What they did tonight was control the opponent at hand convincingly in the first half and gave their younger players some experience en route to beating the Zips, 44-14 before 48,057 at Byrd Stadium.

"I feel a lot better than I did last week," said Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen, who put a lot of the blame for the nationally televised 22-0 season-opening loss to Notre Dame on himself. "I said this was our most important game. If we didn't win this game, then we're looking at Florida State and a very tough road ahead."

Fortunately for the Terps (1-1), they can enter the Florida State game with a victory under their belts, though it remains to be seen how much a boost in confidence will amount to after the Seminoles leave town.

Scott McBrien again started at quarterback for the Terps, and benefited from both a less-imposing Akron defense and a more simplified playbook. He completed nine of 15 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed nine times for 30 yards, and appeared to be more determined to make the option work after struggling with that aspect of the offense last week.

"I felt a little pressure after last week," said McBrien, who did not throw an interception tonight after throwing two the week before. "I just wanted to go out there and execute. It was very important to go out there and set the tone for the season."

The Terps didn't attempt a pass on their first drive of the game, as they were led down the field first with the running of Chris Downs (starting in his first game) and then by Mario Merrills before McBrien scored Maryland's first touchdown of the season on a two-yard keeper.

Downs carried for 58 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown; Jason Crawford carried six times for 27 yards and a touchdown and Merrills rushed 17 times for 79 yards as the Terps amassed 209 net rushing yards after totaling just 16 yards seven days ago.

"The only thing that's really bothering me, is being able to come out in next week's game and do the same thing," said Downs, who along with Merrills and Crawford are trying to fill in for the injured Bruce Perry. "I'm just going to try to come out and live up to the expectations of my coaches."

On the Terps’ second possession of the game, McBrien capped a six-play, 46-yard scoring drive with an eight-yard slant pass to Derrick Fenner for his first career reception.

The Terps looked well on their way to busting out to a three-touchdown lead when the Zips found themselves facing a third and 16 on their own 14 yard line. Akron quarterback Charlie Frye (15 of 25 for 216 yards and three interceptions) connected with receiver Matt Cherry for a 16-yard completion to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, Frye hooked up with Nick Sparks on a slant pattern that the junior took 65 yards for a touchdown to pull Akron (0-2) back to within a touchdown.

After Nick Novak missed a 25-yard field goal attempt on the Terps' next possession Akron came within a few inches of pulling even with the Terps.

On a flea flicker from its own 20 yard line, Akron's Miquel Irvin just beat Maryland's double coverage, but Frye overthrew the 6-foot-2, 185 pound junior by inches and the Zips would never have a better chance to pull even with the Terps the rest of the game.

In fact, the Terps didn't even wait for their offense to take field before putting more distance between themselves and the Zips.

Sophomore receiver/punt returner Steve Suter, all 5-9 inches and 187 pounds of him, bobbled the punt from Akron's Andy Jerdon, corralled it and sliced up the middle of the field through the coverage before angling to the right returning the kick 81-yards for the touchdown to officially begin the rout.

"We were actually on that play checking for fakes," Friedgen said. "Once we check for fakes, then we go to a middle return and he made the first couple guys miss and then he made a heck of a run. I think we're going to be better in that area than what we were last year."

Suter's return was the first punt return for a touchdown since another undersized receiver, Jermaine Lewis, took a punt back 66 yards for a score against N.C. State on November 4, 1995.

"I've been saying that Steve is a big-play guy," Friedgen said. "He's been doing it through all of two-a-days."

The Terps were fortunate that hobbled all-American candidate punter Brooks Barnard was only needed once the entire game, sending a 40-yard punt to the Akron 25 and a 12-yard personal foul penalty pinned the Zips back to their own 13 yard line late in the third quarter.

Among the many players to get some much-needed experience was receiver Latrez Harrison. The former quarterback had one catch for eight yards, but had an 11-yard run on a reverse, and turned in the most devastating block of the game. Harrison leveled Akron freshman.

After not making an attempt in the opener, officially made three of four field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder to put the Terps up 44-7 with 12:15 remaining in the fourth quarter for their largest lead of the game. Novak, who as a freshman last season struggled in his first couple games, also made all five of his point after attempts.

Defensively the Terps allowed 319 net yards, but limited the Zips to just four first half first downs. In the second half, the Terps played a large number of underclassman.

The defense set the tone early in the second half for the Terps, as senior linebacker E.J. Henderson snared Frye's pass at the Akron 19 and returned it 12 yards to set up a Nick Novak field goal that gave the Terps a 38-7 lead.

"I thought E.J. ran well, a lot better than he did last week," Friedgen said of Henderson, who is still getting back to his all-American form after undergoing off-season back surgery. "I think he's still probably about 90 percent. I was giving him grief about his pass defense last week, so when he made the interception he came over to me and said 'How do you like my hands?' He kind of threw it back at me."

The Zips scored their second touchdown with less than three minutes remaining in the game on a three-yard pass from backup quarterback Mike Brake to Micah Faler to cap an eye-raising 22-play, 75-yard drive that ate up nearly nine and a half minutes.

"We had a lot of kids in there and [defensive coordinator] Coach Blakeney was getting very frustrated. They were making some mistakes, but that's how they learn. I said to keep them in there and let them get better. We're trying to get better for the rest of the season."

The bottom line, said Friedgen, was to get the victory.

"Winning is everything. My psyche is a lot better. The sun shines. Girls are better looking. Winning is day and night over the alternative. I'm sure it will help us, and hopefully we'll benefit from it. ... Things are starting to happen around this place."

NOTES: The crowd at Byrd was the fourth largest for a home opener in the program's history, and the largest since more than 50,750 packed a much smaller Byrd Stadium to see the Terps play Penn State in 1985.

This victory is the eight straight at Byrd dating back to last season.

Bruce Perry was on the sideline in full pads and has been working to get back into the lineup in time for next week's Florida State game. Friedgen, however, said he doesn't expect last year's ACC Offensive player of the year to play until the following week against Wofford.

"He's got to be ready by Monday or Tuesday to be ready for Florida State, and I don't think that's going to happen," Friedgen said.

Offensive Player of the Game: McBrien, who never turned the ball over, was responsible for two Terps touchdowns, and seemed to be much more comfortable in the offense.

Defensive Player of the Game: Madieu Williams had his first two career interceptions for the Terps, who were unable to come up with a single turnover against the Fighting Irish.