Ten tombstones decorate the path the Terrapins football team takes before each practice.
The graveyard stands just outside the gate to the Terps’ practice field, with each slab representing a victory over a top-10 opponent.
No new victims have been claimed since 2007, when the Terps upset then-No. 8 Boston College in front of a raucous Byrd Stadium crowd.
Tomorrow, the Terps get an opportunity to add another when No. 8 Clemson comes to College Park.
“This is going to be the first chance I ever had to get a tombstone,” defensive tackle A.J. Francis said. “The last tombstone we got was my senior year in high school. I was at the game … and I was charging the field with the rest of the students.
“It was a good time, and I remember how crazy it was. It’s been too long since we had one.”
A win over the Tigers would have far more meaning than the symbolic reminder outside the team’s practice facility, though. While the Terps (2-3, 1-1 ACC) have struggled with consistency this season, they still control their own destiny in the ACC’s Atlantic Division.
At 1-1 in conference play, the Terps’ goal of a conference championship, remarkably, is still intact.
The first necessary step, though, is nothing short of a leap: beat Clemson (6-0, 3-0).
“I’d be a liar if I sat here and told you it’s not a big game,” Francis said. “They’re No. 1 in our division, and if you want to go to the conference championship, you’ve got to win your division. So the road goes through Clemson right now, so all the other games after Clemson don’t matter if you lose, because it doesn’t look like if we lose to them they’re going to lose anytime soon.”
That’s a tall order for a Terps team that hasn’t lived up to the hype it created in an exciting season-opening win over Miami.
Clemson has beaten three ranked opponents in its first six games, and coach Dabo Swinney seemingly has the Tigers primed for their first ACC Championship since 1991.
And with quarterback Tajh Boyd, who’s averaging 290 passing yards per game, almost certain to play after suffering a hip injury last weekend against Boston College, the Tigers will be a handful.
“We’re going to have our challenges,” coach Randy Edsall said Tuesday. “I’ve been very, very impressed watching him on film.”
Clemson flaunts a supremely athletic roster, an offense that can score in bunches and a defense that swarms the ball.
The Terps do, however, have history on their side. In recent years, the Tigers have earned a reputation for falling short of preseason expectations, and while the Terps have largely struggled during the same timeframe, they’ve enjoyed success against Clemson.
The team has won three of its past five meetings with the Tigers, including a 24-21 win during the Terps’ dismal 2-10 campaign in 2009. And although they’re 0-2 against nationally ranked teams this season, the Terps found themselves in a position to beat both No. 12 Georgia Tech and No. 13 West Virginia.
Now the Terps feel tomorrow’s game will give them an opportunity to finally get the signature victory that’s so far eluded them.
“We can play with anybody, and we know we can, so I think the key to upsets and the ability to pull them is the fact that you’ve got to believe you can beat the team you’re playing,” Francis said.
There’s no doubt the Terps will need their best effort if they expect an opportunity to stay in the race for an ACC crown — and if they want to see a new tombstone when they walk to practice next week.
“Who knows if I’ll ever be able to play another top-10 team again?” Francis said. “It’s cool that guys get to come back and take their kid to the practice field one day and say, ‘Yeah, see that tombstone? I played in that game.'”
cwalsh@umdbk.com
