improved its academic standing under Ralph Friedgen's watch.
  • Five players on this year's team -- OG Ed Tyler, OG Lamar Bryant, CB Curome Cox, TE Jeff Dugan and DT Tosin Abari -- have already earned their degrees.
  • Tyler earned his degree in economics prior to last season, finishing his course work in just three years. He is currently pursuing a second degree (history).
  • From the membership has its benefits file: Friedgen lets players line up to eat by grade point average. The Terps must be hungry -- 24 players earned a 3.5 grade point average or better in the spring of 2003.

    Building For The Future

  • When the Terrapins take the field at Byrd Stadium this year, changes will still be taking place at the site that has been home to the Terps since 1950. Some will be apparent as soon as one sets foot in the stadium and others would only be noticeable to the men who wear the Maryland colors on game day.
  • After getting a state-of-the-art scoreboard and a new academics unit a year ago, the renovation has now moved on to improving other areas. Included in the changes are a remodeled weight room and a dining hall, a hall of fame area and a team meeting auditorium.
  • In addition to the bright visible new video board, it may go overlooked by some that expansion has already taken place on the building below it, the Gossett Football Team House. Thus far, the coaches' offices have been refurbished as have meeting rooms and the equipment room.
  • One other change noticeable at the start of fall camp and appreciated by players and coaches alike was the Terps' new practice facility, which features two state-of-the-art grass fields and a field turf, perfect for weeks when Maryland plays on an artificial surface.

    A 25-Year Holliday

  • "Voice of the Terrapins" Johnny Holliday is celebrating his silver anniversary with the Terps this year, as the hall-of-fame broadcaster is celebrating his 25th year as the key cog in the Maryland broadcast team.
  • With a long list of credentials that includes covering the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics in '84, '88 and '94, and the Masters, the Terps' director of broadcasting may be best known to fans in the Midwest from his days as a disc jockey in Cleveland, work which ultimately landed him in that town's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

    Ticket Information

  • Individual game tickets for Terp home games may be purchased locally at any Ticketmaster outlet or by visiting the Maryland ticket office at Comcast Center. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.
  • For additional info or to order by phone, call (800) 462-TERP.

    Season Ticket Sales Climbing

  • In the last two years, season ticket sales for Maryland football games have have been moving higher and higher.
  • Nearly a week before the season opener and over three weeks from the home opener, the athletics department has sold a school-record total of more than 27,000 season tickets.
  • As of August 22, the total sold was 27,134, an improvement of almost 10,000 tickets from Ralph Friedgen's first season in College Park and more than 12,000 more sold than in 1999.
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    Players Mentioned

    Lance Ball

    #44 Lance Ball

    RB
    5' 9"
    Senior

    Players Mentioned

    Lance Ball

    #44 Lance Ball

    5' 9"
    Senior
    RB