Oct. 2, 2006
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Terps at Jackets Game Notes (PDF Format)
Quotes from Tuesday's Press Conference with Coach Friedgen
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The University of Maryland football team returns to action and heads into its first week of Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend as it will head to Atlanta, Ga., to take on the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech. Kickoff from Bobby Dodd Stadium is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday with the game being televised by ESPNU and broadcast on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network (105.7 FM and 1300 AM Baltimore; 630 AM Washington, D.C.) with radio pregame starting at 2:00 p.m.
Maryland (3-1, 0-0 ACC) is coming off its lone bye week of 2006. Its last outing was a 14-10 win over Florida International at home. In the win, the Terps held onto the ball (36:07 time of possession) and held the FIU ground game in check (89 yards), but had to come up with an interception on the game's final play to hold on to the victory.
Georgia Tech enters this weekend's contest on a roll. After opening 2006 with a tough 14-10 loss to Notre Dame, the Yellow Jackets have registered four-straight wins and two-straight in league play. Last weekend, Tech avenged a 51-7 loss in 2005 at Virginia Tech by soundly beating the Hokies, 38-27, in Blacksburg.
Georgia Tech is ranked 18th in this week's Associated Press poll while chiming in at 20th in the USA Today Coaches' poll. The Terrapins are unranked.
Series Notes -- Terps vs. Yellow Jackets
Saturday's game will mark the 18th meeting between the Terrapins and Yellow Jackets. The series began in 1988 and Georgia Tech owns an 12-5 advantage all-time.
For just the second time since 2000, the game between the two schools will be played on a Saturday. From 2001-2003, the series was played on Thursday night in front of a nationally-televised audience with each of those three games having memorable moments. In 2004, a 7-3 Terp loss was the team's most inept offensive performance of the season; the 2002 win came while fears of the D.C.-area sniper still resounded in the Metro area; and the 2001 win was one of Ralph Friedgen's signature career wins -- his first against his old team (in overtime) and good friend, George O'Leary.
The 2001 win at Bobby Dodd Stadium moved Maryland to 6-0 on the season.
The Terps have scored just 10 points in their last two meetings with the Yellow Jackets.
In Maryland's last trip to Atlanta (2003), the team scored just three points but still had its share of opportunities to come away with the win. The Terrapins had to turn to Joel Statham in the second quarter after Scott McBrien suffered a concussion and the team turned the ball over four times. The lone Tech score, a four-yard pass from Reggie Ball to Jonathan Smith, came after Ball had been hit and the ball floated to Smith for the winning score. The touchdown was set up by a Statham fumble that was recovered and returned to the Maryland 18-yard line.
Though the Terps have beaten Tech just five times in 17 meetings, they have won four of nine times when Friedgen is not a member of the Yellow Jacket coaching staff.
Though this week's meeting will be the fourth on the college gridiron for Ralph Friedgen and Chan Gailey, it will not mark just the fourth time they have been on opposite sides of the ball. The duo have been on opposing sidelines as assistant coaches in the NFL four times as Friedgen was an offensive coordinator with the Chargers and Gailey a receivers coach and offensive coordinator with the Steelers (each was on the winning team twice).
Quick Hits -- Week 4
The Florida International game was the Terps' last regular season game of 2006 against a non-conference opponent. Ralph Friedgen's record against non-conference opposition is now 19-6.
Maryland got on the board with a touchdown strike to a familiar face. Senior Josh Allen scored his first touchdown since tearing his ACL at the close of the 2004 season, a 14-yard reception from Sam Hollenbach on a screen pass. Allen's score was the third receiving touchdown and the 24th overall TD of his career.
The Terps second TD of the game came with 10 seconds remaining in the half, a five-yard completion on third down to Isaiah Williams. The TD was the second in as many games for Williams.
The Terrapins have held two opponents this season under 100 yards rushing and one under 100 yards passing, the same total it was able to accomplish in all of 2005.
Florida International's 89-yard touchdown -- its first score of the day -- from Josh Padrick to TE Samuel Smith was the longest scoring pass against the Terrapins since September 30, 1999.
Terps Own Nation's Longest Streak
In special teams coach Ray Rychleski's six years, Maryland has had two punters (Brooks Barnard and Adam Podlesh), two long snappers (Jon Condo and Andrew Schmitt) and zero blocked punts.
The Terrapins' streak of games without a blocked punt goes back 77 games, now the longest streak in college football.
The Terps have not had one blocked since November 13, 1999 (Florida State). That amount of time became the longest in NCAA football this past weekend when Georgia, which had one blocked earlier in the 1999 season, had a punt blocked by Ole Miss.
Turning The Tables
While the Terrapins are not yielding blocked punts, they are doing their best not to return the favor to their opposition.
In the last two years, the Terps have blocked four punts. They opened this season with a Josh Wilson block against William & Mary.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech heads into this week's game ranked in the nation's Top 25 and playing outstanding football. The Yellow Jackets (4-1, 2-0) are coming off of an impressive 38-27 thrashing of Virginia Tech.
It is not often an 11-point victory can be considered dominating, but that is exactly what the Jackets were able to do at Blacksburg last week. Just one season removed from losing 51-7 on the same field at Lane Stadium, Tech jumped out to a 21-0 lead not even 11 minutes into the game and never looked back.
WR Calvin Johnson is the Yellow Jackets' top player. Johnson has caught a pass in 29-straight games and leads the ACC in receptions per game (5.0) and receiving yards per game (85.2). Johnson accounted for 115 of the team's 176 receiving yards last week.
Phillip Wheeler has been one of the team's defensive leaders this season, ranking 10th in the ACC in tackles (7.0), first in sacks (0.8) and first in tackles for loss (1.8). His TFL average currently ranks eighth nationally.
As a team, the Jackets rank in the nation's Top 25 in three categories (rushing, scoring and pass efficiency). The efforts of punter Durrant Brooks also have Tech leading the league in net punting (39.4 avg.).
Georgia Tech's strength on offense, Johnson notwithstanding, lies in its running game. Tashard Choice is third in the league, averaging 72.8 yards per game, but he is not alone. Five Yellow Jacket players with 10 carries or more are averaging 4.0 yards or better per carry, with QB Reggie Ball (52 attempts, 231 yards) among them.
Though Georgia Tech has fumbled the ball this year seven times, it has lost just one fumble all season.
Tech Coach Chan Gailey
Chan Gailey is in his fifth year as the head coach at Georgia Tech. His 32-23 overall record is also his career record at the Division I-A level.
In his first four seasons with the Yellow Jackets, Gailey won seven games each year and took the team to bowl games each season.
Gailey took over the reins at Georgia Tech after two successful years as the offensive coordinator with the Miami Dolphins. That stint followed his first head coaching job in the NFL as he was at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys in 1998 and 1999.
Gailey compiled an 18-14 mark with the Cowboys, a job he took after working as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1994-97. In his four years in Pittsburgh, the Steelers were divisional champs all four years, appeared in the AFC championship game three times, and earned a berth in the Super Bowl once.
Gailey's first head coaching job came in 1983-84 when he led Troy State to a 19-5 record in two years and, ultimately, a Division II national championship in 1984. His other job at the college level was at Samford in 1993 where he went 5-6 before leaving to take the job with the Steelers as a wide receivers coach (he was later promoted to offensive coordinator).
A native of Gainesville, Ga., Gailey first made a name for himself in Gainesville, Fla., where he played QB for the Gators from 1971-73 and earned a bachelor's in physical education in 1974.
Select Company
Ralph Friedgen's 41 wins in his first five years as a head coach ranked tied for second in Atlantic Coast Conference history among coaches in their first five years. Three games into the 2006 season, Friedgen is already working his way up the charts for sixth-year ACC coaches.
Though he was the top second-, third- and fourth-year coach in ACC history by wins, Friedgen's win total after last season fell short of the mark of 44 wins set by Clemson's Danny Ford from 1979-83. That mark, however, tied him for second with former Terrapin great Jerry Claiborne (1972-76) on the list of fifth-year mentors.
Friedgen will need seven more wins this season to match the six-year ACC mark of Ford (51-15-2), a tall order with eight games remaining. His win against FIU, however, matched the win total of Clemson's Tommy Bowden (1986-91) and moved him into a tie for sixth on the list of coaches in year six.
Ironically, a win this weekend would move Friedgen into a tie for fifth with former Georgia Tech coach and good friend George O'Leary (1995-2000, 45-28-0).
New Old Faces
The loss of two experienced coordinators this past season left what would seem to have been a gap in experience on the Terrapin coaching staff. With Friedgen taking over at offensive coordinator and Chris Cosh on the defensive side, Maryland is far from green, however.
The Maryland staff (head coach and full time assistants), overall, possesses a combined total of 202 years of full-time experience at either the collegiate or pro levels.
That total includes seven coaches (Friedgen, Cosh, Brattan, Rychleski, Seamonson, Sollazzo and Zacharias) who have been at it for 20 years or more, and the 202 years means an average of over 20 years of experience per coach on the 2006 staff.
Only quarterbacks coach John Donovan (four years) has less than 10 years as a full-time assistant coach. Donovan's time around football is not quite so brief, however, as he spent four years at Georgia Tech as Friedgen's graduate assistant and four years with the Terps as an assistant recruiting coordinator.
Back in the Saddle
This season will be Ralph Friedgen's first coordinating the Maryland offense while also serving as head coach. Friedgen has not called offensive plays since leaving Georgia Tech in 2000.
In his last stint in college as a coordinator (1998-2000), Friedgen guided a Georgia Tech offense unit that averaged 36.7 points and 444 yards of total offense per game. During that span, the Yellow Jackets ran up a record of 27-8 (.771)
This run is Friedgen's second coordinating the Maryland offense as he served in the same role under head coach Bobby Ross from 1982-86. In his time with Ross at Maryland, Friedgen helped lead the Terps to three ACC Championships and was instrumental in the development of quarterbacks Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich and Stan Gelbaugh.
Tough Road
The Terrapins road back to a bowl game will be a challenging one as its schedule is one of the toughest in the nation this season. An initial look shows that the Terps play (or have played) just five teams ranked in this week's Top 25, but a second look proves that the midseason stretch -- which begins this week -- will be among the toughest in the nation.
Maryland has eight 2005 bowl teams on the its `06 slate.
Now through their non-conference slate this week, the Terps play two road games (at Georgia Tech and at rival Virginia) to open their ACC season. They returns home for homecoming against NC State; then a matchup against perennial power Florida State; then goes on the road to Death Valley and Clemson before returning home for its first game against Miami since 1987. The season ends at Boston College and then back home for Wake Forest, a team currently without a loss.
In his online column in the preseason, ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman ranked the Terps schedule as the 10th-toughest in college football this season.
Sam I Am
For just the second time in the last six years, Maryland has started a season with a returning starter at the quarterback position. And though the success Sam Hollenbach (pronounced HALL-en-bock) had a year ago is not that of Scott McBrien (the last QB to return as starter) in 2003, his experience and knowledge of Friedgen's offense suggests that he should be in for a big senior season.
Through four games this season, Hollenbach has yet to have a breakout performance but has more or less cut down on the mistakes that plagued him a year ago. In 2006, he is 61-of-105 (58 percent completions) for 661 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Hollenbach's career completion percentage heading into this week's game is 60 percent (275-of-457).
In the West Virginia game, Hollenbach moved into the Terps' career Top 10 for yards, surpassing some big names along the way. Now with 3,429 yards, Hollenbach has surpassed the career totals this year of Maryland greats Dick Shiner, Scott Zolak, Shaun Hill and Bob Avellini to move into the No. 9 position.
Hollenbach finished last season ranked in the top five of three Atlantic Coast Conference offensive categories. He was fifth in the league in pass efficiency (132.75), fourth in total offense 229.2 and second in passing yardage per game (230.8).
Hollenbach was the only returning ACC quarterback to rank in the top five in pass efficiency, total offense and passing yardage last year. The lone QB who achieved that feat along with him was the now-departed Charlie Whitehurst of Clemson.
Entering this week, Hollenbach is 9-6 in his career as a starter.
Terple Threat
Heading into last season, Maryland was -- for the first time since 2001 -- in search of a tailback. Mario Merrills, Lance Ball, Keon Lattimore and J.P. Humber were all vying for the job and midway through last season, no single back had been named the every day starter. A year later, the Terrapins are as deep and talented at tailback as any team in the ACC and the only issue at hand is splitting up the carries.
This year, the team has made regular use of Ball, and Lattimore while also mixing in veteran Josh Allen.
Four games into this season, the trio have rushed 128 times for 580 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and six touchdowns.
Still only a junior, Ball established himself as one of the league's top backs a year ago, rushing for 903 yards despite starting only four games. He was the ACC's third-leading rusher, doing so mostly behind his push later in the season. He rushed over 100 yards four times in the team's last seven games and was ultimately named second team All-ACC.
Ball currently leads the team in rushing with 276 yards on 60 carries (4.6 avg.). He is fifth in the ACC in rushing (69.0 ypg) and tied for fourth in scoring (7.5 ppg).
Junior Keon Lattimore missed spring recovering from a shoulder injury, but has returned and looks like a different player this season. He is second on the team in rushing (49 att., 255 yards, 1 TD) and ranks seventh in the ACC with a 63.8-yard average. His 5.2-yard average is tops on the team.
Now completely healed from an injury suffered in the final game of 2004, Josh Allen returns to give the Terps yet another threat. Allen enters this week ranked sixth on the school's all-time list for rushing touchdowns and moved into the career Top 10 for rushing yards with 1,909, ahead of legend Ed Modzelewski (1949-51).
O-Line Talented and Deep
Once a concern at Maryland, the Terps enter 2006 with likely the deepest and most talented offensive lines it has had under Ralph Friedgen.
The Terrapins returned four starters from a year ago (Jared Gaither, Andrew Crummey, Donnie Woods and Brandon Nixon), needing only to replace departed center Ryan McDonald, a one-year starter. Though Nixon will not play this year, the Terps will not miss a beat at tackle with the return of its top lineman from 2004, Stephon Heyer.
In addition to the returning starters, Maryland's depth and the competition level is even improved as Scott Burley, Jaimie Thomas and Dane Randolph all saw significant time last year and are talented enough to compete to be in the starting lineup. In short, the Terps are in good hands as 2006 opens.
In its first three games, the Terps yielded just two sacks but gave up four to FIU, dropping it from among the nation's leaders in sacks allowed.
Receivers Coming Along
In Vernon Davis, Danny Melendez, Jo Jo Walker and Derrick Fenner, Maryland lost 76 percent (160 of 210) of its receptions due to graduation or the NFL draft. It is not a mystery that players will have to step up in their absence.
The Maryland two-deep returned just one senior (Drew Weatherly) and no other players with the exception of special teams guru Greg Powell with any more experienced than a sophomore. What the team does have that it did not have even last year in its talented trio of wideouts is an abundance of physical talent.
The average height and weight of this year's top five receivers is 6-2, 203. In that group, the average time in the 40-yard dash in spring drills was 4.46 with Darrius Heyward-Bey and Isaiah Williams each sub-4.4.
Through four games, Maryland's top three wide receivers are all second-year players (Oquendo, Williams and Heyward-Bey). Its top overall pass-catcher is TE Joey Haynos (13 receptions), a first-year starter.
In game three (at West Virginia), the trio of Heyward-Bey, Williams and Oquendo accounted for eight more receptions (12) than they had in their collective careers prior to this year. Heyward-Bey and Williams each posted career highs in receptions and yards and Williams caught his first career touchdown, a 35-yarder.
Noting the Terp Defense
When he was hired to come to Maryland, the talk about the mark Ralph Friedgen would make in College Park was all about offense. For the majority of his tenure, however, the most consistent Terp unit has been the defense.
Since 2001, the Maryland defense has allowed an average of 19.0 points per game. The 2005 campaign was the team's first in that time finishing a season with a scoring average above 20.0.
Last year's defensive scoring average of 25.0 points per game is somewhat deceiving. The Terrapins gave up 42 points without the defense even being on the field (four interception returns, one punt return and one fumble return). Factor that in and the team averaged 21.1 points allowed per game, which would have ranked 26th-best in the nation as opposed to 55th.
Since 2001, 42 of Maryland's 65 opponents (65%) have been held to 20 points or less.
Since 2002, Maryland has held its opposition scoreless in 94 quarters (including seven in 2006).
Maryland has held nine opponents to 100 yards or less passing since 2001 (one in 2006).
Since `01, Maryland has held its opposition below 100 yards rushing 16 times. The Terps have accomplished the feat twice in `06 (William & Mary and FIU).
Just twice since game two of 2003 has a quarterback been able to pass for more than one touchdown against the Terrapins (Virginia Tech's Bryan Randall last year and Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst in week two of 2005).
Turnover Low in `06 and `07
Maryland had just 15 seniors on its roster last season, with two of those seniors -- OT Stephon Heyer and TB Josh Allen -- back in uniform this year after redshirting due to injury.
Only seven of those 15 seniors from last year were listed as starters (three offense, four defense).
Just four players from the entire defensive two-deep from last year were lost to graduation.
This season's team has a total of just 13 seniors.
LB Unit Home of the Hardware
Three of the last five years, the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year has been a Maryland linebacker. This season the Terps have had to replace last year's honoree after losing eventual NFL second-round pick D'Qwell Jackson (currently the Browns' third-leading tackler), so it may come as a shock that Maryland's linebacking corps may be better this season.
Focus this year has been on junior Wesley Jefferson as he is filling the spot where E.J. Henderson (2001 and 2002) and Jackson (2005) earned their hardware while also garnering national award attention at season's end. Jefferson -- who is currently seventh in the ACC in tackles with 7.8 per game -- has a deeper and possibly more talented surrounding cast than either All-American was afforded.
In game one of 2006, the Terps got eight players in at their four linebacker positions with four of the team's top five tacklers being linebackers. Between Jefferson, Dave Philistin, Erin Henderson and Trey Covington, 28 tackles, three TFLs and two sacks were accounted for.
Turtles in Name Only
The last two years, Maryland has seen an increased level of speed and athleticism among its players as the players on this years team have shown in offseason testing. (Last season was the first year that there were no remaining players from the previous regimes recruiting efforts).
The Terrapins had 14 players run in the 4.5-or-better range in the 40-yard dash in spring testing (note that all times are an average of six stopwatches on the same sprint).
Four of the 11 wide receivers who tested in the spring ran 4.44 or faster and six defensive backs ran under a 4.5.
Some notable times from players other than wideouts and corners who ran well include linebacker Dave Philistin (4.55), quarterback Josh Portis (4.53) and punter Adam Podlesh (4.44).
One other notable time, though it has as much to do with weight as it does speed, was the 4.83 time of 312-pound defensive tackle Dre Moore.
Podlesh Moving Up the Charts
Adam Podlesh is rated by NFL scouts as one of the top senior punting prospects this season. He has earned that distinction with as complete a resume as a punter can possess -- gross average, net average, directional punting and consistency -- and he has done it throughout his career at Maryland.
In four games this season, Podlesh is averaging an ACC-best 43.5 yards per punt on 15 attempts with eight balls inside the 20-yard line and three fair catches.
Podlesh is ranked 17th nationally in gross punt average this week. His net average of 37.7 is third-best in the ACC.
On 175 career punts, Podlesh has dropped 39 percent (68) inside the opponents' 20-yard line and 17 percent (30) inside the opposition's 10.
Podlesh has earned second-team All-ACC honors in each of his three years at Maryland. In each of those seasons, he was ranked just behind last year's Ray Guy Award winner Ryan Plackemeier of Wake Forest.
In being named the second team All-ACC punter in 2003, Podlesh became the first freshman in school history to be recognized by the league.
Heading into 2006, Podlesh's career average was ninth-best in ACC history and just a half-yard shy of Brooks Barnard's school record of 43.7.
Keeping Players at Home
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 eight years, the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia recruiting area has been tapped with regularity by the Terps. 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 to their current level of more than half the current roster.
The Terrapins' success in the region has been the foundation for the team's success in recent years. Friedgen credits the signing class which included Randy Starks and Domonique Foxworth for starting the trend that included such names as recent NFL Rookie of the Year Shawne Merriman and 2006 No. 6 overall draft pick Vernon Davis.
Iron Terps
Maryland's strength numbers over the course of the last six years have been off the charts. This season, 22 players earned "Iron Terp" status, an honor that is based on a player's strength index (determined by a strength/weight formula).
Team averages (in categories used to measure index) this season include an average bench press of 338 pounds; an average squat of 489 pounds; an average clean of 294 pounds; and an average vertical jump of 33-1/2 inches.
Not only were new individual records set, but the team as a whole improved dramatically, as 78 percent of the players on this year's team elevated their personal bests in strength index.
Nine different all-time records were set for players at their given position. Among those records were the 40-yard dash time of punter Adam Podlesh (4.44), the vertical jump of linebacker Rick Costa (42 inches) and the bench press of quarterback Jordan Steffy (355).
Arguably the most amazing record set was by offensive tackle Jared Gaither. At 6-9 and 350 pounds, Gaither posted a 36-inch vertical jump.
Local Ties
The Terps have four players from the state of Georgia. FB Tim Cesa (Kennesaw/Harrison HS), PK Obi Egekeze (Augusta/Westside HS), LB Barrod Heggs (Garden City/Groves HS) and OT Stephon Heyer (Lawrenceville/Brookwood HS) all call the Peach State home.
Though the most notable, Ralph Friedgen isn't the only member of the Terp coaching staff with ties to Georgia Tech. Defensive line coach Dave Sollazzo served as defensive tackles coach there from 1999-2000 and QBs coach John Donovan was Friedgen's GA with the Yellow Jackets from 1998-2001.
Yellow Jackett redshirt sophomore safety Tyler Barrett (Hagerstown/South Hagerstown HS) is the lone Tech player from the Free State.
Georgia Tech associate head coach/defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta was a graduate assistant at Maryland in 1983
ACC Football Power
Now in its second year as a 12-team conference with a championship game, the Atlantic Coast Conference is widely recognized as one of the premier conferences in college athletics.
Last season, eight ACC teams earned bowl bids.
The conference's schools have posted a 21-12 mark in postseason play in the last five years, best among all Division I-A conferences in that span.
With 10 of its 12 teams in the Sagarin ratings final top 45 last season, the ACC was ranked second among all conferences in the final Sagarin poll in 2005. Three of its schools were rated by Sagarin to have among the toughest 20 schedules in the country (UNC, 5th; Maryland, 10th; Georgia Tech, 16th).
A Look Back
Maryland has 43 wins in its five-plus seasons under Ralph Friedgen (in Friedgen's first five seasons, the team averaged 8.2 wins per season).
The Terps' total of 36 wins from 2001-04 was the second-highest four-year win total in school history. Maryland's top effort was 37 wins under Jerry Claiborne from 1975-78.
In the 108 years of football prior to Friedgen's arrival, Maryland had never put together three straight nine-win seasons. The Terrapins won 10 games in each of Friedgen's first three seasons (2001-2003).
Since 1892, Maryland has had seven 10-win seasons, three of which have come in Friedgen's five-plus years.
Protecting the House
Despite a sub-.500 record in 2005, the Terrapins are 27-7 at Byrd Stadium under Ralph Friedgen. The Terps are 3-0 at home this season.
The Terps finished the 2003 season with a perfect 6-0 record at home, marking the second time in three years that the team had finished its home slate unblemished.
In 113 previous seasons of football, Maryland has finished undefeated at home 19 times. Just eight of those occasions, however, have come since 1950 (when Byrd Stadium opened) and just three times has it happened since 1975 (`76, 2001 and `03).
The Terrapins' 6-0 mark in 2003 was a tie for the second-best record at home in school history. The 1976 team was also 6-0, only to be trumped by the 2001 team which won all of its games on a seven-game home slate.
More on Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium
Now in its 57th year of operation, Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium continues to serve as the home of the Terps. Opened on Sept. 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.
The Terrapins are 182-104-1 within the friendly confines of Byrd.
With temporary bleachers installed again this season, Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium can hold up to 51,500.
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.
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.
Dinner with the Turtles
Maryland football games are replayed on Comcast SportsNet every Sunday evening at 7:30 p.m. Fans can also tune in at 7:00 p.m. Sundays and catch the Ralph Friedgen Show.
Three times this season, the date and time will change for the show and replay -- William & Mary (Monday, 9/4, 7:00 p.m.); NC State (Tuesday, 10/24, 7:00 p.m.); and Miami (Tuesday, 11/14, 7:00 p.m.).
Fans can also see game highlights by tuning in to FridgeTV on the UMTerps.com website every week.
