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Maryland Mauls W. Virginia in Gator Bowl

Posted on: Thursday, 1 January 2004, 06:00 CST

If Maryland could get West Virginia on the schedule a few more times a year, these 10-win seasons would be a breeze.

Scott McBrien threw for a career-high 381 yards to help No. 23 Maryland to a 41-7 victory over No. 20 West Virginia in the Gator Bowl on Thursday, a rematch of a regular-season game that was almost as lopsided.

Playing against the team he left, McBrien threw for three scores and ran for another. His teammate, Steve Suter, returned a punt for a touchdown and made a highlight-reel catch to help the Terrapins (10-3) reach the 10-win mark for the third straight year under coach Ralph Friedgen, aka "The Fridge."

Friedgen can thank West Virginia (8-5) for part of the turnaround. Counting the 34-7 win in the regular season, the Terps have defeated the Mountaineers four times over the last three years by an average score of 35-13.

The Mountaineers, co-champs of the Big East, came in on a seven-game winning streak, trying to establish themselves as the team to beat next year in their revamped conference - minus Miami and Virginia Tech.

Instead, they reinforced their remarkable penchant for flopping in bowl games. West Virginia is 1-10 in its last 11 appearances, 0-2 during Rich Rodriguez' tenure by a combined score of 89-29.

Suter made the highlight plays for Maryland.

In the second quarter, he fielded a punt at his 24 and went the length of the field, barely touched by only one Mountaineer, for a score and a 17-0 lead. It added to his 80-yard punt return for a score last year against West Virginia in a 48-17 win.

In the third quarter, Suter jumped with Mountaineers cornerback Lance Frazier for a long pass that Frazier batted into the air, only to watch it fall to Suter at the West Virginia 7-yard line. Three plays after the 43-yard gain, McBrien ran in for a 31-0 lead.

The senior quarterback finished 21-for-33, a great closing act for the native of Rockville, Md., who transferred from West Virginia to Maryland after Rodriguez took over the Mountaineers and made McBrien third string.

McBrien finished 21-6 as a starter for the Terps and 3-0 against the Mountaineers.

His favorite target Thursday was backup receiver Jafar Williams, a senior who came in with 10 catches for one score all season, but made four catches for two TDs in his final game.

As is common in these lopsided losses, West Virginia had a boatload of small embarrassing moments to go with the bigger ones.

The Mountaineers burned two timeouts in the first seven minutes trying to get their special teams figured out. Later, they were called for 12 men on the field during a Maryland extra-point try.

They trailed 17-0 and had lost two fumbles before they made their first first down early in the second quarter.

Given five weeks to prepare, they got a little tricky, using quarterback Rasheed Marshall for a pooch punt on fourth-and-short; the kick went straight in the air, a 16-yard boot that gave Maryland first down at its 20 - hardly worth the effort.

Marshall wasn't much better passing: He finished 10-for-16 for 87 yards. West Virginia running back Quincy Wilson finished with 49 yards on 12 runs.

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