Terps Welcome Bowling Green Saturday
9/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Fresh off the heels of a commanding 50-21 opening day win against Richmond, Maryland welcomes Bowling Green to Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium Saturday at noon. The first meeting in history between the schools will be televised live on Big Ten Network.
Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between Maryland and Bowling Green, despite more than 200 years of combined football history between the programs.
Live Coverage
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network and streamed live on BTN2Go at Noon ET. Joe Beninati (pbp) and Scott McBrien (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 Steve Suter (sideline) on the call. The game can also be heard on Sirius Radio channel 145, XM Radio channel 201 and SiriusXM channel 201.
Series History
First all-time meeting.
A LIKELY STORY
After standout freshman and sophomore seasons in College Park, many wonderded 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. The mark placed him 12th on the Maryland single-season chart in just one game. He was named to the Paul Hornung Week One Honor Roll and also Big Ten Specialist of the Week for his efforts.
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.
On The Offense
TERPS ON THE RUN
- After a dissapointing 2014 season rushing the football, Maryland refocused its efforts in the offseason and displayed its hard work by running for 341 yards against Richmond - its highest output in 13 years.
- The Terps rushed 45 times against Richmond, and were only stopped in the backfield one time.
- Maryland averaged 7.6 yards/carry against Richmond, and seemed to get stronger throughout the game. The Terps ran for 56 yards in the first quarter and 86 yards in the second, before posting 93 yards in the third and 106 in the fourth.
- Senior Brandon Ross is tied for 12th in school history with an average of 4.90 yards/carry. He averaged 8.3 yards against Richmond.
- True freshman running back Ty Johnson brought a change of pace late in the game against Richmond, running for 83 yards on 10 carries.
- Junior Wes Brown found the endzone for the seventh time in his last nine games against Richmond.
HILLS STEADIES OFFENSE
- Junior quarterback Perry Hills started his first game since 2012 against Richmond last Saturday, leading the Terps to a sound 50-21 victory.
- After a 3-for-7 start to the game, Hills settled down in the second quarter to complete 7-of-11 passes with a touchdown.
- Hills also ran the ball three times for a career-high 25 yards, averaging 8.3 yards per carry.
O-LINE IMPRESSES vs. RICHMOND
- 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 75 starts over their careers along the offensive line.
- Dunn, a former walk-on, leads the offense with 27 consecutive starts after starting every game since the start of the 2013 season.
- The offensive line helped Maryland run for 341 yards against Richmond - the most since 2002 against North Carolina.
On The Defense
STOPPING THE RUN
- The Maryland defense returned just one starter to its front seven in 2015, presenting question marks around the Terrapins' ability to stop the run.
- The question was answered temporarily against Richmond when the Terps held the Spiders to just 56 yards on the ground.
- Featuring its new 4-3 defensive base, the Terps lined up Roman Braglio, Quinton Jefferson, David Shaw and Yannick Ngakoue across the line.
- In his first game action since September 13, 2014 against West Virginia, Jefferson led the Terps with 2.5 tackles for loss (17 yards) and a pair of sacks.
- In the linebacking corps, sophomore Jermaine Carter, Jr., led the team with a career-high eight tackles in his first career start.
NO FLY ZONE
- Maryland's secondary is a force to be reckoned with this season, as it features five players that have combined for 98 career starts: Sean Davis, A.J. Hendy, Alvin Hill, William Likely and Anthony Nixon.
- Davis had a successful debut at cornerback (moving from safety), posting five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
- Likely led the team with a pair of pass breakups to go along with his four tackles.
- Hendy totaled five solo tackles in his first start since Nov. 9, 2013, against Syracuse.
AUTO-CRADDOCK
Senior place kicker Brad Craddock pieced together one of the best seasons in program history in 2014 en route to claiming the Lou Groza Award for the country's most outstanding place kicker. Craddock booted the longest field goal in team history (57 yds. vs. Ohio State) and made 18-of-19 field goals, as he was named an Associated Press All-American and was selected First Team All-Big Ten. Craddock currently holds at least a share of four Maryland records, including a consecutive made field goal streak of 24 that stretched from 2013 to 2014.
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.
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