Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
College Park, MD–
In a season of ups and downs, the Maryland Terps certainly had a lot of ups today against their very first match-up against Illinois, 63 of them to be exact. In a game that had teams of about even match-ups in the conference, they seems to dominate on all sides of the ball today from the opening kickoff, something we haven’t really seen since the victory over Texas in Week 1.
The 63 points are the most Maryland has scored in any conference football game ever. It’s a total that the Terps reached last year against Towson, but they haven’t dropped this many on an FBS opponent since 1954, when they beat Missouri 74-13.
The 712 yards, meanwhile, are Maryland’s most in a single game since at least 1982, according to the team. The school record is 802 yards, which came against Virginia in 1975. Maryland’s game notes include mentions of the last time the Terps went over 400 yards, 500 yards and 600 yards of offense, but doesn’t have a section for 700.
“I am extremely proud of our team effort today,” said Terps Head Coach Matt Canada. “There is something about the resilience of this team that came out today. We wanted to put last week behind us and prove that this team deserves to be recognized in the Big Ten.”
Whether the Terps have proven something after the lackluster Illinois offense showed, who knows, but it is a step in the right direction if the Terps really want to maintain the chance of getting to a bowl game this season.
For the Terps their next real test will come at Noon on Saturday as they face the Michigan State Spartans, who are buried right in the middle of the conference and are searching for their own answers. One more solid win for the Terps would guarantee a solid season by being bowl eligible.
