A Rivalry Reignited: Maryland Takes on West Virginia in Border Battle

One of Maryland football’s biggest rivalries has laid dormant for the past six years. The rivalry that evokes the passion and intensity of a true blood feud: the Mountaineers of West Virginia. 

“West Virginia is one of our greatest rivalries going back decades,” Maryland head coach Michael Locksley said. “This is a great opportunity for us to not only play them but to open our season against them. I know our fans are excited about it.”

First meeting in 1919, Maryland and West Virginia met sporadically from then until 1977 with both programs taking home considerable bragging rights.

The sporadic nature of the rivalry came to an end in 1980 when the two border rivals played for 28 consecutive seasons. The two schools took a two-year hiatus in 2008 and 2009 (Maryland played California, while West Virginia scheduled Colorado).

But the two schools resumed playing against one another for six seasons from 2010-15, including memorable meetings in 2013 at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium (the first-ever regular-season neutral site game between the two) and the 2014 “Star Spangled” game at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.

The last meeting in 2015 came in Morgantown where West Virginia took control early and cruised to a 45-6 victory, one that Terps fans were left to sit on for six long years. 

The two teams were scheduled to play on September 19th, 2020 in West Virginia but the Big Ten’s announcement that their teams would only play in-conference opponents put the series on hold for another year. 

Fast forward a year and the two teams will finally meet again with Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium at full capacity for fans.

1980 - Maryland 14, West Virginia 11

MORGANTOWN, WV - Charlie Wysocki rushed for 149 yards and scored both of Maryland's touchdowns to lead the Terrapins to a 14-11 victory over the Oliver Luck-led Mountaineers in Morgantown.

Wysocki scored the game-deciding touchdown on a 6-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

The Maryland defense, which limited Luck to 206 yards passing, allowed its first touchdown of the season late in the fourth, but held the Mountaineers to their second-lowest scoring output of the season.

There will be a swell of emotion that’ll overcome Locksley and his players as this past year has been trying for them as they’ve been working to build the program back up. For Locksley, there’s no better first game of the season than this old foe. 

“Back in the day West Virginia was always one of the games we circled,” Locksley said. “They always brought out the best in us and I don’t expect that to change. They’re a really good team and it’s going to be a great test.”

Locksley is a veteran of this rivalry as he’s been an assistant coach on several Maryland coaching staffs that have beaten West Virginia, including the 2004 team that upended the Mountaineers in the Gator Bowl. 

The Terps shined brighter than the Florida sun that New Year's Day in Jacksonville as the team dominated West Virginia 41-7 thanks to performances by quarterback Scott McBrien and wide receiver Steve Suter. 

McBrien was no stranger to West Virginia as he was a member of the Mountaineer team from 1999-2000. After redshirting the 1999 season he played in 10 games with one start in 2000.

Dismayed by a coaching change, the Maryland native decided to come home and transfer to the Terps where he immediately took the reins of the team. 

“I’m from Maryland and grew up a Terps fan,” McBrien said. “When I decided to transfer from West Virginia and Maryland became a possibility, I knew what I had to do. It was the best thing for me to do.”

McBrien earned the starting job in 2002, started all 14 games for the Terps with one of them being a much-anticipated return to Morgantown. 

When McBrien, Suter, and a few other players took the field for warmups, Suter couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Mountaineers fans. 

“They were saying all kinds of disgusting things to Scott,” Suter said. “Really deeply personal things that were just really unnecessary and honestly just really mean. He was a kid who wanted to go to a different school. It wasn’t that serious.”

The quarterback didn’t let it get to him though as he tried to block out the negativity coming from the opposing student section. Despite the hostile crowd, McBrien led his new team and new family to a 48-17 shellacking. 

“It’s one of the best games I was ever a part of,” McBrien said. “I had no animosity towards those players because I knew all of them and they were like brothers to me too. But it was definitely nice to show that coaching staff that they let a good one get away.”

1999 - Maryland 33, West Virginia 0

COLLEGE PARK - Lamont Jordan rushed for a then-career best 169 yards and a touchdown in Maryland's 33-0 shutout of West Virginia at Byrd Stadium.

The high-powered Mountaineer offense was limited to just 249 yards of total offense and quarterback Marc Bulger was picked off four times and by the Terrapin defense.

With Jordan running at will, Maryland quarterback Calvin McCall was efficient in the pocket for the Terps, completing 11-of-19 pass attempts with a pair of touchdowns.

The following year, McBrien was able to exact his revenge two-fold. After starting 1-2 and with the hopes of the team a little down, the Terps welcomed the Mountaineers into their home stadium and didn’t hold back on them. 

Maryland blew West Virginia out by a score of 34-7 with the Mountaineers only score coming late with the game firmly out of reach. This win sparked a big run by the Terps where they won seven of their final eight games with a rematch against West Virginia set for the Gator Bowl. 

With Maryland already up 10-0 early in the second quarter, Suter lined up deep for a punt return and it would soon become the spark that ignited the blowout. 

The speedy returner caught the ball and after a series of cuts, left the Mountaineers in the dust as he sprinted down the opposing sideline and into the endzone. 

“My father was actually sick so my parents couldn’t make the trip,” Suter said. “As much as I wish I could say that touchdown was about shoving it into West Virginia’s faces, I was more just thinking about my dad.”

This fall Suter will return to Maryland as the new color analyst for the Maryland Sports Radio Network football alongside 43-year play-by-play man and Maryland athletics Hall of Famer, Johnny Holliday. 

Suter is excited to come home and be close to the team and is even more excited that his first game in the booth will be such a meaningful one. 

“I’m going to be bouncing off of the walls,” Suter said with a laugh. “Johnny Holliday is probably going to have to tell me to take some breaths and tell me to relax but I don’t know if it’ll work. The West Virginia rivalry meant a lot to me as a player so it’ll be cool to have my first game in the booth be against them.”

2001 - Maryland 32, West Virginia 20

COLLEGE PARK - Butkus Award winner E.J. Henderson led a smothering Maryland defense with 18 total tackles en route to a 32-20 victory over the Mountaineers at Byrd Stadium.

The Terrapin defense terrorized the Mountaineers all game forcing six turnovers (four interceptions & two fumbles lost).

Bruce Perry led the Terps offense with 153 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Shawn Hill threw for a score and ran for another.

The victory was the first of four straight in the series for Maryland, which had lost four of the previous five meetings with WVU.

The rivalry also means a lot to Locksley, and while he’s trying to instill the gravity of it to his players who didn’t grow up with the feud, he also wants it to be an organic situation where the players can feel it for themselves. 

Even with local-born players like Dontay Demus Jr. and Rakim Jarrett not feeling the intensity of the rivalry, Locksley expects it to hit them when they run out of the tunnel and see the passion firsthand. 

“It’s definitely more of a rivalry to people like me and our fans than it is to our players right now,” Locksley said. “The atmosphere will be great and will suck people in. After kickoff we’ve just got to settle in and just play football.”

2013 - Maryland 37, West Virginia 0

BALTIMORE - A.J. Hendy scored on a 28-yard interception return and recovered two fumbles as unbeaten Maryland forced six turnovers in a surprisingly easy 37-0 victory over West Virginia on Saturday.

C.J. Brown rushed for a touchdown and passed for a score to help Maryland end a seven-game losing streak against its border rivals. It was the Terrapins' most lopsided win in the series since a 54-7 blowout in 1951.

Brown and the offense played well, but the defense did most of the damage. Not only did Hendy score, but Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil picked off a pass near the West Virginia goal line to set up another touchdown. The Terrapins also recovered four fumbles.