Defensive linemen Jesse Aniebonam and Roman Braglio celebrate a sack during the Terps’ 35-17 win over USF at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium on Sept. 19.
Roman Braglio has seen the West Virginia fan websites that mockingly compare Terrapins football players to celebrities, cartoon characters and athletes. He knows that the 60,000 Mountaineers fans packed into Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday will be pining for a Terps loss.
And the defensive end remembers how the Terps’ most recent bout with their border-state rival ended. Braglio watched from the sideline as West Virginia kicker Josh Lambert’s 47-yard game-winner sailed through the uprights at Byrd Stadium last September.
“You kind of watch them run out on the field, and you sit there and watch,” Braglio said. “There’s nothing else you can do. Time’s up.”
During the week, coach Randy Edsall downplayed the Terps’ quest for revenge after last year’s heartbreaker, pointing out that this season’s squad differs from the 2014 group. Yet as Braglio reflected on the past, he seemed eager about Saturday’s contest.
“Now it’s our time,” Braglio said. “Now it’s our time to go take that victory back.”
The Terps and Mountaineers have met 51 times since 1919, and the two teams often compete for the same local high school talent.
But the Terps (2-1) haven’t traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia, since 2012, so linebacker Jefferson Ashiru told his teammates what to expect from the rowdy environment. The Connecticut transfer was a redshirt freshman when the Huskies traveled to play the Mountaineers (2-0) in 2011.
“He said he had played them when [former West Virginia outside linebacker] Bruce Irvin was still there,” linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. said. “And every time Bruce Irvin made a play, that whole crowd was yelling ‘Bruce.’”
Edsall did his best to replicate the raucous environment this week, blaring simulated crowd noise during practice. Saturday marks the Terps’ first road game of the season, after they captured five of their seven wins last year away from College Park.
“Anytime you go on the road, it creates an us-against-the-world mentality,” offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said.
Last year’s loss was a product of a larger theme: the Terps’ inability to contain spread offenses. First-year defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski’s 4-3 scheme didn’t seem to help the Terps’ efficiency against Bowling Green on Sept. 12. The Falcons compiled 692 yards on 105 offensive plays and handed the Terps a 48-27 defeat. Plus, when the Terps met West Virginia last year, the Mountaineers scored 28 of the game’s first 34 points.
The Terps came all the way back, though, tying the game at 37 in the fourth quarter before Lambert’s field goal secured a Mountaineers victory. They also have confidence in this year’s offense to match a West Virginia attack that has scored more than 40 points in each of its first two games.
Wide receiver Taivon Jacobs, who recorded a 70-yard catch for his first career touchdown last week in the Terps’ 35-17 win over South Florida, expressed confidence in quarterback Caleb Rowe. The 6-foot-3 signal caller threw for four scores against the Bulls, the most since quarterback Danny O’Brien in 2010.
“We was injured together in the offseason last year,” Jacobs said. “We was in treatment together, so our bond got stronger.”
Before last year’s thriller, the Terps captured a 37-0 rout over the Mountaineers in 2013. But when Bovada Sportsbook released the spread for Saturday’s game, it listed the Mountaineers as 17-point favorites.
Edsall’s bunch knows they are considered the underdogs, and they know the West Virginia crowd is going to be loud. Jacobs said it’s the Terps’ job to be ready.
“They’re going to come out and try to hit us in the mouth,” Jacobs said. “And we got to be able to retaliate. We going to their hometown and their home field. They’re not going to let us just come out there and take an easy win.”
