A little more than 26 hours before kickoff, here's five predictions to consider for Saturday's Maryland-Wake Forest game at Byrd Stadium.
1. Da'Rel Scott will reach the 2,000-yard plateau for his career in the first quarter. The senior has just 37 yards on 13 carries since the bye week, and junior Davin Meggett now has 10 more rushes than Scott on the season. But Scott needs only 11 more yards to become the 10th player in Maryland history to get to 2,000, and he should finally take care of that pretty quickly against Wake Forest.
2. It will be a good day for wideouts. Wake's numbers against the run are less than desirable, but it is vulnerable in other ways. Look for Torrey Smith to get into the end zone while getting covered by a freshman corner at least once, while Wake Forest's Chris Givens is able to piece together a strong day against the Terps for the second straight year.
3. Speaking of Smith, the ACC kickoff return yardage record will be his. Finally. Smith needs 10 yards to surpass Brandon Tate at long last for this record. That shouldn't be a problem for the junior, whose production as a return man has waned this season because of injury and struggles of blockers in front of him.
4. Danny O'Brien will thrive against his hometown team. O'Brien played his high school ball just outside of Winston-Salem, and Maryland was able to swoop in and snag him in recruiting a couple years ago. O'Brien's de facto homecoming game next year in the Dash should be fun, but for now, he should crack double digits in touchdown passes for the season. Wake could start five freshmen on defense, making the job a bit easier. A day in line with his season ratio (three TDs for every interception) or even better sounds right.
5. Maryland will become bowl eligible. This wouldn't be big news in most college football burgs, but in College Park there will be a sense of accomplishment --- and rightfully so. The Terrapins are simply a more developed team than Wake Forest at this stage, and should manage to handle a well-coached but young Demon Deacons team and get to 6-2.
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