The Maryland Terrapins trounced the Connecticut Huskies 50-7 much to the delight of the home crowd of 35,421 at a warm and partly sunny SECU Stadium.
The Terps (1-0) favored by 18.5 points did not disappoint the odds makers.
New starting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. won the job and has big cleats to fill as former Terps record setting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa took his game north to the CFL playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
He was up to the task.
On the Terps first possession he engineered an eight play 80-yard drive ending with an 18-yard scoring strike to Tai Felton giving Maryland a 7-0 lead with 11:32 to go in the first quarter.
He later connected on a one play 75-yard scoring pass to Felton giving the Terps a 36-7 advantage with two seconds to go in the third quarter.
Edwards Jr. went 20-27 for 311 yards and two touchdowns.
Felton caught seven passes for a whopping 178 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
Later in the first quarter Maryland jumped out to a 14-0 lead as freshman Nolan Ray broke through the line and dashed 48-yards into the endzone ending a 92-yard seven play scoring drive.
Ray finished the game with 60 yards on six carries and one touchdown.
Maryland could only manage three second quarter fields goals but still took a commanding 23-0 lead into the break.
With Edwards running the show the Terrapins scored on five of their seven first half possessions and the defense, picked to be the strength of the Terps team with many returning starters, shutout the Huskies in the first half.
In the third quarter the Terp went on a seven play 88-yard drive ending with a four-yard Roman Hemby scoring run making the score 30-0 with 11:11 to go in the third quarter.
Connecticut finally got on the board with a 27-yard touchdown pass making the score 30-7 with 16 seconds to go in the third quarter.
With the score 36-7 Maryland added two fourth quarter touchdowns making the score 50-7 and ending any doubt about the outcome of the game.
They also outgained Connecticut 634 yards to 310 yards.
Like tennis, it was a game of doubles.
Maryland more than doubled the score and total yardage of the Huskies.
Maryland outrushed the Huskies 253 yards to 88 with Hemby leading the way with 66 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown.
The Maryland defense came to play causing three turnovers and the Terps led the Time of Possession 34:38 to 25:22.
Maryland had 29 first downs to 11 for the Huskies and had 381 passing yards to 222 for Connecticut.
UConn was led in passing by quarterback Joe Fagnano who went eight for 16 for 149 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Durell Robinson led the Huskies ground attack with 34 yards on seven carries and Skyler Bell showed out with 141 yards on five receptions in a losing effort for the (0-1) Huskies.
