Coach John Tillman yells out a play during the Terps’ 11-4 win over Princeton at Byrd Stadium on March 7, 2015.

Forty-one years ago, midfielder Frank Urso, attackman Mike Hynes and coach Bud Beardmore led the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team to the brink of capturing its second consecutive NCAA Championship over Johns Hopkins. But after winning the program’s first national title in 1973, the Terps fell to the Blue Jays, 17-12.

The next time the two teams faced each other in the finals was in 1979, when Johns Hopkins topped the Terps, but the teams have met every year since in what has become a fierce intrastate rivalry. The programs have a combined 78 NCAA tournament appearances between them.

So several lacrosse pundits said they aren’t surprised the complexion of the Big Ten tournament will be shaped by the game’s outcome. The Terps can clinch sole possession of the regular-season title with a win, while the Blue Jays can clinch a share.

Still, some analysts agreed the success of the new Big Ten lacrosse conference isn’t dependent on the two powerhouse programs.

“It’s less contingent on [the Terps and Blue Jays] as it is contingent on the other teams to ramp up their programs,” ESPN’s Quint Kessenich said in a phone interview. “Maryland and Hopkins have established a certain national credence. I don’t think anyone else in the league has.”

While the Terps and Johns Hopkins have accounted for 11 total national championships, the other four conference teams — Ohio State, Michigan, Rutgers and Penn State — don’t have any.

Only Rutgers and Ohio State have earned NCAA quarterfinals berths, and Michigan wasn’t recognized as a Division I program until 2011 after playing at the club level for several years.

The Buckeyes have enjoyed the most success of the group in the conference’s inaugural campaign with a 10-4 mark entering their regular-season finale at Rutgers on Saturday.

“[Ohio State Athletic Director] Gene Smith is committed to building a top-10 lacrosse program,” Kessenich said. “He’s really dialed in to what it’s going to take to win. … It’s just a matter of time before Ohio State is a perennial top-10 team.“

Kessenich said the Big Ten has the best opportunity to challenge the ACC as the country’s premier lacrosse conference. Between Syracuse, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Virginia, the ACC boasts 23 national titles.

Edward Lee of The Baltimore Sun said “the infrastructure is there” for the Big Ten to become one of the top conferences in the nation and said the programs are going to funnel money into improving their facilities in an effort to attract more highly touted recruits.

Plus, the Big Ten Network has put significant emphasis on lacrosse this season. On April 12, the network revealed an hourlong documentary called Big Ten Close Up, which detailed the Terps’ and Nittany Lions’ preparation for their game on April 4.

“[The Big Ten is] not there yet, but because of the commitment with schools, like I said, of Ohio State, Maryland’s not going to back down. Hopkins is going to continue to try hard,” Kessenich said. “There’s a chance that they can reel in the ACC. But the ACC has better teams right now.”

Not everyone thinks the Big Ten has a legitimate chance for serious growth, though. Inside Lacrosse’s Geoff Shannon said Rutgers, Michigan and Penn State might have trouble attracting better recruits.

“You go to the Penn State campus, and you realize football is king. And lacrosse players know that. They know that they are the low men on the totem pole,” Shannon said in a phone interview. “You go to Loyola University, you go to Hopkins, you’re the top men on the totem pole.

“A lot of these guys come from private schools. They come from northeastern communities. They like that private university system. They like being the top man culturally on the totem pole. You’re not going to get that at a Big Ten school.”

When the Terps and the Blue Jays take the field for the 105th time, they’ll spend halftime honoring Urso, Hynes, Beardmore and more than 30 other players, coaches and managers from the 1975 title team.

While the programs will spend some time recognizing the rivalry’s rich history, they will have a chance Saturday to script the start of a new narrative in their first meeting as conference foes.

“It’s paramount that [the Terps and Blue Jays] are competitive on a national championship level,” Shannon said.