Terps Travel to West Virginia Saturday
9/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland football team travels to Morgantown, W. Va., for its first road game of the season Saturday as it faces West Virginia in the 52nd all-time meeting between the teams dating back to 1919.
Live Coverage
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 at 3 pmET. Justin Kutcher (pbp) and Petros Papadakis (color) will call the action. The game can also be heard on the Maryland Sports Radio Network with Johnny Holliday (pbp), Tim Strachan (color) and Scott McBrien (color) on the call. The game is also available on Sirius Radio channel 113, XM Radio channel 200 and SiriusXM channel 200.
Series History
West Virginia leads 27-22-2
Home: 11-13-1 / Away: 9-14-1
Neutral: 2-0
First Meeting: Oct. 18, 1919 / Home / L, 0-27
Last Meeting: Sept. 13, 2014/ Home / L, 37-40
Most points scored vs. West Virginia:
Overall & Home: 54 (54-7 win on Nov. 24, 1951)
Away: 48 (48-17 win on Oct. 5, 2002)
Most points given up vs. West Virginia:
Home: 42 (37-42 loss on Sept. 18, 1993)
Overall & Away: 55 (24-55 loss on Sept. 17, 1988)
Number of Shutouts:
Maryland: 5, West Virginia: 2
Largest Margin of Victory:
(47) 54-7 on Nov. 24, 1951
Largest Margin of Defeat:
(31) 24-55 on Sept. 17, 1988
A LIKELY STORY
After standout freshman and sophomore seasons in College Park, many wondered what junior cornerback and return specialist William Likely would do for an encore as a junior in 2015. He quickly answered, gobbling up a Big Ten record 233 punt return yards in the season-opener against Richmond before running back his second punt return for a touchdown in as many weeks agaisnt Bowling Green. Likely has 337 punt return yards through three games, placing him sixth on the program's single-season chart. He was named aBig Ten Specialist of the Week for his efforts against Richmond, and has twice been named to the Paul Hornung Watch List (Week 1, Week 3).
Likely's Maryland Records:
- Single-game punt return yards (233 vs. Richmond, 9/5/15) - also a Big Ten record
- Single-season interception return yards (170 - 2014)
- Single-season interceptions returned for TD (2 - 2014)
- Single-game kickoff return yards (228 vs. Michigan State, 11/15/14)
- Co-single-season yards per kick return (31.0, 2014)
- Co-longest kickoff return (100 yds vs. Stanford, 12/30/14)
- Career yards per kickoff return (28.0, 2013-pres.)
- Career yards per punt return (16.2, 2013-pres.)
On The Offense
TERPS ON THE RUN
- The Maryland rushing attack is averaging 203.7 yards per game, due in large part to its ability to pick up large chunks at a time. Through three games in 2015, the Terps are averaging 5.8 yards per carry.
- Senior Brandon Ross passed Mark Mason to move into 15th on Maryland's all-time rushing list, and currently has 1,813 yards.
- True freshman Ty Johnson offered some respite to Ross on the ground, posting 30 yards on 10 carries agaisnt USF.
ROWE IGNITES AERIAL ATTACK
- Redshirt junior quarterback Caleb Rowe did not disapoint against USF in his first start since 2013, passing for four touchdowns and 297 yards.
- Rowe's four touchdown passes were a career-high as he became the first Maryland quarterback to accomplish the feat since Danny O'Brien against NC State on Nov. 27, 2010.
- Rowe found nine different receivers against USF, including a pair of touchdown passes to true freshman Avery Edwards - the first and second career scores for the tight end.
JACOBS BROTHERS SHINE
- Brothers Levern and Taivon Jacobs combined for 10 catches and 189 yards in the victory against USF.
- Levern Jacobs was tremendous against the Bulls, collecting eight passes for 107 yards. It was his third career 100-yard receiving performance.
- Taivon Jacobs caught his first career touchdown pass against USF, as he received a 70-yard pass from Caleb Rowe.
O-LINE CONSISTENCY
- Maryland features strong consistency on the offensive line, specifically on its flanks with tackles Michael Dunn and Ryan Doyle and guard Andrew Zeller. The trio has combined 81 starts over their careers along the offensive line.
- Dunn, a former walk-on, leads the offense with 29 consecutive starts after starting every game since the start of the 2013 season.
- The Terps have started the same front-5 in all three games in 2015.
On The Defense
GETTING TO THE QB
- The Maryland defense has racked up 14.0 sacks through its first two games, ranking second in the nation and first in the Big Ten.
- The Terps totaled 6.0 sacks against USF - the most since notching 7.0 against Virginia Tech on Nov. 17, 2013.
- Junior defensive end Yannick Ngakoue is fifth nationally and second in the Big Ten with 1.5 sacks/g, while Quniton Jefferson is sixth in the Big Ten with 1.5 TFL/g.
- The duo has combined for more sacks (8.0) than any other duo in the Big Ten Conference.
TACKLE MACHINES
- Sophomore linebacker Jermaine Carter, Jr., and senior cornerback Sean Davis are the best tackling duo in the Big Ten Conference, combining for 60 tackles through three games.
- Carter and Davis have each posted 6.7 solo tackles per game - sharing the Big Ten lead.
- Carter ranks third in the Big Ten with 10.7 overall tackles per game, while Davis is fourth with 9.3 tackles.
EXPERIENCED SECONDARY
- Maryland's secondary has tremendous experience, featuring five players that have combined for 106 career starts: Sean Davis, A.J. Hendy, Alvin Hill, William Likely and Anthony Nixon.
- William Likely ranks third in the Big Ten with 1.7 pass breakups/game.
- Sean Davis leads the nation with three forced fumbles, having posted one in every game this season. He also intercepted two passes against USF.
MEDIA INFORMATION
For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please log-on to www.umterps.com on the Internet.
-Maryland-
