MIKE BURKE

Allegany Communications Sports

Maryland opened its football season Saturday in dominating fashion, thrashing Connecticut, 50-7, in front of an announced (paid) crowd of 35,421. The 50 points was the most the Terps have scored against an FBS team in a season-opener since they scored 51 in a 2017 win at Texas.

Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. was crisp, leading the Terps on scoring drives on five of his first six possessions. He completed his first seven passes and finished with career highs of 20-of-27 for 311 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 39 yards.

His primary receiver was Tai Felton, who caught seven passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, the second one covering 75 yards, and overall the offense piled up 629 yards with 381 coming through the air and 248 on the ground.

Felton appears poised for a big season for Maryland, and if you’re looking for a breakout player, keep your eye on much-hyped redshirt freshman running back Nolan Ray, who was electric on his 48-yard touchdown run.

Defensively, Maryland held UConn to just 88 rushing yards and 310 total and played well for a defense that is expected to be Maryland’s finest in many years.

Clearly it was not a contest, though the Huskies, coached by former NFL head coach Jim Mora Jr., certainly played with an edge, and things got pretty chippy in the second half as UConn was flagged for targeting multiple times, with two players being ejected from the game.

Aside from the play of Edwards, what stood out was the play of the Maryland offensive line. It’s the sharpest and most cohesive a Maryland offensive line has played for some time, and just as important, there were not the undisciplined penalties we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from the unit.

Of course, it wasn’t nit-picking Big Ten officiating working the game either, and, of course, the opponent was Connecticut, a team the Terps were favored to beat by 19 to 20 points. Overall, though, it was a great way for Maryland to open what feels to be a promising season before hosting Michigan State on Saturday in the Big Ten opener.

A good time was had by all  – the game was fun, the Terps played well and the tailgates were sublime. It’s always so much fun to go back to College Park for Maryland games. It would just be nice if more people felt the same way. Then again, this is nothing new for Maryland football, even when Maryland football has enjoyed some of its finest seasons.

The ill-advised upper deck that was built onto SECU Stadium when it was remodeled and expanded years ago was nearly empty. In fact, the upper deck is where our season tickets are, but we weren’t up there either on Saturday, as we sat in unused seats just below in the 200 section.

There is nothing wrong with the seats in the upper deck – they’re good seats; but the structure itself looks just hideous. It doesn’t fit architecturally with the rest of what was known as Byrd Stadium. It’s just there, and it’s an eyesore, particularly on national television, particularly when very few people are sitting there.

Not a good look at all, and Maryland, beginning with head coach Michael Locksley, has worked very hard the past few years to try to get more fans into the stadium, Locksley going as far to plead, and the university spending a lot of money on marketing.

It’s frustrating because the team has improved every season under Locksley and is poised to have an even better season this year on the heels of three straight 8-victory and bowl-winning seasons.

Sadly, this is nothing new, as Maryland football has always been a tough draw given its proximity to Washington, which is not only a professional sports town, but one of the most transient and indifferent sports towns in the country – in other words, fair-weathered for everything other than the NFL team when it was known as the Redskins.

So, with so many options available for the entertainment dollar there in D.C. as well as up the BW Parkway in Baltimore, it’s going to take big wins on Maryland’s part over big-name teams to get noticed by its own so-called fanbase.

I would expect the crowd to be bigger this week against Michigan State, but other than Iowa on November 23 (Iowa brings them), the only real headliner game on the home schedule is Southern California on October 19 for Homecoming.

Now why you schedule Southern Cal, rather than, say, Northwestern for Homecoming is beyond me, as it seems to be wasting one of the guaranteed near- or full-sellout crowds for the season.

The Terps play at Penn State this year, and while there are no Ohio State or Michigan games this year, there is Oregon, but that’s at Oregon on November 9.

Dating all the way back to the Claiborne years, when Maryland dominated the ACC, and through the nationally-ranked eras of Ross and Friedgen, everyone has complained about attendance at Maryland football games, but nobody seems to do anything about it, beginning with Maryland fans who do not go to the games, but who do most of the complaining.

Given the opponent was UConn, 35,000 is not a bad crowd on its own, but it’s pretty disappointing for a now-successful football team for its season opener.

Maryland fans need to show up or just shut up.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT