Maryland knows that anything goes at WVU
Maryland linebacker Adrian Moten will never forget his first road trip as a college football player. When the bus pulled up to Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, W.Va., the Terrapins were greeted by a familiar figure.
“A clone that looked like Ralph Friedgen,” Moten said. “He was standing there with headsets and everything.”
The man wasn’t a Maryland fan.
“He was calling coach Friedgen some crazy things,” Moten said. “I’m a [redshirted] freshman, this is my first away game. I was like, my head was spinning.”
Saturday afternoon when Maryland (2-0) and No. 22 West Virginia (2-0) resume their rivalry after a two-year hiatus, the Terps can expect coach impersonators and much more in one of the most raucous venues in college football.
“Their crowd’s out of control,” said senior linebacker Alex Wujciak, also a freshman with Moten in 2006. “We got there, and there were lines of people waiting to boo us.”
That night remains a literal blur to the Terrapins. In an ESPN Thursday game, West Virginia sprinted to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter on its way to a 45-24 victory. It was the Mountaineers’ third of four straight wins over the Terps from 2004-07. West Virginia outrushed Maryland during the streak 1,214 yards to 448.
Maryland is intent on making sure this game doesn’t turn into a track meet. It won’t be easy. West Virginia boasts two of the fastest players in the nation — senior running back Noel Devine and sophomore wideout Tavon Austin. As a freshman in 2007, Devine torched the Terps for 136 yards on five carries in a 31-14 victory in College Park.
A victory would chart a promising course for the Terps after last year’s 2-10 freefall. It also would represent a new beginning for Friedgen, who once owned the Mountaineers, winning the first four meetings by a combined 160-41.
“The more we win, the bigger the games get,” Friedgen said. “We’ll learn a lot about who we are after this game.”
It’s been almost two years since Maryland won on the road. After a 20-17 victory at Clemson in Sept. 2008, the Terps have lost eight straight in hostile stadiums.
If they can handle Morgantown, however, they might be able to deal with anything on their schedule.
“You gotta have a lot of composure and a lot of discipline, especially going down there. The crowd is gonna be like crazy,” Moten said. “I’m just very excited to be in a game like this.”
