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COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Duke Blue Devils strolling into College Park in early October may lack the buzz of a February matchup on the hardwood at Comcast Center, but Maryland is eager to kick off its conference schedule on a positive note while potentially doubling its win total from a year ago.
Ralph Friedgen and the Terps are fresh off a high-scoring 42-28 victory over Florida International to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule at 3-1. Redshirt freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien made quite the claim for the starting job after a two-touchdown, 250-yard performance in his first collegiate start. We await word whether O’Brien or junior Jamarr Robinson will get the nod against the Blue Devils this evening.
While Maryland wrapped its non-conference slate with only one loss, David Cutcliffe’s Blue Devils (1-3, 0-1) only have a victory over Elon pinned against losses to Wake Forest, No. 1 Alabama, and Army in the first month of the season. Of course, Duke is playing with young quarterback Sean Renfree after Thaddeus Lewis finished an impressive career in Durham last season.
In addition to playing their ACC opener, the Terps will have revenge on their mind after last season’s 17-13 debacle at Wallace Wade Stadium in which Lewis gashed the Terps for 371 yards and two touchdowns through the air. With Renfree now under center and the Duke defense surrendering 44.5 points per game (118th in the nation), Maryland has to like its chances in this one.
With today’s game only being streamed live on ESPN3.com, join us in the Turtle Power chat as Glenn Clark and I will be providing analysis throughout the evening. As always, you can follow us on Twitter (@WNST) for the quickest updates and one-liners from Byrd Stadium.
