Clemson @ Maryland preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 16, 2010 ) Maryland 7, Clemson 31

THE STORY: No. 8 Clemson's surprising ascent to ACC title contender has depended heavily on sophomore QB Tajh Boyd. Despite straining his hip in last week's win over Boston College, Boyd is expected to be behind center when the Tigers travel to Maryland for a conference matchup Saturday night. If Boyd can't go, freshman Cole Stoudt would be in line for his first start. The Tigers are off to their best start since beginning the 2000 season with eight wins. The Terrapins will try to derail that after coming close to knocking off another ACC title contender last week. They rallied from an 18-point deficit but fell short in a 21-16 loss at Georgia Tech. Clemson leads the all-time series 31-26-2 and won 31-7 at home last season. Maryland had won six of the nine previous meetings.

TV: ESPNU. LINE: Clemson -8

ABOUT CLEMSON (6-0, 3-0 ACC): Boyd has taken the helm of an explosive offense, as evidenced by the fact that six Clemson players have recorded a play of 50 yards or longer. Freshman WR Sammy Watkins leads the way with three catches of 60 yards or longer. RB Andre Ellington paced the offense against Boston College, though, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown. The Tigers' defense has also come on strong the past two weeks, holding Virginia Tech to three points and 258 total yards and keeping Boston College to 14 points and a matching 258 total yards.

ABOUT MARYLAND (2-3, 1-1 ACC): The Terrapins got their running game going against Georgia Tech, rolling up a season-high 246 yards. Backup QB C.J. Brown led the way with a career-high 124 yards, and Davin Meggett added 86. Brown replaced sophomore Danny O'Brien in the second quarter and provided a spark on the ground but didn't do much through the air. Coach Randy Edsall has been noncommittal about which quarterback will start Saturday. The offense took a hit when senior OL Andrew Gonnella was lost to a season-ending leg injury against Georgia Tech. Gonnella had 26 career starts — 18 at left guard and eight at right guard.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Watkins has three games with at least 140 receiving yards in the first six games of his career. That ranks second all-time at Clemson behind Perry Tuttle, who had four such games among his 46 games from 1978-81.

2. Clemson is the highest ranked opponent to visit College Park, Md., since 2007, when the Terrapins knocked off No. 8 Boston College 42-35.

3. Clemson has scored in 15 consecutive quarters, the third-longest streak in school history. The Tigers scored in 17 straight quarters in 2001 and 20 consecutive quarters in 1983.

PREDICTION: Clemson 27, Maryland 23 — The home crowd will keep the Terps in it, but as long as Boyd can play, the Tigers will have enough firepower to pull out the victory.