Maryland @ West Virginia preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 13, 2014 ) West Virginia 40, Maryland 37

West Virginia is coming off a couple of tuneups and is preparing for a four-game gauntlet against top 25 teams. In between its easy slate and its daunting stretch, however, is an intriguing matchup with Maryland as the teams square off Saturday on the Mountaineers' home field.

West Virginia has defeated Georgia Southern and Liberty by a combined margin of 85-17 this season. Starting next Saturday, the team will begin an October slate against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU, with three of the four games coming on the road. In the meantime, though, the Mountaineers must contend with a Terrapins team that competes for many of the same high school players and has given West Virginia all it can handle in recent meetings. “I don’t think it’s a mistake this game sold out pretty quick,” said Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen, whose squad has yet to allow a point in the first half this season.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1. LINE: West Virginia -17.5

ABOUT MARYLAND (2-1): The Terps are headlined by cornerback and return specialist William Likely, who has 337 punt return yards through three games, already placing him sixth on the team's single-season list. Offensively, Maryland is riding a running game that is averaging 203.7 yards per contest, good for an average of 5.8 per carry. Caleb Rowe passed for 297 yards and four touchdowns in last week's win over USF after starting on the bench for the first two games.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (2-0): Following an idle week, West Virginia hopes that quarterback Skyler Howard (72.5 percent completions, 622 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions) picks up where he left off. Wendell Smallwood has been consistently dominant out of the backfield, averaging 7.1 yards on 26 carries - an extremely high average considering he has yet to run for 20 yards on any attempt this season. Shelton Gibson and Jovon Durante have combined for 392 receiving yards and four scores through the season's first two weeks.

EXTRA POINTS

1. West Virginia has won eight of the last nine matchups, suffering only a 37-0 defeat in Baltimore in 2013. The Mountaineers won last year's meeting 40-37 on a 47-yard field goal by Josh Lambert at the final buzzer.

2. Maryland WRs Levern and Taivon Jacobs, who are brothers, combined for 10 catches and 189 yards against USF.

3. West Virginia is averaging 7.2 yards per play this season.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 37, Maryland 30