No. 18 West Virginia Mountaineers at Maryland Terrapins (-1), Total 54.5 |
West Virginia is set to play its first road game of the season when facing off in a non-conference contest against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
This will be the 48th meeting between the two schools and the Mountaineers own a slight edge, 24-21-2, including wins in five straight.
The team is also familiar in facing new Maryland head coach Randy Edsall, posting a 6-1 record against him while he was the lead man at Connecticut. West Virginia’s lone loss in that series came in a 16-13 overtime defeat in East Hartford last year.
First-year head coach Dana Hologorsen has had to depend upon quarterback Geno Smith a lot in the first two weeks, including a second half comeback against lowly Norfolk State last week.
“We haven’t started well in two weeks,” Holgorsen stated. “When you’re on the road you’ve got to start fast.”
Smith threw for a career-high 371 yards and four touchdowns last week, as the team still looks for a running back to replace the departed Noel Devine. West Virginia has gained just 144 yards on the ground in 59 carries this season.
Twelve Mountaineers have earned their first career starts this season, while 21 have seen their first sort of action in uniform.
Offensively, the team is still averaging 6.1 yards a play and 44.5 points a contest.
West Virginia is 6-2 ATS as a road underdog of three points or less, but a dismal 8-20 ATS when facing ACC opponents.
Maryland enjoyed an off week after tallying a 32-24 win over Miami, FL as four-point home favorites on Labor Day in front of a nationally-televised audience. The Terrapins have a quality signal-caller that Edsall is proud to have in his first year in College Park.
“He spreads the ball out well to everyone,” he said after the game. “He was very good when he couldn’t get it to his first receiver.”
Quarterback Danny O’Brient, the 2010 ACC Rookie of the Year, completed 31 of 44 passes for 348 yards, the second-highest passing total of his career against the Hurricanes in the opener.
Defensively, the team brought back seven starters from a unit that allowed 22.2 points a game, which was 38th nationally in 2010.
Revenge will be on the minds of the entire team after dropping a 31-17 contest in last year’s meeting as 10-point road underdogs. The Terrapins were out-gained by 260 yards in the contest.
Maryland is 6-3 ATS as a favorite over the last two-plus seasons and the ‘over’ is 6-2 in that span in betting prediction.
