Since Saturday I’ve been asked the same question over and over around the campus: “How many points do you think the football team’s gonna lose by Thursday night?”

Not even, “Do you think they have a chance?” It’s always been how many.

Why?

Does no one around here have any faith? Is it impossible to pull off an upset?

Sure the odds are stacked against the Terrapins tonight – in plenty of ways.

The program hasn’t won a road game against a top-5 team since 1950 (0-17 since then); it’s a nationally televised game on the road on a Thursday night (Last time that happened, Virginia Tech handed out a People’s Elbow and laid the smackdown on the Terps 55-6); and this team struggles against high-caliber opponents.

Yes, I realize West Virginia is a flat out better team. But there is still a reason to play the game, isn’t there?

Don’t write the Terps off tonight until they’re in a double-digit hole late in the second half. At least give the team a chance. Coach Ralph Friedgen is going to have some tricks up his sleeve, and frankly, he owns West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.

Since Friedgen took over here, he is 4-2 against Rodriguez. But it’s not so much the record as it is the scores. The four wins: 32-20, 48-17, 34-7, 41-7. That last victory came in the Gator Bowl, by the way. The two losses: 19-16 (OT), 31-19. And in both losses, West Virginia was favored to win, yet Friedgen still managed to stay close.

I’m looking forward to seeing Friedgen in his true form tonight – the so-called offensive genius. In the last two 5-6 seasons, the offensive game plan has been far from perfect. In the last two games, the game plan has been downright questionable.

Tonight, though, things will be different. Don’t think Friedgen hasn’t been preparing all offseason for this game.

It’s easy to predict a decided West Virginia victory like almost everyone seems to be doing. But it’s daring to think the Terps have any shot to win.

I have faith they can keep this game close and maybe pull out the upset of the 2006 season.

It’s just too bad no one else does.

Contact sports editor Andrew Zuckerman at sports@dbk.umd.edu.