Asked Tuesday about a Big Ten matchup with No. 1 Oregon, Maryland football coach Mike Locksley replied in part, “This league has had a lot of No. 1 teams in the country over the course of the season.”
That might be true, but Saturday’s game at 7 p.m. at Autzen Stadium in Eugene will mark only the third time in the past decade that the Terps will clash with a top-ranked opponent. In their history, they have participated in only seven games involving a No. 1 team.
The program is only 2-5 in those matchups and has dropped five in a row. Saturday looms as a prime opportunity for Maryland (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) to reverse that trend in its first-ever meeting against the Ducks (9-0, 6-0).
Here is a brief trip down Memory Lane on the Terps’ previous meetings with top-ranked opponents:
Jan. 2, 1952: No. 3 Maryland 28, No. 1 Tennessee 13
Helmed by coach Jim Tatum, the Terps — who opened the season ranked No. 16 — ran through the Southern Conference with a 5-0 league record and a 9-0 overall mark. They shut out LSU, Missouri and North Carolina State by a combined score of 115-0.
Their reward was a Sugar Bowl matchup with the Volunteers, who went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country. They were led by halfback Hank Lauricella, who would be voted first runner-up to eventual Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier of Princeton.
Halfback Ed Fullerton rushed for one touchdown and threw for another score as Maryland built a 21-0 advantage in the second quarter. Tennessee scored a touchdown to trail, 21-6, at halftime, but Fullerton returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown to cement the win.
Despite the result, the Volunteers were anointed national champions at a time when final polls were announced before the postseason.
Sept. 24, 1955: No. 5 Maryland 7, No. 1 UCLA 0
A week after edging unranked Missouri, 13-12, in the season opener, the Terps were mired in another defensive battle with the Bruins, who shared the 1954 national championship with Ohio State.
UCLA was held to minus-21 rushing yards, and linebacker Bob Pellegrini intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble to ignite Maryland’s defensive efforts. The Terps pounced on two of three fumbles by the Bruins.
On fourth-and-1 at UCLA’s 17-yard line, quarterback Frank Tamburello outsmarted a Bruins defense expecting a sneak by pitching the ball to halfback Ed Vereb, who raced around the right end to score the game’s only touchdown on the opening series of the second half.
Maryland did not allow UCLA to advance inside the Terps’ 47 throughout the second half and stonewalled the Bruins at their own 31 for the entirety of the fourth quarter. UCLA was shut out for the first time since 1950.
Jan. 2, 1956: No. 1 Oklahoma 20, No. 3 Maryland 6
Tatum guided the Terps — who shared the Atlantic Coast Conference title with Duke — to a 10-0 regular season, and the team occupied the top spot in the polls for four weeks. Their path to the Orange Bowl paired them with the Sooners, who had stunned Maryland, 7-0, in the 1954 Orange Bowl when Oklahoma was No. 4 and the Terps were No. 1.
Maryland took a 6-0 lead into halftime on a 15-yard touchdown run by halfback Ed Vereb. But the Sooners scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second half, including an 82-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive end Carl Dodd.
The outcome further validated Oklahoma’s ascension as national champion, which was again announced before the bowl game. After that loss, Tatum left the Terps to coach his alma mater, North Carolina, and the program did not make another appearance in a bowl game until Dec. 28, 1973.
Nov. 6, 1993: No. 1 Florida State 49, Maryland 20
Anchored by backup quarterback Danny Kanell on offense and linebacker Derrick Brooks on defense, the Seminoles churned out a 21-13 lead at halftime and then outscored Terps, 21-7, in the third quarter to pull away. Kanell threw for 341 yards and five touchdowns in place of eventual Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, who had injured his ribs the week before against Wake Forest.
There were a few bright spots for Maryland, which gained 453 yards of offense (313 passing and 140 rushing), scored the most points against Florida State’s defense until that point and might have scored more if the offense had converted two fourth-down attempts inside the Seminoles’ 10-yard line.
The following week, the Seminoles lost to No. 2 Notre Dame, 31-24, but rebounded in time to defeat Nebraska, 18-16, in the Orange Bowl for the school’s first of three national championships.
Nov. 13, 1999: No. 1 Florida State 49, Maryland 10
The Seminoles had trailed in each of their previous four wins. They found the perfect antidote in the Terps.
Quarterback Chris Weinke, who was 27 years old at the time, threw for 304 yards and six touchdowns, including three to wide receiver Peter Warrick. Weinke tossed four touchdown passes in the first half and was pulled from the game after the third quarter.
Warrick caught nine passes for 134 yards. His 3,427 receiving yards pushed him past NC State’s Torry Holt as the ACC’s all-time leader.
Running back LaMont Jordan rushed for 169 yards, the most by an opposing tailback against Florida State until that point. But Maryland committed five turnovers, freshman quarterback Latrez Harrison suffered a sprained ankle in the first half to cut short the first start of his college career and the Terps dropped to 0-10 against the Seminoles.
Oct. 10, 2015: No. 1 Ohio State 49, Maryland 28
The Terps took a 7-0 lead on a 52-yard touchdown connection between quarterback Perry Hills and wide receiver DJ Moore. They then tied the score at 21 early in the third quarter on Hills’ second rushing touchdown.
The Buckeyes responded by scoring four consecutive touchdowns spanning the third and fourth quarters. Running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and quarterback J.T. Barrett rushed for 62 yards and three touchdowns.
Quarterback Cardale Jones passed for 291 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target was wide receiver Michael Thomas, who caught seven passes for 107 yards.
Hills set a Maryland quarterback rushing record with 170 yards. He also threw for 133 yards and another touchdown but was intercepted twice. One day after the game, coach Randy Edsall was fired, and an offensive coordinator named Mike Locksley became the interim coach.
Nov. 10, 2019: No. 1 Ohio State 73, Maryland 14
In Locksley’s first year as coach, the Terps won three of their first five games but were saddled with a four-game losing skid before traveling to Columbus.
That streak grew to five as the Buckeyes overwhelmed Maryland. The hosts scored all 42 points of the first half and sprinted to a 52-0 advantage before Terps quarterback Josh Jackson found wide receiver Dontay Demus Jr. for a 26-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields threw for 200 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a score, running back J.K. Dobbins ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns and the defense registered seven sacks.
Demus’ touchdown catch was his fifth of the season, which was the most by a Maryland sophomore since Moore finished with six in 2016.
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