Terrapins

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Forget Momma. Ron Vanderlinden warned there would be days like this. With all the clamor that went in pushing for Randall Jones to be the University of Maryland's starting quarterback, the Terrapins' head coach came off sounding like the Surgeon General's warning on the side of a pack of cigarettes. --cont. from sports page -- "Randall's a freshman, and anytime you play a freshman he will make great plays but he also makes mistakes," Vanderlinden said in the early weeks of the season.

bobp@herald-mail.com COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Leroy Ambush is beyond normal descriptions. A year ago, Ambush was just hoping he could be mentioned in the same sentence with former University of Maryland's All-American linebacker E.J. Henderson. To the Thomas Johnson graduate, that would have been the ultimate compliment of his career. But now, entering Thursday's Gator Bowl, Ambush has become too valuable to the Terrapins to be characterized in an ordinary string of words.

NOFOLK, Va. (AP) -- DeMauria Liles scored 20 points and No. 15 Maryland held Old Dominion without a field goal for the final four minutes in a 74-65 victory on Sunday. Shadasia Green's layup gave the Lady Monarchs a 63-62 lead with 3:56 to play, but Old Dominion, which led by as many as eight points in the first half, made just two free throws the rest of the way. The Lady Monarchs (5-4), who shot 34 percent from the floor (24 of 71), made just 9 of 14 foul shots to Maryland's 26 on 39 attempts and were outrebounded 53-43.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - It's kind of like the soap opera says. "Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of the University of Maryland's football lives. " The 10 sunrises and sunsets between the West Virginia and Florida International games represent about as wide a spectrum of days as there can be for the Terrapins and coach Ralph Friedgen. They have gone from hope prior to the West Virginia game to disaster after Thursday's 45-24 loss to the Mountaineers, to reflective over the weekend, to healing now while heading to another peak of hope this weekend when Florida International comes to town.

bobp@herald-mail.com COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A little incentive can be a dangerous thing. But add a little embarrassment and anger to the whole mix and it becomes downright volatile. Maryland's football team was on a mission Saturday. The unfortunate victim in the road was Wake Forest, which became the equivlent of roadkill after the Terps dismantled the Demon Deacons 32-14, mainly off a hugely-efficient first half. How Maryland did it didn't matter. Why the Terps did it, well, that's probably the story.

Why the Terrapins will win... Let's face it. This isn't your mother's Atlantic Coast Conference championship Maryland Terrapin football team anymore. It's not even your dad's ... your brother's ... or even your pet dog's team anymore. Much has changed for Maryland since it started the 2002 season with all the promise in the world. Now instead of promise, it might be time to compromise. So when they head into Morgantown, W.Va. on Saturday (noon, ESPN2), Maryland has to do a lot to prove they are still one of the up-and-comimg powers in college football.

Once upon a time, the University of Maryland football team had the anatomy of a championship team. The Terrapins had a good head on their shoulders with an experienced senior returning at quarterback. They had a strong back, thanks to a number of returning defensive players. There were good legs because of their stable of running backs. And the foot was one of the best because of an emerging place-kicking star. Oh yes, there was one of the best brains in the business in coach Ralph Friedgen, who is the mastermind of it all. The physical makeup is there, but two weeks into the season something is definitely missing.

You might say that Randy Edsall and the University of Maryland football program are in a honeymoon period. The second-year coach and the Terrapins are going through the changes and compromises that come at the beginning of most unions. Those are the things that Edsall can control. The one he can't is the concept of time … no one seems to agree on the Terps' timetable. “Everything these days is about instant gratification,” Edsall said Thursday during the Terps on Tour stop at The Greene Turtle in Hagerstown.

bobp@herald-mail.com COLLEGE PARK, Md. - To Leroy Ambush, it was a hit like any other hit ... but this one hit the jackpot. It felt like any other tackle he had made over the years. But in that one split second, Ambush's final tackle in the University of Maryland's come-from-behind victory transformed him from a dependable senior linebacker to a part of Terrapins football history and lore. Ambush's hit on North Carolina State running back T.A. McClendon with 1:50 remaining caused the fumble that resulted in Nick Novak's improbable game-winning field goal for a 26-24 victory that ultimately landed a Gator Bowl bid for the Terps.

Tour de force - Williams, Friedgen on Terps' trail By DAN SPEARS dans@herald-mail.com On the recruiting trail, Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams and football coach Ralph Friedgen criss-cross the country looking for athletes to wear the Terrapins' red and black. Tuesday afternoon, the twosome found plenty of people in their own backyard willing to wear those colors as they were in Hagertown for the Cumberland Valley Terrapin Club's spring outing at Fountain Head Country Club.