If the Terrapins football team’s 37-0 victory over West Virginia on Sept. 21 was about changing the perception of the program as a whole, the focus of Saturday’s matchup at Florida State should be on this year’s team and its ceiling.

Sure, a win against the No. 8 Seminoles would pay dividends for the No. 25 Terps’ recruiting efforts and energize their fan base, but the more relevant storyline this week revolves around the team’s first 4-0 start since 2001.

Saturday should be about players like quarterback C.J. Brown, who is building a solid reputation after missing all of last season with a torn ACL, or outside linebacker Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil, an unheralded recruit who has taken a winding path to find success in College Park.

The unassuming Terps proved they were legitimate the last time they hit the field, and a positive result Saturday would help the Terps build on that. More specifically, it would prove the Terps have the ability to contend on a national scale this season.

“People are still kind of wondering about us, if we were lucky or this, that or the other,” left guard De’onte Arnett said. “So yes, we are out to make a statement.”

If they do make that statement — and yes, it would be a shocker — nobody in College Park would be able to look past this season. The Terps would be 5-0 with only one ranked team, No. 3 Clemson, left on the schedule. They’d start to creep into the national title conversation.

Then the focus could shift to players like Brown, who aptly embodies this year’s motivated Terps team. Entering the season, many pundits believed coach Randy Edsall was leading a sputtering program, and they also criticized Brown for being a speedy signal-caller without an accurate arm.

But just as the Terps have shattered expectations through their first four games this year, Brown has started to convince the masses that he’s a well-rounded quarterback.

His numbers certainly speak to that: He’s completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 1,043 yards and has seven touchdowns against one interception.

Despite the hot start, Brown, like the Terps as a whole, seems to be overshadowed by Saturday’s counterpart. Florida State redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston has stolen headlines after a brilliant start to the season.

“Judging by C.J.’s numbers and his performance and his leadership and everything he does for the offense, I think that C.J. Brown is better,” Cudjoe-Virgil said. “But we’ll let everybody else speak on that.”

Cudjoe-Virgil knows a bit about being underestimated. The Trinidad native didn’t attract much attention from top-tier programs during his prep career at Baltimore County’s Towson High School and ended up at Division II Seton Hill.

After two years there, Cudjoe-Virgil gave up his scholarship to walk on with the Terps, and now he’s a key component on a surprisingly stifling defense.

The redshirt junior has racked up three sacks and 16 tackles and has helped the Terps rank second in the nation with 4.25 sacks per game.

Cudjoe-Virgil, along with the Terps, has a chance to display his progress against a national power like the Seminoles.

“It’s just another game,” Cudjoe-Virgil said. “Another chance to do something special.”

Let’s not lose sight of the Terps’ slim chances this week, though. The team has never won in Tallahassee, Fla., has lost six straight games to ranked opponents and will struggle to match Florida State’s size and athleticism at certain positions.

Plus, the Terps have developed a reputation over the past decade as a team that shrinks when the stage grows.

But this year’s Terps have taken on a theme of disregarding perception. They’ve been driven to show the past won’t define them.

Arnett summed it up Tuesday when asked if he knew the Terps were 0-11 in program history at Doak Campbell Stadium.

“Starting off this year, we haven’t won at Florida State yet, either,” he said. “We’re just looking to put one up for this year.”

Concern over expectations doesn’t fit the script of this year’s Terps. Saturday will provide them an opportunity to deliver their biggest stunner yet and vault into national prominence this year.

And for now, nothing else matters.

“It’s not even about the history thing,” inside linebacker Cole Farrand said. “We’re just thinking, ‘Why not?’ because we think we’re a great team, and we’re definitely going to be able to go down there and surprise some people.”